State Treaty, EU Accession, End of War: These are the Anniversaries to Celebrate in 2025

Associated with the now legendary words "Austria is free!", the then ÖVP Foreign Minister Leopold Figl signed the treaty in the Marble Hall of the Belvedere Palace on May 15, 1955, restoring Austria's sovereignty. On July 27, 1955, this officially came into force. This also ended the ten-year occupation period after the Second World War, the last British soldier left Austrian soil on October 25. One day later, the National Council decided on perpetual neutrality, ten years later, in 1965, October 26 was officially declared National Day.

Liberation Day on May 8 Celebrates 80 Years of War's End

This was preceded by one of the darkest chapters in Austria's history with National Socialism. The millions of victims of the Second World War are commemorated on Liberation Day, May 8. This year marks the 80th time the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht and thus the end of the war on European soil. In Asia, the war continued and only ended with Japan's surrender on September 2. A special day for Austria is May 5, when three days before the end of the war, Allied soldiers liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp - the largest in the "Ostmark".

Traditionally, official Austria commemorates on this memorial day against violence and racism the approximately 200,000 people imprisoned and mostly killed in Mauthausen. It is not yet clear what the commemorative ceremonies will look like in 2025. Under the motto "80-70-30", the parliament will hold various events. Currently, coordination is taking place with the Federal Chancellery and the Presidential Chancellery, the exact design will then be fixed before the respective occasions. It is already certain, however, that all communication channels - from social media to the democracy workshop - will be used for the anniversary celebrations, it was said in advance to the APA.

Austria Joined the EU 30 Years Ago

The accession to the European Union marks the third major anniversary. The binding referendum on June 12, 1994, on EU membership - only the second in Austria's history - was answered with "Yes" by two-thirds. The accession treaty was then passed by the National Council on November 11 and came into force on January 1, 1995.

Two Terror Attacks Each Claimed Four Victims

The quadruple murder of Oberwart is also commemorated for the 30th time next year. On the night of February 4 to 5, 1995, four Roma - Peter Sarközi, Josef Simon, and Karl and Erwin Horvath - were killed by a booby trap. It was the most serious of several attacks by the right-wing extremist terrorist Franz Fuchs, who particularly targeted politicians and public figures with a series of letter bombs from 1993 to 1997. The four dead and numerous injured in the terrorist attack of November 2, 2020, in which a then 20-year-old in the name of the Islamic State shot at people in downtown Vienna, will also be commemorated in 2025.

It has also been ten years since the refugee tragedy of Parndorf. On August 27, 2015, the bodies of 71 people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran who wanted to enter Austria were found in the cargo hold of a refrigerated truck. The four main perpetrators of the smuggling gang were sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary for murder.

(APA/Red)

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