Ronnie Seunig

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Ronnie Seunig , also known as Don Ron (* May 1964 ), is an Austrian entrepreneur, founder of the shopping town Excalibur City and former publisher of the monthly magazine Alles Roger? , which is classified by the documentation archive of the Austrian resistance as conspiracy-theoretical and anti-Semitic .

Life

Seunig was born in May 1964 and grew up with three siblings in Vienna and later in the Waldviertel . He began training as an industrial clerk and car painter , which he did not finish. At the age of 19 he founded two companies that went bankrupt within a short period of time. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, he moved his business from gastronomy to machine casinos in the Czech Republic . However, shortly thereafter, the country passed laws to protect against the rampant gambling addiction , whereupon Seunig and his business partner ceased operations in the Czech Republic and opened a casino shortly after the border with Austria. This was converted to duty-free in 1991 . In 1993, Seunig finally acquired the site of today's Excalibur City and built the shopping town there that still exists today. However, the Czech Republic's accession to the EU changed the framework, as duty-free shopping was no longer possible. Instead, the “travel-free” concept was presented, which advertises the now higher allowances for various product groups. According to the operators, the annual number of visitors is 5 million, with 500 employees and annual sales around 50 million euros. In 2003 Seunig announced that he wanted to add a 175,000 square meter theme world to the offer, which was presented under the working title “Land of Lies”. However, the project was never realized. An amusement park project planned in Vienna, which was to be named Paradiso, was never realized. Seunig acted as half owner of the "Paradiso Errichtungs- und BetriebsGmbH" established for this purpose.

Seunig was a member of the Freedom Party of Austria , but according to his own statement he resigned in 2002 because of the Knittelfeld party congress .

Seunig has two children. His son is involved in the management of Excalibur City and is increasingly taking on management tasks in the company.

Falco

Seunig was friends with the musician Falco from 1994 . He is chairman of the Falco private foundation.

Controversy

Statements about Adolf Hitler

In a report by the magazine Trend , some statements by Seunig about Adolf Hitler were quoted, which caused outrage. As part of an interview, Seunig had shown the trend journalist through his house, where he became aware of a ceiling fresco showing, among other things, the dictator Hitler. When asked about this, Seunig declared that not everything had been bad and particularly praised Hitler's employment policy. Hitler is one of the most important figures in history "because he has changed so much". Seunig compared Hitler's importance to that of Jesus Christ . After referring to the atrocities that had taken place under Hitler's rule, Seunig replied, "None of this is true, it was not he who started the war, Hitler was provoked." And what is being spread about Hitler today is a " big ”historical lie and“ excessive propaganda ”. The Lower Austrian politician Madeleine Petrovic then brought a statement of the facts to the public prosecutor on behalf of the Lower Austrian Greens on suspicion of National Socialist re-employment . Seunig then made it clear via press release that he was not an “admirer of all of Hitler's politics” and that he abhorred “the atrocities of World War II and the Americans' senseless Iraq war”.

All fine? at right-wing extremist congress

In October 2016, Seunig's magazine Alles Roger? among the exhibitors of a right-wing extremist congress entitled Defenders of Europe . Roland Hofbauer , the magazine's editor-in-chief , also took part as a speaker at the congress.

Sexist advertising line for energy drink

For the product launch of its energy drink Excalibur in 1997, Seunig's company published a poster that was condemned by the Austrian advertising council because of the sexist portrayal of women. The poster showed a naked woman sitting on the floor with her legs spread and her nakedness hidden only by a sword and a can of said energy drinks. This arrangement was captioned with the word “Product launch?”. The combination of text and image prompted the advertising council to ban the subject. Seunig himself rejected the allegations of sexism.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ronnie Seunig: Magazine “Alles roger?” Is discontinued. In: derstandard.at . October 31, 2019, accessed October 31, 2019.
  2. ↑ DÖW - Recognize - Right-Wing Extremism - News from the Far Right - Archive - November 2015 - “Alles roger?” With anti-Semitism. Retrieved May 8, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Seunig and sons of Ernst Fuchs plan “Adventure Forest” , In: Format No. 38/04, from September 17, 2004 page: 32
  4. ↑ Is everything Roger in the orbit of the right-wing extremists? ( falter.at [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Der Ritter von Kleinhaugsdorf, Format No. 33/2014 of August 14, 2014, pages 38,39
  6. ↑ Trend , edition 11/2003, p. 81 f.
  7. ↑ "A clear case for the police and the judiciary" - derStandard.at. Retrieved June 11, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Ronnie Seunig: Clarification on the current trend article . In: OTS.at . ( ots.at [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  9. ↑ The participants of the “Congress of Defenders of Europe” sorted by right-wing extremism factor . In: Vice . October 6, 2016 ( vice.com [accessed June 11, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Seunig, Ronnie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ron, Don
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entrepreneur, founder of the shopping town Excalibur City and publisher of the monthly magazine alles roger?
DATE OF BIRTH May 1964