Former parties
139-660: Former parties Former parties The Communist Party of Austria ( German : Kommunistische Partei Österreichs , KPÖ ) is a communist party in Austria . Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest communist parties . The KPÖ was banned between 1933 and 1945 under both the Austrofascist regime and the Nazi German administration of Austria after
278-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
417-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
556-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
695-580: A West Austria, closely linked to NATO , would have provided a connection between West Germany and Italy. A united, neutral Austria however could act as a barrier, together with Switzerland , thereby securing a part of the Central European front for the Soviets. The proposals by the Austrian communists were therefore brushed aside. Moscow wanted a guarantee of neutrality as a pre-condition for
834-766: A comeback, being held again in September 2005 and all years since. Today, the KPÖ sees itself as part of the anti-globalisation movement as well as a feminist party. It ran together with LINKE Liste , during the European elections 2004 as part of the Party of the European Left . After the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989, there were long court-proceedings for many years concerning
973-531: A concrete investigation of its history can answer that." — Alfred Klahr (under his pseudonym "Rudolf"), after being asked in 1936 by the communist leadership in exile in Prague if the theoretical notion of an independent Austrian nation separate from Germany existed. The KPÖ also took an independent stance from the mainstream in its views about nationhood and an Austrian identity separate from Germany, with leading communist intellectual Alfred Klahr writing that
1112-458: A conflict between the party leadership revolving around chairman Walter Baier and different internal oppositional groups, who had gathered themselves mainly around the newspaper nVs ( neue Volksstimme , English: new Voice of the people ) and the internet platform Kominform. Internal party critics accused Walter Baier of revisionism and betrayal of Marxism ; he in turn accused them of Stalinist tendencies. This conflict escalated in 2004, when at
1251-408: A consolidated and properly organised party militia. After intra-party talks, Deutsch in 1922 proposed the creation of a Republikanischer Schutzbund , which was officially registered with the federal government as an association in 1923. During the four years of development of socialist militia activities, armaments and degree of military organisation were the most controversial questions discussed by
1390-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1529-535: A last attempt to save Austrian democracy from fascism, but was ill-fated. The KPÖ held a line which was often in disagreement with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , such as disagreeing with Stalin's branding of social democracy as a form of "social fascism" in the late 1920s. The Austrian communists dissent was avant-garde, with their refusal to condemn Social Democracy reflecting aspects of
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#17327722323931668-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1807-491: A party convention it was decided to enter the Party of the European Left . In the elections to the European Parliament the KPÖ ran in a largely self-financed alliance (" Wahlbündnis LINKS ") with Leo Gabriel as the leading candidate. In an interview with the magazine profil , he spoke out against socialism, saying "I want a Europe of solidarity, not a socialist Europe", which sparked furious criticism from
1946-420: A period where communist parties throughout the world were receding. In January 1990 two new leaders, Walter Silbermayr and Susanne Sohn , were appointed to renew the party and uncover errors and mistakes which were made in the past. The attempts by Sohn and Silbermayr to create a leftist alliance ( Wahlbündnis ) for the 1990 National Council elections failed. The party lost about a third of its members during
2085-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
2224-458: A possible division of Austria between East and West, similar to Germany. Since the KPÖ was constantly losing votes in parliamentary elections, a division and establishment of a communist-led East Austria would have been a practical way to consolidate at least a part of their dwindling power. The Soviet authorities in Moscow showed little interest for such a division for various reasons, namely because
2363-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
2502-467: A significant share of local conservatives, clashed on a regular basis with the majority of the population sympathising with the socialists, who were mostly factory workers and peasants. In January 1927, Schutzbund members from Schattendorf confronted members of the right-wing and Heimwehr -associated Front-line Fighters' Association ( Frontkämpfervereinigung ), which led to a minor skirmish. After it had died down and both parties were leaving, members of
2641-491: A third of the tenant's income. At the following election in 1998 the party won four seats on the council and secured a seat on the city senate (the council's executive), which was taken by Kaltenegger, who was appointed to the city housing department: among other measures he was able to ensure that each public housing unit had its own toilet and bathroom. The KPÖ's vote in the next elections in 2003 increased to almost 20 percent. The following year it managed to block an initiative by
2780-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
