A family visited a thermal spa in Lower Austria on Monday. On site, our reader Hans (name changed by the editors) noticed a group of people. It was also a family in which the woman was wearing a burkini, a swimwear for women that covers almost the entire body. “The daughter was wearing a T-shirt and leggings, i.e. street clothes. The toddler also had no diaper pants,” says the father of the family angrily.
Burkinis and their hygiene in swimming pools are regularly the subject of controversy in Austria. There is no uniform regulation. Some pools have a strict ban on burkinis, while others allow them.
A scandal finally broke out in the changing room: according to the father of the family, Hans, the male family members blocked off the entire corridor so that the woman in the black burkini could change. The woman had put on a long black bathrobe over the burkini. “About halfway down, the daughter was standing in front of an open wardrobe with her street clothes,” Hans continues.
Only when the family had finished were other bathers allowed to enter the area. “I mean, when I’m in a foreign country, I abide by the local customs and traditions. That’s what decency towards the host country demands,” he says angrily.
Vienna’s FPÖ party leader Maximilian Krauss has a similar view. “We finally need clear rules in our swimming pools: no room for burkinis and certainly no room for violence. Anyone who comes to Austria must accept our bathing and behavioral rules – not the other way around,” said Krauss in a statement.
The spa management reacted calmly to the harsh criticism and expressed regret that the changing room had been blocked by other visitors. However, such situations are not uncommon in a public changing room. “With a little communication, the problem could certainly have been solved,” it said in a reply to the bather.
Burkinis are also permitted in the thermal baths in question and the bath attendants are trusted to know what they are doing. “As Austria is a free country, everyone has the right to freely choose their religion, beliefs and way of life as long as no one is harmed by it, which is not the case here,” explains a spa employee in an email to the disgruntled bather.