Der Kärntner Landeshauptmann und BZÖ-Chef Jörg Haider (58) ist am Samstag knapp vor 1.30 Uhr in der Früh in Klagenfurt bei einem ums Leben gekommen. Haider war allein mit seinem Dienstwagen unterwegs gewesen, als er in der Ortschaft Lambichl im Süden der Landeshauptstadt von der Straße abkam.
Der Landeshauptmann war am Freitagabend noch bei einer Veranstaltung gewesen, in der Nacht machte er sich auf den Weg zu seinem Besitz im Bärental (Gemeinde Feistritz im Rosental).
Wie sein Sprecher Stefan Petzner gegenüber der APA erklärte, wollte die Familie Haider dort am Wochenende den 90. Geburtstag von Haiders Mutter feiern, die extra dafür aus Oberösterreich nach Kärnten gekommen war.
Schwere Verletzungen
Der genaue Unfallhergang war vorerst ungeklärt. Fest stand nach Angaben der Polizei, dass Haider mit dem Auto nach rechts von der Fahrbahn abkam. Der Phaeton schlitterte eine Böschung entlang über einen Thujenzaun, das Fahrzeug überschlug sich und kam auf den Rädern zum Stillstand.
"Der Landeshauptmann erlitt schwerste Verletzungen im Kopf- und Brustbereich", erklärte der diensthabende Jurist der Klagenfurter Polizei, Friedrich Hrast, gegenüber der APA. Das Auto wurde bei dem Crash praktisch völlig zerstört, Haider erlag seinen Verletzungen noch am Unfallort, die Rettungskräfte konnten nichts mehr für ihn tun. Haider hinterlässt eine Frau und zwei erwachsene Töchter.
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Le chef du parti populiste autrichien BZÖ et gouverneur de Carinthie, Jörg Haider s'est tué samedi matin dans un accident de la route, a annoncé la police de Klagenfurt (sud).
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De Oostenrijkse extreemrechtse politicus Jörg Haider is in de buurt van Klagenfurt verongelukt. Zijn auto ging meerdere keren over de kop.
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El líder de la extrema derecha austriaca, Jörg Haider, ha muerto este sábado de madrugada a los 58 años en un accidente de tráfico que ha tenido lugar en las cercanías de Klagenfurt, al sur del país, según ha anunciado la policía de la ciudad austriaca. Haider, jefe del partido Alianza para el Futuro (BZÖ), circulaba solo en su coche oficial por los alrededores de la capital de la región de Carintia, de la que era presidente.
Según las primeras informaciones, el vehículo en el que viajaba Haider se ha salido de la carretera por razones aún desconocidas y el político ha resultado gravemente herido en la cabeza y el tórax, lo que ha provocado su muerte poco después del accidente.
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Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider was killed in a car accident early today, the national news agency APA reported.
It quoted police as saying that Haider died after suffering severe head and chest injuries when the car he was driving went out of control and rolled several times outside the southern city of Klagenfurt. APA said Haider was alone in the car.
Rightist groups surged to a combined 30% of the vote in parliamentary elections last month, with Haider's smaller Alliance for Austria's Future tripling its support to about 12%.
Haider, 58, governor of Carinthia province, had been active in politics since his teen years. He became a full-time politician in 1977 for the right-wing Freedom Party.
He caused an international backlash when the Freedom Party formed a coalition government with the conservative People's Party in 2000, triggering widespread condemnation and European Union sanctions. The deal fell apart, leading to an early election in 2002 in which the Freedom Party lost heavily, followed by a remake of the coalition.
After struggles within the Freedom Party, Haider formed the breakaway Alliance for Austria's Future in 2005. His new party only just scraped past the 4% threshold to enter parliament in a national election in 2006.
Haider made headlines with his anti-immigration policies and verbal gaffes.
He once reproached Austria's government by citing what he called the "proper labor policies" of the Third Reich. On another occasion he referred to concentration camps in a parliamentary debate as "penal camps."
Haider was also widely condemned for meeting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2002. He said the meeting was a "purely humanitarian" matter.
This year, Haider set up a facility in the remote mountains of southern Austria to handle asylum seekers suspected of crimes, saying they need to be isolated to protect people in the area. Haider maintained that the number of criminal asylum seekers was on the rise.
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(CNN) -- Austrian politician Joerg Haider, a champion of the far-right who drew criticism for perceived pro-Nazi comments, died in a car accident Saturday, Austrian police said. He was 58.