2919-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
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#17327722323933058-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
3197-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
3336-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
3475-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
3614-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
3753-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
3892-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
4031-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
4170-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
4309-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
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4448-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
4587-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
4726-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
4865-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
5004-543: The Österreichische Freiheitsfront (English: Austrian Freedom Front ). There is some disagreement amongst historians if the KPÖ fought the Nazis out of patriotism, or followed the pattern of the ideological fight of communism against fascism in general. Internal party documents show the truth as somewhere in the middle; the KPÖ wanted their country free from German occupation as much as they wanted it to become communist. After Austria regained its independence from Germany,
5143-749: The Frontkämpfervereinigung shot from ambush at the Schutzbund members, wounding five and killing two – a six-year old boy and an adult war veteran. The murders of Schattendorf, as they were known, led to protests across all of Austria, particularly in Vienna , where they climaxed in a brief strike. Three men were charged with murder in Schattendorf and tried before a jury. The three, locals of Schattendorf, considered their actions to be self-defence against alleged gunshots coming from
5282-473: The 32nd Party Congress (which was held as an "all-members" party congress, not by delegates), which stated that the following 33rd Party Congress would again be held as an "all-member" party congress, somewhere outside Vienna. Since the Party Congress is, according to party statute, the highest committee of the KPÖ, the opposition saw a breach of the statute and called upon the arbitration commission of
5421-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
5560-656: The Allies ' sea blockade during the First World War , there was a supply shortage in Austria, resulting in workers protests. Such actions included strikes such as the 1918 " Jännerstreik ". In 1917, concurrent with the Russian October Revolution , the left wing of the workers' movement established the KPÖ. Ruth Fischer , Karl Steinhardt , Franz Koritschoner , and Lucien Laurat were among
5699-629: The Austrian Civil War . The Schutzbund was quickly defeated by the superior numbers and weaponry of the police and Austrian Army . Many Schutzbund members were arrested and nine men were executed, a number of whom were prominent in the Schutzbund . The Social Democratic Party was banned, and with it the Republikanischer Schutzbund came to an end. Due to the political and administrative disorder in immediate post-war Austria, public safety could not be guaranteed by
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5838-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
5977-534: The Entente powers over re-armament questions. Despite confiscations of weaponry by the Entente and some arms sales for funds, the consolidated workers’ militia in 1921 possessed roughly 26,000 rifles, 225 machine guns, 2.5 million rounds of ammunition and several artillery pieces. The years from 1923 to 1927 saw various clashes between the main political actors of the time and their paramilitaries – socialists with
6116-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
6255-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
6394-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
6533-557: The Moscow Declaration from October 1943, which called for Austria's "own contribution" to its liberation from fascism as a precondition for the resurrection of their own state. More than 4,000 communists were imprisoned or sent to concentration camps and more than 2,000 lost their lives during the resistance, including 13 members of the KPÖ's central committee. There was also an Austrian communist resistance network in Belgium,
6672-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
6811-566: The Palace of Justice , where the protests reached their height. Given its lack of interest in organising a protest, party leadership had not activated the Schutzbund in advance. It was called to action when it was clear that large masses of workers had filled the streets to take part in the protest and when the Viennese police asked them for help. At that point, the majority of Schutzbund members received an order to mobilise, although some refused
6950-522: The Politburo with proposals on how to improve the situation for the party. The problem with the strategy of the communists was identified as being their goal to build a future coalition ( Volksfront ) with the SPÖ. This required a right-wing shift to the extent that ideological differences between the KPÖ and the SPÖ were not readily apparent. The closeness of the KPÖ to Moscow also made many voters wary of
7089-587: The Schutzbund and the conservative Christian Social Party with the Heimwehren (Home Guards) or other paramilitary organisations. The Austrian National Socialists also grew in importance, clashing with both socialists and Christian conservatives. The small town of Schattendorf in the recently annexed, previously Hungarian state of Burgenland had been the site of several violent clashes between socialists and conservatives. Particularly after 1926, Hungarian irredentists and land-owning farmers, representing
