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Kebab shop in Schnitzelland
The doors of the Friedrich-Schmidt Platz 4, the headquarters of the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, stay closed. Nobody comes out and there is no doorbell. In this posh area of Vienna surrounded by embassies, the streets are so clean that you could eat of the pavement. Furthermore they have been washed by a huge storm that broke out five minutes ago. In fact you can hardly find a good old Turkish kebab shop there at all.
One block down, “Izgir” is just one like thousand others. No doubt about it: if a kebab shop had a typical look, then it would be the shop of the Ezgi’s. It’s also the closest kebab place to the seat of the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, a popular anti-muslim party in Europe with a fascist edge.
The owner, 45-year-old Erdal, sells Döner, pizzas, beers and bottles of vodka as well. His wife Handan and his daughter wear the same red polo, as if they were a football team. The gyros meat is turning around slowly like a clockwork. No music but the fridges are buzzing. No customers but me. Let’s ask for the classical Döner to warm the atmosphere. “With everything on it? - Ja”... “Spices too? Ja”.
In Austria it is still allowed to smoke inside. Yippee. Lightning up a cigarette, I try to chat with Erdal but he’s about to leave with his daughter. I stay alone with his wife, Handan.
She’s doing crosswords on the Kronen Zeitung, the most popular newspaper of the country. Half of all Austrians read it every day. On page 23, next to the crosswords, it says in bold capitals : “When will Austria stop being the paradise for criminal foreigners ?”.
Looking for Schnitzbab
“Hey, your kebab shop is the closest one to the FPÖ headquarters. Do they sometimes come to buy a Durum or something after their meetings?”, I ask. “I don’t recognize them. You don’t see what is inside someone. You don’t feel it”, Handan replies. She doesn’t discern between FPÖ members, the absolute shame of the Austrian political family, and the rest of the Austrian party members. She could prepare a sandwich for a socialist or a crypto-fascist, no big deal.
“They are all the same. They talk loudly, but say nothing. They are all against foreigners.”
Handan left Turkey 26 years ago. She officially became an Austrian a couple of years ago. She feels at home here in Vienna. But she doesn’t feel Austrian.
“I started from zero”, she says slowly, rolling the “r” with a strong Austrian accent. “ Now my daughter goes to school, we earn a living, we pay taxes.”
I ask her if she votes. “ My mother votes for the socialists, my sister for the green party. I don’t vote. For me the only party that could change things is the KPÖ (communists) but in Austria they are nix, nobodies”, she says, joining her left thumb and index together.
It’s 4 o’clock, Handan folds the Kronen Zeitung and puts it away. Her daughter comes to take her place at the counter. When I leave, they joke that when they find out how to fill schnitzel with kebab they will inform me right away.
Posted in | 08.07.09
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