The Blitzkrieg ball

Despite mounting protest over the choice of date – 27 Jan., the day the Nazi death camp Auschwitz was liberated – the annual ball of the Wiener Korporations-Ring (WKR), an ultra-right-wing student association, was planning to go ahead when the VR went to press.

The organisers faced pressure to cancel the event as the Austrian chapter of UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, removed the entire group of "traditional Viennese balls" from its list of "intangible cultural heritage" due to the WKR party’s inclusion in that group, Austrian Press Agency (APA) reported.

The ball’s organisers stated in a press release that the date was incidental, as the event traditionally took place on the last Friday in Jan.

The WKR’s ball, which attracts scores of protesters every year, was set to be held at the Hofburg for the last time, as the venue manager, Wiener Kongresszentrum Hofburg, declared it would stop hiring to the association, due to the "political and media aspect".