Hitler speech blasted during Kristallnacht ceremony in Austria amid alarming rise in antisemitic incidents

During a Kristallnacht commemoration ceremony on Sunday, a clip of a speech made by Adolf Hitler blared loudly in the city of Mödling, Austria, leaving the guests in shock and speechless.

The event took place at the location where the Mödling synagogue once stood before it was burned down during the pogroms of 1938. Around 50 people were present at the city's official event when the audio was blasted from a nearby residential building for roughly one and a half minutes.

"It was extremely loud. There was a great deal of consternation. It was just sick," City Councilor Stephen Schimanova told Austrian media.

The city of Mödling quickly filed a complaint, and the Wiener Neustadt public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into a male suspect for alleged neo-Nazi activity. Authorities conducted a search of his residence, seized evidence, and said the inquiry is ongoing, according to The Jerusalem Post.

According to the 1947 Austrian Prohibition Act, "Verbotsgesetz 1947" – the law that banned the Nazi Party and its supporters and criminalized Nazi activity and propaganda – it is also an offense to deny the Holocaust or downplay Nazi atrocities. Anyone engaged in activity linked to Nazi ideology or National Socialism can face up to five years in prison.

The penalty increases to up to 10 years if the act is carried out publicly, such as through a broadcast or other mass-access format. In addition, if the activity poses a specific danger, the sentence can range from 10 to 20 years in prison.

The Jewish community in Austria has experienced a disturbing spike in antisemitic incidents since the brutal Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Last week, authorities discovered a weapons cache linked to the Hamas terrorist organization intended to carry out attacks on Jewish communities across Europe.

On Wednesday, the Antisemitism Reporting Centre of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG) released a new report regarding anti-Jewish incidents, recording at least 726 in Austria during the first half of 2025.

Five of those incidents involved physical assaults, eight were considered threats, 78 involved property damage, 203 were labeled hate-related communications, and another 432 involved offensive behavior. The majority of the incidents were classified as “Israel-related antisemitism,” with nearly half the incidents involving Holocaust denial or antisemitic discrimination.

“If we are to preserve Jewish life in Austria, it demands protection, solidarity, and a firm stance every single day,” Secretary of State Alexander Pröll said in a statement last week.

“We need to send a clear message – the current statistics are a wake-up call,” he added. “Antisemitism is still deeply ingrained in Austria and is becoming more and more normalized.”

The IKG report also indicated an unwillingness to report antisemitic incidents, suggesting the extent of the issue may be far more significant than what is currently documented.

“According to the current state of the investigation, Israeli or Jewish institutions in Europe were likely to be the targets of these attacks,” a statement from the British Interior Ministry read.

Hamas issued a statement denying any connection to the criminal network, calling the allegations of its involvement “baseless.”