Instead of announcements
Austria: ÖBB train plays Hitler speeches and “Sieg Heil” calls
In Austria there was a train scandal on Sunday (archive image)
© Alex Halada / AFP
In Austria, a bizarre incident occurred on a train operated by the state ÖBB: Suddenly, instead of the stop announcements, speeches by Adolf Hitler could be heard. The police are investigating.
A scandal broke out on a train on the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) on Sunday. As several local media reports, the usual stop announcements were suddenly not heard in a railjet on the way from Bregenz to Vienna, but speeches by Adolf Hitler and several “Sieg Heil” calls.
Austria: Hitler speeches instead of stop announcements played in Zug
As reported by “Der Standard”, among other things, the first audio breakdown occurred shortly before the St. Pölten stop. Instead of the normal announcement, outtakes by the actress Chris Lohner, who has been speaking the announcements for ÖBB for years, could suddenly be heard for about ten minutes. According to the ÖBB, normal announcements were no longer possible between St. Pölten and Meidling. Instead, fire alarm announcements echoed through the entire train.
This alone unsettled some fellow travelers and caused a mixture of irritation and amusement. But the amusement quickly subsided when suddenly a historical recording of a speech by Adolf Hitler and several loud calls of “Sieg Heil” and “Heil Hitler” could be heard.
The “Standard” editor Colette Schmidt, who was on the train in question, initially speculated that the ÖBB could have been hacked, as she wrote on Twitter.
Police identified two suspects
The Green MP David Stögmüller also witnessed the incident and announced that he wanted to press charges against unknown persons. In addition, Stögmüller reported that the train attendants were desperately trying to stop the playback.
As the ÖBB announced on Twitter, it was a “technical malfunction” that was being worked on at full speed.
On Monday, it could finally be ruled out that the ÖBB had been hacked, the transport company explained to the “Standard”. According to this, the recordings were made directly on the train via the voice point, which should actually be closed.
Go by train
Where to go with the 49-euro ticket? Beautiful day trips with the regional train
In the course of the police investigation, two people were identified and a complaint was filed against them. How they got the key to the locked language center is still unclear. However, it can be ruled out that these were ÖBB employees.
Sources: The standard, Salzburg news