Bruno Kreisky

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Bruno Kreisky (1983)

Bruno Kreisky (born January 22, 1911 in Vienna ; † July 29, 1990 there ) was an Austrian politician ( SPÖ ) from 1970 to 1983 as Chancellor of the Republic of Austria . Partly at the same time as him, the Social Democrats Willy Brandt and Olof Palme were heads of government, with whom he worked closely in the Socialist International .

Kreisky was already active as a student for the Social Democratic Party and was sentenced to one year in prison by the “corporate state” during the socialist trial in 1936 for his political activities . Shortly after the “Anschluss” of Austria in March 1938, he emigrated to Sweden to avoid being arrested and / or murdered. After the liberation of Austria he worked first in Sweden as a diplomat, then from 1953 in Vienna as State Secretary and from July 1959 to April 1966 as Foreign Minister in Austrian foreign policy.

In 1954/55 he was a member of delegations that negotiated with the Soviet Union to end the occupation that had existed since 1945 and to negotiate a state treaty. In 1967 he took over the chairmanship of the SPÖ (it became an opposition party after the National Council election on March 6, 1966 ). In the election on March 1, 1970 , the SPÖ received 48.5% of the votes cast.

As Federal Chancellor, he initially ruled with a minority government tolerated by the Freedom Party ; In 1971, 1975 and 1979 he achieved an absolute majority with the SPÖ. While the first half of his reign was characterized by a variety of reforms, after the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, combating recession and stagflation came to the fore. At the price of severe budget deficits (“ deficit spending ”, state debt), a certain economic growth and full employment , which Kreisky always regarded as a priority, could be maintained for a long time .

In the National Council election in 1983 , the SPÖ went from an absolute to a relative majority; Kreisky resigned as Chancellor and withdrew from domestic politics. Fred Sinowatz (SPÖ) formed a SPÖ-FPÖ coalition ( Federal Government Sinowatz ).

Kreisky remained active in the Socialist International as long as his health permitted.

Life

Youth and Education (1911–1938)

Memorial plaque on Kreisky's birthplace in Vienna-Margareten
Parental home in Vienna-Wieden, Rainergasse 29, where Kreisky was arrested in 1935

Bruno Kreisky was born as the second eldest son of a wealthy assimilated Jewish family in Vienna, 5th district ( Margareten ), Schönbrunner Strasse 122. His father Max Kreisky (1876–1944) was general director of the Österreichischen Wollindustrie AG and Textil AG, censor of the Austrian National Bank , member of the Central Association of Commercial Employees and in emigration (from 1942) head of a textile factory in Sweden. His mother was Irene Kreisky, née Felix (1885–1969), from a family of food producers from Znojmo , Moravia ; the Felix brand still exists today. His mother's relatives later served political opponents to attribute personal wealth to Bruno Kreisky.

As a five-year-old Kreisky saw the funeral procession for Emperor Franz Joseph I and later recalled it as follows: It was a single demonstration of blackness, and people's faces showed pain and worry; what might happen now?

In 1925 the family moved to the more elegant 4th district , to Rainergasse 29. During his school days at the Radetzkystraße grammar school , Bruno came into contact with the social democrats . He initially joined the Association of Socialist Middle School Students, but switched to the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ) in 1927 . After initial resistance to the citizen's son, Kreisky rose in the organization: in 1930 he became chairman of the regional organization for the Vienna surrounding communities of Purkersdorf , Klosterneuburg and Tulln , and in 1933 he headed the educational and cultural work of the SAJ.

In 1931 Kreisky resigned from the Israelite religious community . He later described himself as an agnostic .

In 1929 Kreisky began studying law at the University of Vienna . He originally wanted to study medicine. Otto Bauer , whom Kreisky met in the same year, convinced him with the words: “The party needs good lawyers.” During the February 1934 battles against the authoritarian Dollfuss government , Kreisky was involved in the distribution of propaganda material.

After the suppression of social democracy, on February 18, 1934, he took part in a meeting of former SAJ functionaries in the Vienna Woods , where the Revolutionary Socialist Youth was founded under the leadership of Roman Felleis and Kreisky. Kreisky took part in meetings of the now illegal party in Czechoslovakia several times .

Due to his illegal activity, Kreisky was arrested on January 30, 1935 in his parents' apartment for 15 months. Franz Jonas , Otto Probst and Anton Proksch had a similar experience . While in custody he got to know Nazis persecuted by the corporate state as “fellow sufferers”; his cell mate was Egon Müller-Klingspor . According to observers, this is said to have led to Kreisky later rejecting former Austrofascists much more violently than former National Socialists.

