The Aktionsanalytische Organisation (AAO), commonly known as the Friedrichshof Commune, was an Austrian
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
commune in Friedrichshof outside Vienna. The organization was founded in 1972 by artist
Otto Muehl
Otto Muehl (16 June 1925 – 26 May 2013) was an Austrian artist and convicted sex criminal, who was known as one of the co-founders as well as a main participant of Viennese Actionism and for founding the Friedrichshof Commune.
In 1943, Muehl h ...
and dissolved in 1990. AAO became an authoritarian
sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...
, described as a "psycho sect" by authors Nordhausen and Billerbeck.
[Frank Nordhausen and Liane von Billerbeck (1999): ''Psycho-Sekten - die Praktiken der Seelenfänger''. Fischer Verlag, ] AAO was devoted to a breakdown of established social habits and beliefs, partly inspired by ideas of
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( ; ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several in ...
.
Muehl was subsequently convicted of widespread sexual abuse of minors who lived in the commune and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
References
Literature
''Die Diktatur der `freien Sexualität´''Book with an extensive description, written by the former member Andreas Schlothauer, who played a leading role during the dissolution of the organization.
{{Authority control
Far-left politics in Austria