Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus
Encyclopedia
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's 10th district, Favoriten
Favoriten
Favoriten, the 10th district of Vienna, Austria , is located south of the central districts. It is south of Innere Stadt, Wieden and Margareten...
.
Since June 23, 1990, it has been a squatted social centre
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
, which hosts migrants and refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s, community activities, and political groups.
Overview
The squatters, who describe the EKH as an "international, multi-cultural, anti-fascist centre", named the building after Ernst KirchwegerErnst Kirchweger
Ernst Kirchweger was the first person to die as a result of political conflict in Austria's Second Republic....
; a former concentration camp inmate and member of the anti-fascist resistance
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
, who was killed in 1965 by a right-wing protester during a demonstration against Taras Borodajkewycz
Taras Borodajkewycz
Taras Borodajkewycz , was a former member of the NSDAP and after World War II professor of economic history at the College of World Trade in Vienna .-Life:During the interwar years, he was an adherent of Catholic-national ideas which...
, a former member of the NSDAP.
In 2003, the owner of the house - the Communist Party of Austria
Communist Party of Austria
The Communist Party of Austria is a communist party based in Austria. Established in 1918, it was banned between 1933 and 1945 under both the Austrofascist regime, and German control of Austria during World War II...
- sold the EKH to a real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
company, and the residents were threatened with eviction
Eviction
How you doing???? Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms...
(see the summary of protests and actions at Indymedia
Independent Media Center
The Independent Media Center is a global participatory network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It originated during the Seattle anti-WTO protests worldwide in 1999 and remains closely associated with the global justice movement, which criticizes neo-liberalism and its...
). After a long struggle, a company with close contacts to the municipality of Vienna bought the building in July 2005, and the threat of eviction seems to have passed.