On March 16, 1936, the so-called socialist trial began with great interest from the foreign press . Kreisky's defense speech attracted a great deal of attention from the foreign public. Kreisky was sentenced to one year in prison for high treason . On June 3, 1936, as the period of pre-trial detention had to be counted towards the sentence, he was released and expelled from all universities. After the Ministry of Education rejected his application to repeal his relegation on December 28, 1936, Kreisky decided to leave Vienna for an indefinite period. Jadersdorf in the Gitschtal in Upper Carinthia served as “exile” , where he worked for a few months as an unskilled worker in a weaving mill on the mediation of his father.

Kreisky was only able to continue his studies at the beginning of 1938. In the meantime he continued his illegal activity for the Revolutionary Socialists . On March 14, 1938, one day after the " Anschluss of Austria " to the German Reich , Kreisky took the last Rigorosum . The examiner asked him, among other things, to justify the “connection” legally. Kreisky replied in his own words that he could not give a positive answer as he disputed the legal basis of the connection. The examiner let him get through despite this frank answer.

On March 15, 1938, Kreisky was taken into " protective custody ". He was released in August on condition that he leave the country immediately. A few days later, Kreisky flew to Denmark without having a visa, where he was almost sent back to Austria by the police at Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport . Thanks to a transit visa organized by friends at the last minute, Kreisky was finally able to enter Denmark and organize his further escape from there. Kreisky first applied to emigrate to Bolivia , but then received an invitation to Sweden from the chairman of the Swedish Young Socialists, Torsten Nilsson .

Exile (1938–1950)

Kreisky emigrated to Sweden, where he settled in Stockholm. He was able to establish himself quickly; His contacts with the Social Democrats helped him, as did his relatives later: His cousin Herbert Felix , who had fled to Sweden, was married to a Swede and founded the Felix canning factory in 1939, since 1955 AB Felix (AB = aktiebolaget = stock corporation). Decades later, Kreisky had to do with the rumor spread by political opponents in Austria that he had industrial holdings abroad.

At the beginning of 1939 Kreisky, with the support of his friends, found a position as an economic advisor in the secretariat of the Stockholm consumer cooperative . He also wrote articles for Swedish and foreign newspapers. In July 1939 he took part in the congress of the Socialist Youth International in Lille , where he spoke out vehemently against a merger with the communist youth organizations. In the Soviet-Finnish winter war he worked as a war reporter. In February 1940 his parents arrived in Sweden from Vienna.

In the summer of 1940 Kreisky met Willy Brandt , who lived in exile in Norway - the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Kreisky worked with Brandt in the international group of democratic socialists, also known as the “Little International”, on questions of post-war Europe.

In 1941 Kreisky became chairman of the Club of Austrian Socialists in Sweden. He campaigned early on for Austrian statehood, which was still rejected by exiles in London and New York, for example. He also protested against attempts at appropriation by the communists. Kreisky also succeeded in getting the Wehrmacht soldiers interned in Sweden who claimed to be Austrians recognized as military refugees and not as deserters, which made them subject to the civil authorities. Later, in 1953, German national circles in Austria were to reproach him for precisely this.

Kreisky's brother Paul emigrated to Palestine in 1938 . Even after the war, Kreisky had little contact with his brother, which the press repeatedly accused him of. In fact, he has financially supported his brother for decades. After early illness and a head injury, Paul was mentally unstable and had trouble managing money. (After Bruno's death, his son Peter continued his support.) 25 of Bruno Kreisky's other closest relatives fell victim to the Holocaust .

In 1942 Kreisky married Vera Fürth (1916–1988) from a Jewish industrial family. Son Peter was born in Sweden in 1944, daughter Suzanne in 1948.

After Austria's liberation in 1945, Kreisky organized Swedish aid deliveries to Austria, from October 1945 as the official representative of the Swedish government. This is how medicines, dry milk and other foods came to Austria, especially for children. Party friends regularly sent him wish lists, which also included technical equipment and other needs that could not be met in Austria at the time.

In May 1946 Kreisky went to Vienna; he wanted to get back into Austrian politics. At first, like many others, he did not succeed in this: remigrants were not welcomed at the time, and the SPÖ also feared being vilified as a “Jewish party”, as in the First Republic. At the insistence of Renner , Schärf and Figl , Kreisky went back to Sweden after three months to set up the Austrian legation there, which he succeeded in doing with financial support from the Swedish Foreign Ministry.

From 1947 Kreisky was first class secretary of the legation under the new Austrian ambassador Paul Winterstein . Kreisky continued to support Austria Aid. At the end of 1950 Kreisky was called back to Vienna, which ended 12 years of exile.

From adviser to politician (1951–1959)

Kreisky took up his new position on January 2, 1951, as third class councilor in the economic policy department of the Foreign Affairs Section at the Federal Chancellery in Vienna. Together with Hans Igler , later President of the Federation of Industrialists , he was responsible for drawing up business plans and currency overviews. Kreisky's family also moved to Vienna in April.

