16 May 2023 , 14:31
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The chilling voice of Adolf Hitler has been blasted out on board trains in Austria leaving passengers horrified as cries of "Heil Hitler" were echoing through the carriages.
The train operated by the Austrian Federal Railways blared out historical political speeches by the fascist leader, which is illegal in the country.
Editor of the Austrian “der Standard” newspaper Colette Schmidt who was on board at the time, took to Twitter to speculate that the ÖBB might have been the victim of a hacking incident.
She tweeted: “Quite apart from the fact that I and other Austrians were completely shocked: what does a guest from abroad think when Hitler speeches are played over loudspeakers on our trains?
"Apparently it came from 'technology' What?!”
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An Austrian Green Party MP, who was also on the train, tweeted "In the RailJet 661, several calls of "Sieg Heil" have just been broadcast through the loudspeaker system! The train attendant completely helpless.
They are thought to have used the tannoy system on board (AFP via Getty Images)"I hope there will be a report and clarification as soon as possible!"
The incident took place during a “RailJet” journey from Bregenz in the federal state of Voralberg to the Austrian capital, Vienna, and lasted for around 10 minutes.
ÖBB train attendants desperately attempted to halt the playback, heightening the chaos on board.
The rail company also took to Twitter, and said: “Unfortunately, there are currently confusing announcements on individual trains, from which we clearly distance ourselves in terms of content!
“We are working flat out to find the cause of these technical faults and fix them as quickly as possible.”
Following investigations, ÖBB confirmed that their systems had not been hacked and two men have since been charged.
The suspects, who have not been named, were tracked down by police who looked at video from cameras on board the train.
The pair are thought to have opened the conductor's intercom cabins with a key owned by rail employees.
Spreading Nazi propaganda in Austria is a criminal offence.
Bug renamed Hitler as it looks like Nazi leader - and stinks to high heaven