Jüdische Bekenntnisse is “the work of a fanatical antisemite” and a “compendium of Jew-hatred”, according to Wolfgang Benz, director of Berlin’s Center for Research on Antisemitism.
The inscribed edition was published in 1992, when Strache was a local politician in Vienna. The dedication indicates the book was a gift to a friend or colleague for “Julfest”, the name the Nazi regime gave to Christmas after taking power in 1933.
According to Strache’s lawyer, he does not recall writing such a dedication and rejects the book’s antisemitic worldview.
Strache was Austria’s vice-chancellor until May 2019, when he resigned following the publication of tapes which showed him offering future state contracts to a woman he believed to be the niece of a Russian oligarch in return for her financial support.
Last month he established a new political party, Team Strache, with a view to running for the mayoralty in Vienna’s local elections in October.
Team Strache is currently polling at 5 percent.