Adviser to Federal President Körners (1951–1953)

On May 27, 1951, the Mayor of Vienna Theodor Körner , then 78 years old, was elected Federal President for the first time by the people. In June 1951 Kreisky was appointed foreign policy advisor (later with the title of Deputy Cabinet Director). SPÖ chief Vice Chancellor Adolf Schärf wanted to provide Körner, who is known as idiosyncratic, informal and occasionally little diplomatically, with an accomplished assistant.

Kreisky and Körner had already met in a discussion group formed by Schärf in the late 1920s. Now Kreisky was a great help in every respect for the old man, with whom he had long-standing friendship and mutual respect . Kreisky took part in Körner's rounds of talks with the socialist government members and thus came into close contact with the top leadership of the SPÖ.

For a speech by Körner during the celebrations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Burgenland's membership of Austria in Eisenstadt on November 11, 1951, Kreisky designed the part of the speech in which Körner, as the first representative of official Austria, addressed the possible neutrality of the country brought. The idea had already been formulated in 1944 by Julius Deutsch in exile in America. The speech caused quite a stir internationally, even if the idea initially met with rejection from the Allied occupying powers .

On March 31, 1953, when it was already clear that Kreisky would move from the Hofburg to Ballhausplatz, Körner prophetically described Kreisky in a letter to Schärf as the coming man in the party .

State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery (1953–1959)

The Federal Chancellery in Vienna, from 1953 to 1966 and from 1970 to 1983 Bruno Kreisky worked

In the National Council election of February 22, 1953 , the ÖVP (41.3% of the votes) retained the mandate majority, but the SPÖ achieved a majority of votes (42.1%). Politically strengthened as a result, she raised the right to additional state secretaries in the foreign and trade ministries in the government negotiations. The previous Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl , criticized by his party for being too willing to compromise with the SPÖ, resigned.

In April 1953, Kreisky became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the new Raab I government under Foreign Minister Karl Gruber (ÖVP), who was replaced by Leopold Figl in November of the same year.

Kreisky was involved with Figl in the negotiations on the State Treaty . In April 1955 he formed the Austrian delegation with Raab, Schärf and Figl, which flew to Moscow at the invitation of the Soviet Union for final negotiations.

There, with the promise of neutrality desired by the Soviet Union (which was intended to prevent Austria's integration into NATO ), the breakthrough to the conclusion of the treaty was achieved. It was agreed that after the State Treaty came into force and the occupation troops withdrew, Austria would adopt its permanent neutrality based on the Swiss model ( Moscow Memorandum ).

Schärf and Kreisky rejected Moscow's wish to anchor this in the State Treaty. Kreisky would have preferred the term military non-alliance (which would have corresponded better to later reality); Raab didn't like such legal subtleties.

The day on which the State Treaty was signed, May 15, 1955, was for Kreisky "the greatest day [s] of political life".

The SPÖ was positive about the beginning of European integration; However, due to the neutrality and the reservations of the Soviet Union with regard to the interstate ban on affiliation , joining the newly founded EEC was not possible. Kreisky and the government therefore supported the British initiative of a free trade area, which was finally founded in 1960 with Austria as a member under the name EFTA .

Member of the National Council (1956–1983)

In November 1955, Kreisky was elected to the party executive at the SPÖ party congress without being on the list of candidates. The same was repeated in 1956. In the National Council election in 1956 , State Secretary Kreisky was elected to the National Council in the constituency of St. Pölten , to which he was to belong alongside his government offices until he left politics in 1983. The fact that Kreisky could not stand as a candidate in his hometown of Vienna was due to the fact that the SPÖ regional organization Vienna, which was dominated by Felix Slavik , preferred other politicians to him for a long time (including when he ran for party leadership in 1967).

Foreign Minister (1959–1966)

Foreign Minister Kreisky in 1962 together with the UN Secretary General Sithu U Thant .

After the SPÖ had become the party with the strongest vote in the National Council election on May 10, 1959, as in 1953 (44.8% versus 44.2% for the ÖVP) and received only one less mandate than the Chancellor's party, Raab offered the SPÖ the Ministry of Finance that Kreisky provided for it. However, Raab could not prevail in the ÖVP with this move and therefore offered the SPÖ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kreisky was ready, but demanded that the Foreign Office should no longer be run as an appendage to the Federal Chancellery , but as an independent institution.

In the summer of 1959, Kreisky succeeded Figl's Foreign Minister in the Raab III cabinet, which had been supported by a “ grand coalition ” since 1945 . The Foreign Office, previously a section in the Federal Chancellery, was upgraded to the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs with its own structure. This brought Kreisky the goodwill of the predominantly conservative civil service, on which he continued to rely. He only tried to curb the influence of the ÖCV . One of his secretaries at the time was the later Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger , who later became non-party , and Peter Jankowitsch was one of the few socialists among the diplomats .

