A video showing youths burning books on Judaism and Islam has sparked concern in Vienna, prompting authorities to launch an investigation.
The footage, posted around the anniversary of the November pogroms of 1938, comes from a group calling themselves “Legion Vienna 18” – a teenage neo-Nazi collective aged mostly 14–16. Their warning, “We will burn your books again,” accompanies a deliberately provocative display that mocks historical crimes and glorifies violence.
Legion Vienna members sport bomber jackets, combat boots with white laces, and shaved heads, echoing far-right aesthetics of past decades. On TikTok, they have several hundred followers and post short clips with fast cuts, electronic or rap soundtracks, and posing in skinhead attire, often displaying Nazi symbols and runes.
Though the core group is small – barely a dozen – they are networked via social media with similar groups in Linz, Graz, and across Austria, under names like “Right-Wing Austrian Youth”, “Right Fist Upper Austria”, or “Division Vienna”. Comparable groups exist in Germany, exchanging slogans, imagery, and propaganda.
The new generation first appeared in July 2024 at a demonstration under the label “Defend Austria”, attracting over 1,000 online followers, including teenagers using Black Sun or SS symbols as profile pictures. Many of the original activists have since joined Division Vienna, part of the organised neo-Nazi and hooligan scene, known for violent attacks on Jews, leftists, queer people, migrants, and the homeless.
While Austria’s Directorate for State Protection and Intelligence has not commented, Germany’s domestic intelligence service warns of threats ranging “from serious acts of violence to right-wing terrorist tendencies.”
This resurgence of highly visible, young neo-Nazis underscores the ongoing and evolving danger of far-right extremism in Austria and beyond, combining historical symbolism, online propaganda, and real-world violence.