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#17327722323937228-520: The Schutzbund members. The jury acquitted the three on all counts. The socialists had originally introduced and popularised the concept of jury trials as part of their political programme and considered it propagandistically unwise to organise a formal protest against the verdict. As a result, while news of the acquittal led to immediate protests across Vienna in the early hours of 15 July 1927, they were spontaneous and unplanned. The protests were later unwittingly directed by police riot control action to
7367-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
7506-667: The Stadlau station in Donaustadt three times, were forced away three times, and then blocked the tracks until the evening. On 5 October, they resumed the blockade of Stadlau from 5 a.m., took control of the Nordbahnhof and threatened the Südbahnhof . With the police disabled, railroads were defended by their employees and the volunteers of the " Olah battalion ". They were armed with clubs, operated in small teams, and engaged
7645-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
7784-419: The Tyrol and Vorarlberg the KPÖ never held state representation. With the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the KPÖ saw itself confronted with new challenges regarding its philosophy and future. The experiment with a moderate form of eurocommunism was not well received with its core supporters; however, moderate voters could not be persuaded either. The KPÖ faced difficult times during
7923-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
8062-399: The election results of 1999 . The pressure on the party leadership to convene a party congress rose and as a consequence the leadership, which consisted of Walter Baier and two further members, called up the 33rd Party Congress of the KPÖ for the 11 December and 12 December 2004, as a delegation party congress in Linz- Ebelsberg . With this summoning the leadership ignored a resolution of
8201-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
8340-400: The 1938 Anschluss . The party currently holds two seats in the Styrian and four seats in the Salzburg Landtag ( state parliament), but has not had representation in the National Council ( Nationalrat , Austria's federal parliament) since 1959. In the legislative election held on 29 September 2019 , it won only 0.7% of the votes (32,736 out of a total of 4,835,469), well below
8479-399: The 4% minimum to obtain seats in the National Council. At the local level, the KPÖ has held the mayorship of Graz , Austria's second largest city, since 2021, and holds over 130 seats on district and municipal councils across the country. It is part of the New European Left Forum (NELF) and the Party of the European Left . The KPÖ was officially established on the 3 November 1918. Due to
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#17327722323938618-412: The 7th World Congress of the Comintern in 1935. The Austrian communists' tolerant stance opened their party to an influx of more disappointed Social Democrats. After the crushing of the February 1934 uprising by the federal army and the Heimwehr , the KPÖ grew rapidly from 4,000 to 16,000 members. "The view that the Austrian people are a part of the German nation is theoretically unfounded. A union of
8757-414: The Austrian People ), the party denounced Adolf Hitler 's dictatorship and called on all people to fight together for an independent Austria. As a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, a number of Austrian communists-in-exile, such as KPÖ founder member Franz Koritschoner , were deported from the Soviet Union and handed over to the Nazis. After war broke out between Germany and the Soviet Union,
8896-436: The Communists by having two powerful undersecretaries in each ministry, to which were appointed anticommunists. During the years of national reconstruction, the KPÖ vehemently criticised the "capitalistic reconstruction at the expense of the working class" and totally rejected the Marshall Plan . The KPÖ assured the Soviets that they could win as much as 30% of the vote in the first National Council elections in 1945 . However,
9035-402: The Communists in hand-to-hand fighting at first opportunity. There were reports that the Soviets provided trucks to move communist crews around, but this was as far as the Soviets went in supporting the strike. On 5 October, the chairman of the Building and Wood workers Trade Union, Franz Olah , succeeded in negotiating the dissolution of the October strikes. Olah organised workers who supported
9174-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
9313-418: The European Union as an immediate priority, but as a long-term goal. Until 2003, there was an official celebration on the Jesuitenwiese in the Vienna Prater park, normally held each year in the first weekend of September. The celebration was named Volksstimmefest , after the party's former newspaper. Due to financial reasons, the festival was unable to take place in 2004. It has, however, since staged
9452-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
9591-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
9730-425: The German nation, in which also the Austrians are included, never existed and does not exist today either. The Austrian people have lived under different economic and political conditions than the remaining Germans in the "Reich", and have therefore chosen another national development. How far this process of a national development is, and/or how close the connections from the common descent and common language are, only