Kreisky kept in constant personal contact with important journalists since the 1950s. He consulted with them and “de facto integrated them into his political work in phases. ... Against strong opposition from the professional diplomats, he hired PR specialists who gave him access to US decision-makers, including a private appointment with John F. Kennedy ”.

East-West contacts

As foreign minister, Kreisky worked as state secretary as a political communicator between East and West. He received confidential political assessments from the Soviet Union and its allies, which, as Rathkolb noted, he provided with his own interpretations and analyzes and passed them on to the USA or other Western politicians. As a result, Kreisky had good contacts with German Chancellor Adenauer and French President de Gaulle . Kreisky was a staunch anti-communist, but he relied on the peaceful erosion of the Eastern Bloc . He was most important as a messenger when he passed on a Soviet proposal for de-escalation to the Kennedy administration in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis ; the proposal was accepted.

1961 summit

On Kreisky’s initiative, US President Kennedy proposed Vienna in 1960 as a neutral location between the two major power blocs for the summit meeting with Soviet party leader Nikita Khrushchev , which took place here in June 1961. In photos and on television, however, Federal President Schärf was usually seen as the official host.

South Tyrol problem

UN resolution 1497 (XV) on the South Tyrol issue, which was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1960 at Kreisky's decisive effort.

Kreisky paid special attention to the South Tyrol question, while at the same time trying to distance himself from South Tyrol terrorism . The predominantly German-speaking part of South Tyrol was annexed to Italy in 1918/19 as a result of the First World War, against the will of a large part of the local population ; Initiatives taken in 1945 to return to Austria were unsuccessful. The national autonomy guaranteed in 1946 in the framework of the Paris peace negotiations in the Gruber-De-Gasperi Agreement had in fact not been adequately implemented by the Italian state. In the first post-war decades, bilateral negotiations between Austria and Italy did not produce satisfactory results in the interests of the German-speaking South Tyroleans.

In his role as Foreign Minister, Kreisky brought the problem to the UN General Assembly in 1960 as a dispute between Austria and Italy, thereby turning the South Tyrol issue into an international matter, with the United Nations finally officially calling on Austria and Italy to continue the talks. Kreisky then achieved the first noteworthy results at a secret conference with the Italian Foreign Minister Giuseppe Saragat in 1964 , which formed the basis for the South Tyrol package passed in 1969 under the sole government of the ÖVP, Josef Klaus , after which both states signed a " Dispute Settlement Declaration "submit. As part of his commitment in South Tyrol, Kreisky had also supported the formation of a social democratic wing within the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) on a party-political level as early as 1964 , from which the Social Progressive Party of South Tyrol (SFP) was to emerge in 1966 .

Active foreign policy

Kreisky pursues a very active neighborhood policy with the states of the Eastern Bloc. His visits to Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary were each the first by a Western foreign minister. Furthermore, he expanded relations with the countries of the Third World . In 1962 he organized a conference on economic cooperation and partnership. Kreisky's idea of ​​a Marshall Plan for the Third World was formulated for the first time in the “Vienna Declaration” passed there. Following the conference, Kreisky founded the Vienna Institute for Development Studies, which was the most important think tank in Austria for development policy issues until the 1980s.

In 1964 Kreisky founded the Diplomatic Academy Vienna in the tradition of the academy founded by Maria Theresa in 1754 and closed during the Nazi era .

Problems of the SPÖ

While the ÖVP was renewed in 1964 with the change from Alfons Gorbach to Josef Klaus as Chancellor, the SPÖ was in crisis: The radio popular initiative limited the influence on the ORF , the Fußach affair demonstrated the party's underestimation of federalism. But the heaviest weight was the Olah affair around the SPÖ union president and interior minister, who had financed the FPÖ and the “ Kronen Zeitung ” with union money. In addition, during the 1966 election campaign, SPÖ boss Bruno Pittermann did not clearly reject an election recommendation by the KPÖ .

Absolute majority of the ÖVP (1966)

All of this cost the SPÖ many votes in the 1966 National Council election and gave the ÖVP an absolute majority. Nevertheless, the ÖVP entered coalition negotiations with the SPÖ. The negotiations that Kreisky led alongside Pittermann and Alfred Schachner-Blazizek on the part of the SPÖ soon proved to be difficult. The SPÖ was divided on the issue of the Ganges in the opposition: Pittermann, Karl Waldbrunner and Anton Benya , for example, were for the opposition, while Kreisky in particular warned against joining the opposition and feared a relapse into the First Republic. The ÖVP eventually formed a sole government, the SPÖ went into opposition.

