Opera Ball (Haslinger)

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The novel Opernball by Josef Haslinger was published in 1995 and is about an attack on the Vienna Opera Ball , which is perpetrated by a group that sympathizes with neo-Nazis and in which thousands of people lose their lives.

About this catastrophe, the time before and the time after, the author tells alternately from the perspective of mainly three people:

  • Kurt Fraser, reporter for a private television company who runs the live broadcast of the Opera Ball
  • Fritz Amon, policeman who is used against the demonstrators outside the opera and
  • the "engineer", a member of the "movement of the people loyal to the people"

In addition, Claudia Röhler, housewife, and Richard Schmidleitner, manufacturer, have their say.

Kurt Fraser appears as the actual author of the book, the stories of the other people are identified by headings as transcribed tape recordings. Fraser's narrative also includes how he conducted the interviews with the other people.

The novel begins with the event itself and only then describes how it came about, but it is not to be regarded as a typical framework narrative.
Nor is it written in the epic simple past, but in the tone of the verbatim transcripts that Fraser records.

The content

The "Movement of People Loyal to the People" is a group of nine men whose members come from all walks of life. They meet every week in an old manor in the Waldviertel . There they practice shooting and organize alcohol and sex orgies. Sometimes they also read from the Bible and Hitler's “ Mein Kampf ”. The main goal of this group is to expel all foreigners from Austria.

The leader, “the least”, does not want to be called a Nazi under any circumstances and also forbids his people to call him the head. Since his job on the building site is endangered by foreigners, “the least one” develops more and more hatred against them. He also blames them for the poor economic situation and everything else bad that happens to Austria. The movement invents a new "sport" called "belt cleaning". The group strolls along the Vienna Belt (a main urban traffic route) and beats up the first foreigner they come across. When the "least" is stabbed by two Serbs in front of his house, they plan great vengeance. They set fire to the house of the “least one”, in which mostly illegal foreigners live. 24 people died in the “belt house fire”; the only survivor is deported. However, the police track down the perpetrators, arrest the two main culprits and the “movement of those who are loyal to the people” is banned.

The “least one” fled to the USA and underwent a cosmetic operation. When he comes back, he pretends to be a Mormon. The group regroups and is now called "The Determined". Your new destination is Armageddon . To achieve this, the “least one” enters into an unspecified alliance with the chief police lawyer. Armageddon was behind a poison gas attack on the guests of the Vienna Opera Ball. “The determined” want to achieve a shift to the right in the government and in the opinion of the population through a radical act of terrorism and the fear it creates.

Feilböck, a member of the “Determined”, opposes the group's plans more and more until it is decided to punish him by severing his finger with which he once swore the “Movement of the People's Faithful”. His actions are atoned for and the group is ready to accept him again as a member. This finger is later found by Fritz Amon, the district inspector . Feilböck goes to the police to tell about the plans of the "determined ones"; but she doesn't believe him. When the “least one” learns of the betrayal, he shoots Feilböck and burns his corpse by the midsummer fire in front of the manor after he has cruelly dismembered him with the help of his comrades.

This year, for the first time, the Opera Ball will not be broadcast by Austrian television ( ORF ), but by private ETV (European Television). Kurt Fraser is responsible for the live broadcast. His son Fred is also on the team. Fred just got back from rehab because he was addicted to heroin. As a cameraman, he got a particularly good place in a box of honor.

In front of the opera there are violent riots by left-wing demonstrators, some of which lead to violent confrontations with the police. At 0:45 in the morning, the “least” and his men channel hydrogen cyanide into the opera's air supply ducts. However, an attack with a carbon monoxide mixture was planned for the "least", so he was betrayed by his police contacts and died in the attack himself, along with his group. The attack cost the lives of around 3,000 ball guests and led to the government crisis. Kurt Fraser's son is among the dead.

After the Federal President, Chancellor and many members of the Federal Government were killed in the attack, new elections were held in which the right-wing populist “National Party” surprisingly became the strongest parliamentary group. Thus, the conspirators in police circles have achieved their goal and also wiped out “The Determined” as potential witnesses, at least all except the “engineer”.

Fraser is commissioned by ETV to compile documentation about this attack. However, due to his dismay at Fred's death after viewing the material, he feels unable to do so. Nevertheless, he does research - with the aim of writing a book from a sufficient time interval - and comes across the only survivor of the "determined", the "engineer".
He tells him his version of the story, and when the "engineer" becomes aware of his hopeless situation, he takes his own life.

filming

The novel was lavishly filmed in 1998 under the title Opera Ball - The Victims / The perpetrators in a German-Austrian co-production directed by the Swiss Urs Egger and with Heiner Lauterbach in the role of Kurt Fraser.

literature

  • Josef Haslinger: The Opera Ball. Novel . 10th edition. Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt / M. 2008, ISBN 978-3-596-13591-2 .