9869-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
10008-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
10147-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
10286-865: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
10425-418: The KPÖ became an opposition party. Post-war, the national economy was in ruins, and the ÖVP-led government instituted a severe austerity programme. The planned measures ( Viertes Lohn- und Preisabkommen , English: Fourth wage and price-fixing agreement ) included substantial price increases but minor wage increases, and large-scale strike movements formed in protest from 26 September to 6 October 1950. This,
10564-526: The KPÖ had been prepared for this situation since the mid-1920s. After the Social Democratic Party was also banned, many former SPÖ supporters and functionaries, such as Ernst Fischer and Christian Broda , worked underground in cooperation with the KPÖ. The KPÖ took part in the failed workers rebellion on 12 February 1934, which was sparked by the militia Republikanischer Schutzbund (English: Republican Defense League ). It marked
10703-509: The KPÖ reached national importance, as it was, for the most part, able to count on the support of the occupying Soviet authorities. In the first provisional government under Karl Renner , the KPÖ was represented by seven members, along with ten socialists, and nine Christian socialists. Party chairman Johann Koplenig became vice-chancellor, while fellow communists Franz Honner and Ernst Fischer were made ministers responsible for home affairs and education respectively. However, Renner outflanked
10842-575: The KPÖ won only 5.4% of the votes (174,257 votes) and was thus represented with only 4 members (out of 165) in the Austrian parliament. Nevertheless, chancellor Leopold Figl (of the right-wing ÖVP ) offered the party a ministerial position in the government, and communist Karl Altmann was made Minister for Energy. With the beginning of the Cold War , and the continuing arguments over the Marshall Plan, Altmann resigned from his office in 1947 and
10981-575: The KPÖ. As the successor state, the Federal Republic of Germany laid claim to all the finances of Novum, which was hotly contested by the KPÖ. The German courts decided in 2002, that the former SED-company belonged to the state-assets of the GDR, hence to its successor state the unified Germany. Therefore, these net assets of the KPÖ were confiscated. Due to the court decision over the Novum holding,
11120-607: The KPÖ. The party retained this stronghold in 2012 and in 2017 . In the 2021 elections the KPÖ emerged as the party with the most seats on the council, with 29 percent of the vote, and the party's Elke Kahr was subsequently elected mayor at the head of a coalition of the Communists, the Social Democrats and the Greens . In the 2023 Salzburg state election , the KPÖ won 11.7% of the vote (an increase of 11.3% from
11259-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
11398-480: The SPÖ into clashes with the communists, where they were able to outnumber and defeat them. This caused great friction between the KPÖ and many SPÖ members. The fact that the Soviet Red Army did not interfere also brought the strikes to an end. During the 10-year allied occupation from 1945 to 1955, the threat of national division similar to that which befell post-war Germany loomed large. The Iron Curtain
11537-533: The Soviets quickly reverted their stance and tried to support the Austrian Communists against Nazi Germany. During Nazi rule , the KPÖ played an important role in the Austrian resistance, fighting side by side with former political enemies such as Christian socialists , Catholics , Monarchists , and farmers against Hitler's regime. The KPÖ took seriously the order of the Allied Powers in
11676-644: The West and NATO. However, the Soviets were able to push this demand through. The Austrian State Treaty was voted upon on 15 May 1955, with the declaration of neutrality proclaimed on 26 October 1955. This was decided in the National Council with the votes of the ÖVP, SPÖ, and the KPÖ; the Federation of Independents (VdU, the forerunner of the FPÖ) voted against neutrality. Because of the economic recovery and
11815-505: The ascent of Joseph Stalin to General Secretary in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s, the KPÖ was also refashioned in accordance with the principles of democratic centralism , and party discipline was more strictly enforced. Due to these reforms, the party was able to overcome its factional struggles by the late-1920s. In 1933 the KPÖ was banned by an emergency decree of the Austrofascist government of Engelbert Dollfuss but continued to operate underground. According to internal sources,
11954-483: The bloody suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising led to a wave of withdrawals from the party. On 10 May 1959, the KPÖ lost representation in the National Council , receiving 142,578 votes, 3.3% of the total tally and thus missing the 4% election threshold to receive seats. The invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops in 1968 during the Prague Spring was at first condemned by the KPÖ. However, in 1971,
12093-568: The co-founders. Attempts to establish a Räterepublik (council republic) in Austria resulted in developments different from those in Germany or Russia, as the Räte were only able to establish themselves in isolated, high-population density areas such as Vienna and the industrial areas of Upper Austria . However, a "Red Guard" ( Rote Garde ) was formed and soon integrated with the Volkswehr (People's Resistance Army). On 12 November 1918,