Opposition leader (1967-1970)

Kreisky remained as a member of the National Council. At the party congress on February 1, 1967, the successor to Bruno Pittermann as party chairman came to a battle vote between the former interior minister and trade unionist Hans Coppel , a sober pragmatist, and Bruno Kreisky, who was driven by his optimistic spirit and his willingness to work with non-party members polarized. Kreisky was sharply attacked at the party congress by ÖGB President Anton Benya and parts of the Vienna party. Nevertheless, 33 against 19 people in the party executive voted for Kreisky's candidacy.

He was elected chairman of the SPÖ by 347 of the 497 delegates (69.8%) against the resistance of a group around Pittermann, Waldbrunner and Benya - who attacked Kreisky particularly aggressively at the party congress. Kreisky, at that time also known as the Austro-Hungarian Social Democrat, tried to fill in the rifts within the party between moderates and radicals quickly. Especially with Benya he managed to come to a good understanding. This is seen as crucial to Kreisky's later success as party chairman.

From the spring of 1967 on, Kreisky had a comprehensive reform program drawn up under the name “For a modern Austria”, better known as the “Campaign of the 1400 Experts”. It laid down the basic lines of economic, social, legal and educational policy that would later shape the early years of Kreisky's chancellorship. A few years earlier, the accusation of a conversation with the bourgeois daily newspaper " Die Presse " had contributed significantly to justifying the removal of Franz Olah as Minister of the Interior in the party executive , so Kreisky, completely new to the SPÖ, showed no fear of contact with experts who were not or belonged to another party.

Kreisky categorically condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968. The SPÖ organized humanitarian measures and information events, while the ÖVP government took opportunistic and tactical approaches. The fact that Rudolf Kirchschläger , at that time ambassador to Prague, did not follow the anxious instructions from Vienna contributed significantly to the fact that Kreisky proposed him as Foreign Minister in 1970.

Federal Chancellor (1970–1983)

Kreisky 1970 with the ministers of his first cabinet . Next to him Gertrude Wondrack (left) and Hertha Firnberg (right).
Kreisky (seated 4th from left) signing the Helsinki Final Act (1975)
Bruno Kreisky on a visit to the GDR in March 1978
Bruno Kreisky on a visit to the USA in February 1983

During the 1970 election campaign, the ÖVP advertised Chancellor Josef Klaus as a “real Austrian”, indirectly referring to Kreisky's Jewish origins and his emigration. The SPÖ showed Kreisky as a worthy statesman with his glasses in his hand, used to make legendary gestures, and distributed records with the campaign song “Take your fate into your hand”, played by jazz musician Erich Kleinschuster and his ensemble, with a statement by Kreisky and with a Interview with Karlheinz Böhm , emperor actor from the extremely successful "Sissi" films with Romy Schneider .

In the National Council election on March 1, 1970, the SPÖ achieved a relative majority. Kreisky formed a minority government of the SPÖ with the tolerance of the FPÖ . In return, there was a change in the electoral law with an increase in the number of MPs from 165 to 183 people, in order to enable the Freedom Party with its then only 5.5 percent club strength (which was then eight MPs). Pelinka considered it typical of the political atmosphere in Austria that Kreisky, as the new head of government, "made his first" inaugural visit "to none other than the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna ."

The former concentration camp prisoner Simon Wiesenthal , internationally known as the Viennese “Nazi hunter”, criticized the fact that four Kreiskys ministers ( Hans Öllinger , Josef Moser , Erwin Frühbauer and Otto Rösch ) had belonged to the NSDAP , the SS or the SA . Almost a third of the 13 ministers were made up of former National Socialists, which aroused fierce criticism at home and abroad. With the positioning of “alumni” in his cabinet, Kreisky is said to have pursued the goal of gaining votes from the so-called third camp in order to maintain power for the SPÖ. Kreisky responded with criticism of the critic Wiesenthal. SS man Öllinger, recommended to the Chancellor by the SPÖ Carinthia, was replaced by Oskar Weihs - who, like his successor Günter Haiden, was also a member of the NSDAP; the others were, according to Rathkolb, “pure followers”. This cannot apply to Otto Rösch, however, as this teacher was at a so-called Napola , a school that was emphatically Nazi-oriented. Rösch evaded denazification and was strongly suspected of having been active in neo-Nazi activism after the collapse of the Nazi regime.

In the early elections on October 10, 1971 , the SPÖ achieved an absolute majority of votes and seats. Kreisky formed his second cabinet . The election result was to be repeated in 1975 (formation of the third Kreisky government ) and 1979 ( last Kreisky government ) (no party has been able to achieve an absolute majority since 1979).

When the SPÖ no longer received an absolute majority in the National Council elections in 1983 , Kreisky refused (probably also motivated by his age and poor health) to become chairman of a coalition government, and entrusted this task to his previous Minister of Education, Fred Sinowatz . He also resigned the party chairmanship in its favor and, after negotiating a "small coalition" with the FPÖ , withdrew into private life. The SPÖ appointed him its honorary chairman.

