VWW: TSCHETSCHENISCHE WIEN

The Chechens in Vienna are a large group, with little visibility, in terms of personality, culture or food. We read about them when there are problems amongst gangs and Islamic State membership, but this tour wants to do something different, and come closer to a community which is not so often presented to the wider Vienna public.

An innovative project emerged from the partnership between Ahmed Mitaev, a young man with Chechen roots, and Grätzlpolizist Uwe Schaffer, in Brigittenau. Introduced through social worker Fabian Schaffer, and made better known in a book from Edith Meinhart, a journalist formerly at Profil, they make very fine TikToks where Ahmed can ask questions from young Viennese, and the veteran policeman answers these questions very honestly. It is a refreshing and fun format, and also useful for a community who feel nervous when confronted with the Wiener Polizei. Schaffer has since retired.

So who are the Chechens? Which language do the speak? What jobs do they do? Where do they live? And how to they see Vienna? They are 58% female, but the culture is strongly patriarchal. Where can we come closest to experiencing their life in Vienna?

They come from Southern Russia, and are mostly refugees from the brutal war in the Caucasus in the 1990s. Like the Kurds and Sinti/Roma, they are not a national group, and yet have a strong regional belonging, which continues here in Vienna. There are 35,000 of them here in Austria, mostly in Vienna - and after France, this is the second largest Chechen community in Europe. As refugees, most now hold Austrian passports. So who do they vote for?

Please join us for an unusual adventure, into Terra Incognita.

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