12232-553: The communist influence. By the end of the day police and paramilitary units forced the Communists out of ÖGB buildings in British and American zones. On 28 September, the communists raised seventy volunteers to storm the national ÖGB office in Vienna, and were routed by the police. By 7 p.m. on 27 September, even the Soviets agreed that the strike failed and their radio program instructed Austrian workers to return to work. The ÖGB rejected
12371-493: The considerable net assets of the company Novum . Although the company was an East German one, it was used to siphon money and finance the KPÖ, see also Rudolfine Steindling for further details. The company used to be able to make large amounts of money through GDR foreign trade and the protection of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED), with the profits used almost exclusively to support
12510-566: The dangers posed by the new Horthy government in Hungary and the right-wing "gangs crossing the border from Bavaria ". In the clashes with Hungarian militiamen over the status of Burgenland , the consolidated workers’ militia received arms from the Austrian state. In 1921, Julius Deutsch of the SDAPÖ – who had previously been Austrian minister for the army – pushed for the development of Austria's only fundamentally unified workers’ militia into
12649-535: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
12788-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
12927-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
13066-611: The end of the occupation in 1955, the protective power of the Soviet occupiers was lost to the KPÖ. The party lost a main pillar of support and was shaken by internal crisis. Like many other communist parties around the world, the KPÖ had oriented itself towards Marxism-Leninism of the Stalinist brand, and has closely allied itself at this point with the line of the Soviet Communist Party. The party's failure to condemn
13205-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
13344-402: The house of the KPÖ chairman. According to media reports the perpetrators outed themselves through the graffiti as EKH sympathisers. The KPÖ defended itself by arguing it had no possible financial means to keep the house. Previously in 2003 the party tried to convince the city of Vienna to buy the building to save it from privatisation; however, city authorities did not respond. Beginning in 1994
13483-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
13622-548: The internal party opposition. A further point of contention for the opposition was that the party, in the course of its entry to the European Left Party, had to drop its previous demand of an Austrian withdrawal from the European Union. Many party organisations therefore boycotted the election campaign . The election result of 0.77% (20,497 votes) was disappointing and meant a drop of 1,466 votes compared to
13761-995: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Republikanischer Schutzbund Central Europe Germany Italy Spain ( Spanish Civil War ) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States The Republikanischer Schutzbund ( German: [ʁepubliˈkaːnɪʃɐ ˈʃʊtsˌbʊnt] , "Republican Protection League")
13900-511: The largest strike action in the post-war history of Austria, started in the Steyr and Voest factories and the nitrogen plants in the American zone of occupation, and by 10:00 a.m. the number of strikers reached 15,000. Over 120,000 workers participated in the first day of the strike. However, the interruption of the strike to legitimize it with a conference of all Austrian work councils took
14039-527: The momentum out of the movement and in the second phase the concentration of strikes shifted to the Soviet zone of occupation. In the morning of Wednesday 27 September, thousands of pro-communist strike workers took control over ÖGB regional headquarters in Linz and Graz with their communication infrastructure. Again, the police stayed aside but the Socialists in Vienna scrambled all their resources to weaken
14178-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
14317-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
14456-522: The order and remained part of the protesting masses. By 1 PM, roughly 2,400 Schutzbund men had arrived at the scene, armed and in uniform, where they faced tens of thousands of protesters. The Schutzbund , together with Vienna's mayor Karl Seitz and Theodor Körner , chair of the Federal Council , attempted to pacify the masses in order to prevent further violence. After the Palace of Justice
14595-472: The other parties on the council to privatise the city's housing stock by collecting over 10,000 signatures to trigger a referendum, in which 96 percent of voters opposed privatisation. Traditionally at the end of the year the leaders of the Graz KPÖ reveal their accounts. KPÖ councillors are required to earn the average industrial wage and donate the rest to social programmes in accordance with the basic rules of
14734-741: The party and its aims. In the former territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , multiparty democratic systems were slowly but surely being penetrated and undermined by local pro-Soviet communist parties with covert or even overt support of the Soviets, as was observable in Czechoslovakia , Hungary , and Poland . As the Iron Curtain was being drawn closed, Austrians feared the same fate as their neighbours. Talks between party leader Johann Koplenig and Stalin ( Sondermappe Codename: Gen. Filipof(f)) resulted in proposals of