General policy

The historian and university professor Oliver Rathkolb , himself a “social democrat shaped in the Kreisky era”, analyzed in 2005 that “like no other Chancellor of the Second Republic before him, all internal political structural conditions spoke against Kreisky, but all social and international trends spoke for him.” He attributed Kreisky's reign to a "high phase of social and political satisfaction in the 1970s". According to Rathkolb, Kreisky's concept of an active and self-confident neutrality policy and the endeavor to discuss foreign policy issues and issues broadly and publicly "anchored this transformation of neutrality into a code for prosperity, security and international reputation deeply in the collective consciousness".

On the other hand, Rathkolb thematized the “authoritarian continuities” of which Kreisky was aware, and cites the 1972 town sign tower in the mixed-language areas of Carinthia as an example . When trying to come to the aid of Governor Hans Sima in Klagenfurt, Kreisky encountered "even some open hostile rejection from SPÖ members" and then reduced his commitment in favor of the Slovenian Carinthians.

In 2005 Rathkolb compared the leadership qualities of the chancellors since 1945:

  • He attested Bruno Kreisky a high degree of authenticity and emphasized that he was able to provide her with a high degree of emotion.
  • At Kreisky, according to Rathkolb, integrity was a central component of his political strategy.
  • Kreisky was ascribed special activism with which he showed political ability to shape.
  • Rathkolb assessed Kreisky's leadership style as rather autocratic, although he recognized the personal competence of prominent ministers such as Hertha Firnberg or Christian Broda .
  • Kreisky performed pioneering work as an international communicator and domestic political guarantor for social equilibrium and quiet Austrian patriotism.
  • As a communicator, Kreisky has been the absolute superstar since 1945 compared to the other Federal Chancellors.

Armin Thurnher pointed out that Kreisky "was the one who regularly went for Sunday walks with a man whom passers-by ... took for the responsible state police officer: Hans Dichand ." Because the Kronen Zeitung, directed by Dichand, and the ORF had the images and imaginations of those years donated.

Four ministers belonged to all four Kreisky governments from 1970 to 1983 for a full term of office: Justice Minister Christian Broda, Science Minister Hertha Firnberg, Otto Rösch , Minister of the Interior until 1977, then Minister of Defense, and Minister of Commerce Josef Staribacher . Finance Minister Hannes Androsch was also a member of all four governments, but left early in 1981. Kreisky's successor, Fred Sinowatz , was a member of the three cabinets from 1971.

From the cabinet Kreisky IV State Secretary were Johanna Dohnal (from 5 November 1979) and Social Affairs Minister Alfred Dallinger very well known (from 9 October 1980). The career officer Karl Lütgendorf , who was Minister of Defense from 1971 to 1977 and may have been involved in the arms trade, was controversial and allegedly committed suicide.

Domestic politics

Social policy

Under Vice Chancellor and Minister of Social Affairs Rudolf Häuser (1970–1976) the welfare state was greatly expanded. In 1970 widows' pensions were increased. In 1971 the three-week minimum vacation was introduced. In 1972 the voluntary annual health check-up was started at the expense of social security and students were given the option of voluntary state health insurance. Study times and unemployment were also better taken into account in the pension calculation to the benefit of the insured. In 1974 family allowances and birth allowances were increased. In 1976, Kreisky announced that the welfare state was largely complete, and from 1978 rules that curb net spending were introduced.

Ministry of Science 1970 and university reform 1975

A separate ministry was created for the universities for the first time in 1970 with the Federal Ministry for Science and Research under Hertha Firnberg , the first social democratic minister in Austria; the tuition fees have been abolished: both signals for the modernization of the country announced by Kreisky during the election campaign. With the University Organization Act 1975 the democratization of the universities should take place; The third parity between professors, junior staff and students was established in the university committees.

Shortened military service in 1971

An election slogan from 1970 was dedicated to reducing military service: "Six months is enough". This shortening came into force with an amendment to the military law on January 1, 1971. The eight months of military service were replaced by six months of military service plus 60 days of military training. In 1975 the concept of comprehensive national defense was adopted. Under the leadership of General Emil Spannocchi , the basic lines of the militia army , hunting combat and space defense were laid down. Also in 1975, general military service for men , which had previously been a simple legal act , was enshrined in the constitution with the Federal Constitutional Act of July 8, 1975, together with the newly created alternative military service (community service ) .

