Jörg Haider: life and times

The career of the controversial Austrian politician, who has died in a car crash at the age of 58
Jörg Haider, the controversial Austrian politician
Jörg Haider, the controversial Austrian politician, in Vienna last month. Photograph: Dieter Nagl/AFP/Getty

1950 Born in Bad Goisern, upper Austria. His father was a former Nazi stormtrooper and his mother a former Hitler Youth leader.

1966 Won a school debating contest on whether Austrians were Germans.

1969 Studied law in Vienna.

1976 Joined the Freedom party and became party secretary in the province of Carinthia.

1979 Elected as an MP.

1986 Overthrows the Freedom party's liberal wing to become party leader.

1989 Becomes governor of Carinthia.

1991 Praises the "orderly employment policies" of the Third Reich.

1995 Refers to concentration camps as the Nazis' "penal camps".

1999 Receives 27% of the vote in national elections.

2000 Leads a coalition government that provokes international condemnation.

2005 Forms the Alliance for the Future of Austria after power struggle within the Freedom party.

2008 Secures 11% of the vote in national elections, benefiting from a resurgence of support for the right. Two weeks later he is killed in a car crash near Klagenfurt.

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