A network of European far-right extremists is set to converge on Vienna on 11 April for a conference billed as a defence of traditional Western values but which is, in reality, a gathering of far-right culture warriors, Holocaust deniers and open antisemites.
The event, titled “U-Turn for Europe” (UT4EU), is being organised by Stefan Korte, an AfD city councillor from the small Brandenburg town of Lauchhammer.
Korte has form on the international far-right circuit.
Speaking at a 2022 Alternative for Sweden election rally, with members of the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement stationed beside the stage, he described Germany as a “Third World country with a communist, anti-German government.”
A year later, at London’s Traditional Britain Group (TBG) Conference, he dismissed German sole responsibility for the Second World War as a “fairy tale” and blamed the West for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Umbrella group
The Traditional Britain Group itself, an umbrella group bringing together elements from across the extreme right, will have its own representative in Vienna, in the shape of founder and Vice President Gregory Lauder-Frost.
He was convicted in 2019 for racist abuse and last year praised deceased Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck on Facebook as “a true heroine.”
In 1992, Lauder-Frost was jailed for two years after admitting eight counts of theft and having 128 similar offences taken into consideration. He stole more than £110,000 while working as a payroll operations manager at Riverside Health Authority in London.
In Vienna his contribution will focus on “The loss of values and virtues”.
Dutch far-right politician Thierry Baudet, chairman of Forum voor Democratie, is also on the guest list. Baudet was caught on camera in 2022 telling associates: “Almost everyone I know is an anti-Semite.”
Expelled
Also expected is Gustav Kasselstrand, founder of Alternative for Sweden, expelled from the already hard-right Sweden Democrats, alongside an Estonian EKRE parliamentarian and the European coordinator of Italy’s Lega.
The choice of Vienna as host is thought to be connected to Ronald Schwarzer, a Viennese jeweller whom Korte has publicly called “my dear friend.” Schwarzer owns the Ferdinandihof in the Margareten district, which has become an established venue for far-right gatherings in the Austrian capital.