Local sign tower 1972 (see there)
Easier access to education
Kreisky 1982 in conversation with the First Mayor of Hamburg Klaus von Dohnanyi

In the school question, fundamental reforms were not possible due to the necessary two-thirds majority in these questions, which is why the comprehensive school aimed at by the SPÖ could not be implemented. Comprehensive measures should give as many young people as possible access to higher education: free school books (1972), free school trips (1972), expansion of school subsidies, promotion of new school buildings. In order to democratize the school sector, the 1974 School Organization Act stipulated the participation of pupil and parent representatives.

Reduced working hours in 1974

In 1969 the opposition SPÖ organized a referendum for the gradual introduction of the 40-hour week ; around 890,000 people had signed for it. On November 28, 1974, which came into force on January 6, 1975, the Kreisky government reduced the weekly working week , which was limited to 43 hours in 1969, to 40 hours.

Family and criminal law reform by 1975

Under Justice Minister Christian Broda , the extensive modernization, in particular of family law and criminal law , took place, the basis of which dates back to 1811 and 1804. The so-called minor reform of the criminal law took place in the minority government, including the decriminalization of homosexuality and marital disorder .

At the invitation of Kreisky and Broda, the well-known pioneer of psychological analysis of life in concentration camps , psychoanalytic pedagogy and psychoanalytically oriented social work in prisons , Ernst Federn , returned to Austria from the USA in 1972 and was involved as a psychotherapist and supervisor in the reform of the Penal system .

The major reform of criminal law in 1975 was largely undisputed domestically, with the exception of the deadline solution that Broda and Firnberg enforced against the indication solution favored by Kreisky . This point weighed on Kreisky's otherwise good rapport with the Catholic Church , especially with Franz König (Archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985). In family law, the spouses were treated equally, the legal status of the legitimate child improved, illegitimate and legitimate children were treated equally, and divorce was made easier.

Surveys showed, however, that “a number of substantive reforms ... in the judicial sector did not meet with broad approval. Even the death penalty , which had already been abolished before 1970, would have been affirmed again in a referendum. ”Later, when working through Austria's relationship with National Socialism, the“ cold amnesty ”was criticized, which consisted in the fact that, with Kreisky's approval under Broda, the public prosecutor's offices had committed crimes from the Nazi regime. Era no longer brought to court after alleged Nazi perpetrators were acquitted several times by jury courts against the evidence .

Confrontation with Simon Wiesenthal in 1975

Before the National Council election on October 5, 1975 , Simon Wiesenthal found out that FPÖ officer Friedrich Peter had been active in an SS terrorist unit active in the occupied east. He informed Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger because Kreisky did not expect an absolute majority and was aiming for an SPÖ-FPÖ coalition government with Peter as Vice Chancellor. Kirchschläger passed the information on to Kreisky and Peter.

Four days after the election, in which Kreisky achieved an absolute majority for the second time, Wiesenthal published his criticism of Peter in a press conference. "Whereupon the fuses burned at Kreisky" ( Lingens ); Rathkolb called Kreisky's reaction "extreme and exaggerated". On October 10, 1975, Kreisky began violent, emotional attacks against Wiesenthal, whom he brought closer to the Gestapo and referred to as a "Nazi collaborator". "In any case, hardly anyone came to the aid of the Jew Simon Wiesenthal against the 'Sun King'" (Lingens). The repetition of the already withdrawn allegation later led to Kreisky's conviction for defamation and a conditional fine. Kreisky remained an enemy of Wiesenthal until the end of his life.

Referendum against nuclear power 1978

Like his party, Kreisky advocated the construction of nuclear power plants in Austria; the nuclear was maintained for the most advanced form of energy. In civil society, however, opponents of nuclear power were very successful. In order to take the wind out of the sails and awaiting the approval of the majority, Kreisky decided to hold a referendum on the commissioning of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant, which had been decided by parliament and had already been built . In this first referendum in the history of Austria, however, 50.47% of those who voted voted against the commissioning, which meant that nuclear energy was done for Austria. Kreisky quickly got over the defeat in the vote and again achieved an absolute majority in the next year's election. (The Atomic Lockdown Act passed in December 1978 was unanimously expanded to a constitutional law in 1999. )

Conference center referendum 1982

Kreisky was always of the opinion that Austria could be better protected by active foreign policy than by the armed forces . The UN was during 1973-1979 made construction of the Vienna International Center in prospect, the state would build a universally accessible Austrian conference center next to the extraterritorial international headquarters and conference center, which by the UN for meetings, which in the United Nations headquarters find no place, could be used.

The ÖVP argued with the high construction costs and strictly rejected the construction of the conference center. In 1982 she initiated the referendum against it, which was signed by 1,361,562 project opponents . Kreisky had the center built anyway and lost its popularity as a result. It was opened in 1987 and is now called Austria Center Vienna .

