Austrian fraternity scandal

Vienna (dpa) - The scandal has shocked the political system, as the Germania high school fraternity included Udo Landbauer, the top FPOe candidate in last Sunday‘s regional election in Lower Austria.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the conservative People‘s Party and Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the far-right FPOe agreed to initiate the dissolution of the Germania fraternity, Kurz told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Vienna.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have launched a separate investigation of four people who are linked to the production of the song book. Landbauer is not among them.

The book contained a passage that said "In their midst came the Jew Ben Gurion: Step on the gas you old Germans, we can reach seven million." The reference was to David Ben-Gurion, known as the founding father of Israel. The figure alludes to the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.

On Tuesday, the scandal gained a wider dimension when the opposition Social Democrats confirmed that one of their members was among the four suspects. The man, who allegedly illustrated the songbook, was expelled from the party.

The FPOe has announced plans to task historians with examining the party‘s past, amid efforts to present itself as a centrist movement.

The FPOe was founded after World War II as a party that appealed to former Nazis but has been represented in parliament since the 1950s.