14873-587: The party attempted a coup d'état , which was not professionally organised. Within hours, the attempt at revolution was defeated. During the First Republic, the KPÖ had little influence and failed to gain a single mandate in parliament, in part because of the ability of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) to unite the workers as an opposition movement. The party was also seriously weakened by internal factional struggles. In parallel with
15012-578: The party had to sell the so-called Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus (EKH), which was occupied by the so-called Autonome (autonomous) activists since 1990. The sale led to substantial criticism from leftists within and outside Austria, being condemned as "capitalistic". Critics accused the KPÖ of not having exhausted all possibilities to avoid the sale. The accusation that the private buyer was a right-wing extremist could, however, not be substantiated. In January 2005 there were several acts of vandalism against cars and private dwellings of KPÖ functionaries as well as
15151-402: The party lost over 250 million euros of its financial assets. The party saw no alternative but to fire all its employees and stop the production of its weekly newspaper Volksstimme ("Voice of the people", later restarted as Volksstimmen .) The continuing existence of the party depends largely on volunteer work of dedicated communists and sympathisers. Because of the financial problems,
15290-439: The party revised its position and swung back to the Soviet line. A critic of these developments, the former KPÖ Minister of Education, Ernst Fischer (who branded it "tank communism"), was expelled from the party, and readmitted only in 1998. Due to a continuing fall in support in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the party flirted briefly with a rightward move towards eurocommunism and democratic socialism . This, in turn, provoked
15429-513: The party statute was also changed. Because of the internal conflict, several members of the opposition were expelled from the party. Some critics accused the leadership of undemocratic procedures, and withdrew from the party voluntarily. The relationship to the Communist Youth of Austria - Young Left (KJÖ) was also tense, because of attempts made by the leadership to develop a new youth organisation. In March 2006 Walter Baier resigned from
15568-648: The party's ranks shrank to approximately 35,000 in the 1960s and to a few thousands in the 1970s. As of 2005, membership stands at about 3,500 members. The KPÖ was represented in the National Council from 1945 until 1959, in the state assemblies ( Landtage ) (with some interruptions) of Salzburg until 1949, in Lower Austria until 1954, in the Burgenland until 1956, in Vienna until 1969 and in Carinthia as well as Styria until 1970. In Upper Austria ,
15707-581: The party, which is the internal authority in such cases. The arbitration commission decided, however, that no formal breach of the statute was recognisable since, according to statute, the Party Congress cannot decide on the form of a future convening party congress. Some members of the KPÖ branch in Ottakring ( Ottakring is a traditional low income worker's district in Vienna) tried to convene an all-members party congress of their own, justifying their actions on
15846-510: The presidency of the party for personal and political reasons. He was replaced by Mirko Messner , a Carinthian Slovene and longtime party-activist, and Melina Klaus later that month. In the 21st century, the party has seen a revival, particularly in the state of Styria . In the election to the Styrian Landtag (state parliament) on 2 October 2005 the KPÖ, with leading candidate Ernest Kaltenegger, were able to win 4 seats (6.34% of
15985-497: The previous election in 2018 ) and four seats. This was the first time the party won seats to the Salzburg Landtag since 1945. In the 2024 European Parliament election , the KPÖ more than tripled its result of 2019 , gaining 104,245 votes (3,0%). This is the party's best result in a national election since 1962. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
16124-675: The process. In March 1991, only three months later, both chairpersons resigned, with their course of renewal being insufficiently supported internally by party-members. The party has consistently been critical of the NATO and the European Union , comparing Austria's accession to the EU in 1995 to the Anschluß by Nazi-Germany. The party campaigned against the European Constitution in its planned form; however, it does not regard leaving
16263-425: The profile of housing as a political issue. The party secured a seat on the city council in 1988, campaigning against rising rents, and the local party established practical support and advice services to assist tenants in dealing with landlords, inspired by a French Communist Party initiative. During the 1990s the KPÖ successfully campaigned for the passage of bill restricting rents in public housing to no more than
16402-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
16541-454: The protest of the party's core supporters, who saw little difference to social democracy, and feared a weakening of the communist cause. Following the reforms, more than one third of the party's members left. The leadership of the KPÖ eventually backtracked from these changes, and the party restored the connections to the CPSU. Having previously had 150,000 members directly following World War II,
16680-555: The rejection of the European constitution and the European Union services guideline , the defence of public property from privatisation, as well as how to celebrate the Austrian jubilee year 2005 (60 years since the end of World War II, 50 years of independence as the Second Republic, 10 years as a member of the European Union). Walter Baier was re-elected without opposition with 89.4% of the votes. Among other things,
