.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
With the lines “They had saved 300,000 for a house / But the state only covers 100,000 / Everything else is gone” begins the group’s second single, “Oehl”, making the Commerzialbank scandal the subject of their song. In the press text, the background to this is described as follows: On the night of July 14th to 15th, 2020, the accounts of 14,000 customers of the Austrian Commerzialbank were frozen after a fraud scandal involving the bank boss came to light. 705 million euros were just lost. Among the bank customers was a young family from Burgenland whose savings were irretrievably gone. It’s just stupid that they only borrowed most of this money from relatives themselves, partly through loans from other banks – to build a house.
Find out about banking scandal via podcast
“I was at the playground with my son when I heard about the scandal on a news podcast. During my research I came across this family, the father the same age as me, the son as old as mine, so I couldn’t help but cry. That could have been me. That’s when I realized that this idea of security is an illusion. Not even the money in the savings account is safe. Once you understand that, you see the world with different eyes, ”reports Ariel Oehl, part of the duo.
For the Icelander Hjörtur Hjörleifsson (the other part of “Oehl”), when he heard about the commercial bank scandal, there was almost a déjà vu. “I thought about how the artificially inflated Icelandic banking system collapsed in 2008. The Investment Hot Shots, whose “smart” deals abroad made them popular heroes, had blinded the small nation on the Arctic Circle with empty promises of an Icelandic economic miracle. It was also the summer when I worked in a fish factory in Iceland – when I went to Austria my wages were only worth half because of the hyperinflation. “
Music video with victims of the fraud scandal
The music video was shot in cooperation with the filmmaker Fabian Edelbacher, who was himself damaged by the bank scandal, in Burgenland with victims of the fraud scandal and amateur actors at original locations, including the poplar stadium, a bank branch and the endless reed landscape of Lake Neusiedl – the landmark of Burgenland.
“Since my family was at the bank, I grew up in the region and also witnessed the bankruptcy first hand, this is a very special project for me. The commercial bank was part of life in our village and district. You knew the employees, the bank sponsored clubs and celebrations, it was simply there. I also never thought about whether something could go wrong, banks are associated with security and trust. Both terms are now very popular for many former customers, ”says director Fabian Edelbacher.
– .