Joerg Haider: Reportedly en route to a family gathering in southern Austria.
Haider was driving alone in his official state car on the road out of Klagenfurt, in southern Austria, when the car went off the road early Saturday. Police said Haider had just passed another car when he veered off the road, hit a concrete post, and rolled over several times before coming to a stop in the middle of the road.
The woman driving the car that Haider passed called for help and rescue teams were on the scene immediately, said Johann Melischneg of the Carinthia state police.
Haider suffered head and chest injuries, police said. He was taken to the hospital but was dead on arrival, Melischneg said.
Police said it is too early to say what caused the accident, but that Haider appeared to have been traveling at a high rate of speed.
"For us it's like the end of the world," Haider spokesman Stefan Petzner told the Austria Press Agency.
Haider was governor of the southern Austrian state of Carinthia and chief of the BZO party (Alliance for the Future of Austria).
He had been en route to Baerental in the Black Forest, where his family was going to celebrate his mother's 90th birthday over the weekend, the APA reported.
"With his death, the republic loses a great politician," said Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the Freedom Party, told the APA.
Austrian President Heinz Fischer told Austrian broadcaster ORF that Haider's death is "inconceivable" and a "human tragedy."
Haider was the former leader of the conservative Freedom Party. His first stint lasted from 1986 to 1989, and he was elected again in 1992.
A politician who projected youth and style, Haider appealed to many working-class Austrians, promising to cut their taxes and give money to those with children. Some older Austrians responded to his demands for strict law and order.
But he drew widespread criticism for his anti-immigrant stance and remarks considered anti-Semitic, and in 1991 he publicly praised Nazi Germany's employment policy.
During a parliamentary debate, Haider said, "An orderly employment policy was carried out in the Third Reich, which the government in Vienna cannot manage."
Asked in 2000 about the statement, Haider told CNN the quote was taken from a long speech and that he never praised the Third Reich.
"I apologize (for making) such statements, which hinder me (fulfilling) my obligations for the people," Haider told CNN. He called the statement a mistake and publicly denounced Nazism.
Haider continued to draw attention for his controversial remarks, however. They included an address to veterans of the Waffen S.S., Adolf Hitler's elite soldiers, in which he praised their character.
The address created an uproar after it was broadcast on German television. Haider said he had been speaking to elderly citizens of Carinthia who included some former Waffen S.S. members.
Despite the controversy, Haider said he was not racist: "You will not find any anti-Semitic position in our party program, and you will not find any anti-Semitic speech or statement by me."
The policies of the Freedom Party drew international attention during the 1999 elections. Party campaign posters urged voters to stop the flood of immigration and used the word "over-foreignization," the same word used by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in 1933 to criticize what he called Jewish influence in Germany.
Haider told CNN he favored restricting immigration simply because of Austria's small size, but that he wanted to keep an open border for refugees.
It was his family background, Haider said, that kept singling him out for criticism.
Haider's parents were activists in the Nazi Party long before Austrian-born Hitler annexed Austria to Germany in 1938. Haider's father, Robert, volunteered for the S.A., the notorious brown shirts who terrorized Jews and others before the war. He then served in the German army.
His biographer, Melanie Sully, said Haider felt a strong sense of loyalty to his parents and those in the war generation.
"He feels that what they sacrificed after the war in rebuilding Austria in very difficult circumstances needs to be honored and that they weren't all criminals," Sully told CNN in 2000.
Under Haider's leadership, the Freedom Party made a strong showing in the 1999 elections, winning 27 percent of the vote and shaking up the traditional two-party system that had ruled Austria since World War II.
After months of negotiations, however, the two main parties could not agree on terms to form a government together, so the Freedom Party was invited to share power.
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Right-wing parties make big gains in Austria
Haider retired as party leader after that but remained governor of Carinthia.
In 2005, Haider formed the BZO party, taking with him a number of Freedom Party lawmakers. Haider was credited with helping the BZO make significant gains in last month's general elections alongside the Freedom Party, though Austria's two largest parties, the Social Democrats and the People's Party, came out on top.
The vote reflected reflected public dissatisfaction with the two largest parties as well as support for the social populism, anti-European Union and anti-immigrant rhetoric of the BZO and Freedom Party.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/11/austria.haider/?iref=mpstoryview
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