16819-479: The release of Austria into independence; the country would not be allowed to join either side of the Iron Curtain. As negotiations were underway, the KPÖ changed its tactics. The KPÖ swerved to Moscow's stance and supported the idea of neutrality during the negotiations of the Austrian State Treaty . Many members of other parties, such as Leopold Figl, did not want neutrality, but a firm anchoring with
16958-452: The size of a newly established East Austria would have been quite small and may not have been capable of existing without significant Soviet assistance. Already, the situation in the Soviet sector of Austria was difficult as the Soviets confiscated all industries, factories, and goods and transported anything of economic value back to the Soviet Union as part of war-reparations. Strategically, a division of Austria would have ultimately meant that
17097-411: The socialists. Most in favour of regular arms for the Schutzbund were the Communists. Despite its relative unpopularity, the Communist Party of Austria still had influence in various workers’ organisations, among others those tasked with the development of the Schutzbund . Julius Deutsch likewise favoured consistent armament, although he attempted to delay it in 1923 due to potential complications with
17236-649: The spread of violence, but it largely sat out the Pfrimer Putsch in September 1931 because it had failed so quickly. Under the Austrofascist government of Engelbert Dollfuss , the Schutzbund was banned on 31 March 1933, and the Austrian police began arresting its members and searching for weapons. When they attempted to enter the Social Democrat's headquarters in Linz on 12 February 1934 to look for arms, local Schutzbund members opened fire and sparked
17375-552: The state alone. In order to defend armament and other large factories against potential marauders and also to protect the general population, improvised civil police forces were formed throughout Austria. The most significant of the forces were established by the socialists in November 1918 to safeguard the founding of the First Austrian Republic . In response to the large-scale creation of right-wing militias ,
17514-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
17653-513: The statute of the party. This attempt was called off quickly due to threats of legal action from Baier. The delegates Party Congress convened and took place on 4 December and 5 December 2004, with 76 delegates meeting in Ebelsberg. The Party Congress was boycotted by the internal party opposition as well as the KPÖ regional branch in Tyrol, Graz, and Styria. The agenda of the 33rd Party Congress were
17792-449: The strike. The KPÖ took a prominent role in this strike, leading politicians of the incumbent grand coalition to fear a coup d'état, with the goal of the installation of a people's republic . The KPÖ denied these allegations. A second series of strikes began the following week, in Vienna and Lower Austria, and involved approximately 19% of industrial workforce. The strikers made the impact worse by disrupting railroad traffic. They stormed
17931-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
18070-481: The view that the Austrian people were a part of Germany was theoretically unfounded. In contrast, many Austrian Social Democrats regarded the affiliation to the German nation as natural and even desirable. Echoing the thoughts of Klahr, the KPÖ expressed its firm belief in an independent Austria when the country was annexed to Nazi Germany in March 1938. In their historic call An das österreichische Volk (English: To
18209-520: The votes.) This was their first return in the Styrian Landtag (or any state parliament) since 1970. The party retained representation in this body since then. In the Styrian capital, Graz , the KPÖ developed into a successful local party (20.75% in the 2005 local council elections ). This success was largely attributed to the leadership of popular town councillor Ernest Kaltenegger who raised
18348-408: The workers’ militias ( Arbeiterwehren ) were maintained after the re-establishment of basic public order. They formed the organisational core of the later Schutzbund . In 1920, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SDAPÖ) officially sanctioned the merger and extension of the various workers’ militias into a single unified, but for the time being unarmed, militia. The decision was a response to
18487-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
18626-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
18765-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
18904-623: Was an Austrian paramilitary organisation established in 1923 by the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria to defend the Austrian Republic in the face of rising political radicalisation after World War I . The Schutzbund , whose membership peaked at about 100,000 men in 1925, was armed and organised on military lines. In the July Revolt of 1927 it worked with government authorities to try to prevent
19043-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
19182-465: Was dividing the European continent into two halves. During this period, the KPÖ was in constant contact with the Soviet authorities and Moscow. Following the party's poor results in the parliamentary elections on 25 November 1945 ( St. Catherine's Day , therefore the elections became known as the Katharinen-Wahl ), the KPÖ representative in Moscow, Friedrich Hexmann , had to present a report to
19321-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
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