Economic policy

Basics
Federal financial debt of Austria 1970–2001

The Kreisky government took over a small budget deficit and low national debt from the Klaus ÖVP government. In 1968 the ÖVP tried to avoid higher debts through new tax revenues (SPÖ: “burden package”), which supposedly contributed to their 1970 election defeat. The new government also took over a large nationalized industry compared to other countries , which had essentially emerged immediately after the war in 1945. Together with traditional state-owned companies such as the federal railways and the post office, there was thus a considerable state quota in the economy, which, for a long time, was not willing to admit, should not harmonize with the increasing economic liberalization in Europe.

To this day, the ÖVP has criticized the government debt that had risen steadily under Kreisky. Federal financial debt in 1970 was still 12.5% ​​of GDP (or € 3.4 billion) and by 1983 had risen to 32.4% of GDP (or € 30.2 billion). (Note: The Maastricht debt was 43.5% of GDP in 1983.)

In 2011, on the occasion of Kreisky's 100th birthday, it was critically noted: The European Union's debt crisis seems to immunize Kreisky ...; EU interventions and member investment programs are often compared to his approach. ... ... Kreisky did not intervene with state guarantees and debts in order to avert a last-minute collapse of the financial markets. Rather, his actions were based ... on a philosophy that differs fundamentally from the thinking of modern politicians, namely on the belief that entire economies, if not the world, can be controlled over the long term with economic interventions. … Journalist Ortner in the “ press ”… with the fact that in the 1970s the foundation stone was laid for a nonchalant debt policy, for a life and prosperity on credit, from which Austria has so far distanced itself less than many other countries.

Partnership and conflict with Hannes Androsch

Kreisky initially continued the economic policy of the last 25 years. The continuity resulted from the great importance attached to the social partnership by the government and the opposition . With his long-standing Finance Minister Hannes Androsch , who is still popular in Austria to this day, but also controversial , Kreisky agreed to finance infrastructure projects and other new state services that were considered important through loans. In 1978, Kreisky successfully proposed the former ÖVP finance minister Stephan Koren , who acted in parliament as “Kassandra” against the deficit policy, as president of the Austrian National Bank .

In the late 1970s, Kreisky and "crown prince" Androsch alienated increasingly by his "young star" (both names of the media), who allegedly it with other younger SPÖ politicians in 1974 in the the death of Franz Jonas freed 'Office of the Federal President wegloben wanted to be able to take over the government itself. Kreisky knew from the start that Androsch ran a larger tax consultancy firm in Vienna; However, he later stated that he did not know that this law firm also accepted orders from state-owned companies, and then described this as incompatible with the duties of the finance minister. In addition, Androsch did not pay taxes on income of unclear origin, which led to lengthy tax and criminal proceedings after his term of office.

The Kreisky - Androsch conflict led, as both politicians mobilized their supporters, to a severe internal-party stress test for the SPÖ and ultimately in 1981, under pressure from Kreisky, to the departure of the Vice Chancellor from top politics.

Austro-Keynesianism

Under Kreisky, there was a free trade agreement with the EC, the transition to the value added tax system , a liberal reform of the trade regulations and concentration in the state steel industry (steel fusion, stainless steel fusion), which ultimately did not prove to be successful. The “nationalized” was constantly targeted by critics because the high level of trade union influence in these companies and political interventions severely hampered European competitiveness.

The recession following the 1973–1975 oil shock , which after years of budget surplus resulted in a deficit of 1.3% of GDP in 1973 , of 4.5% in 1975 and then stabilized, required the Kreisky government to pay close attention to the economy. That was also when the Bretton Woods system of stable exchange rates ended. With the declared aim of maintaining full employment , the government relied on a mixture of political measures (“policy mix”), which Hans Seidel , State Secretary in the last Kreisky cabinet, later referred to as “Austro- Keynesianism ”: tax policy, hard currency policy , Economic policy in agreement with the social partners and still high proportion of state-owned companies.

High (credit-financed) investments made it possible to achieve high GDP growth up to 1980 (with the exception of 1975). High economic growth, full employment, low inflation rates, low rise in wage costs, social peace with extremely few strikes made Austria a “model country” or “special case”.

The hard currency policy also led to a very poor current account, until 1977 with the graduation of VAT (30% on luxury goods, especially car imports) counteracted. After the economic downturn in 1975, nationalized industry maintained its high level of investment and also kept the number of employees. Necessary structural adjustments were not made and the companies' capital base was eroded.

Political Limits, Mallorca Package

Kreisky summed up his goal of full employment in a legendary saying: “I prefer a few billion schillings in debt to a few hundred thousand unemployed.” This could not be achieved in the long term. The tax quota reached 40% in the 1970s, the national debt increased dramatically. With the beginning of the global recession in 1981, expansive economic support (“diving through” the recession) was no longer possible due to the long-term tight budget situation.

In 1982, Kreisky and his new finance minister Herbert Salcher tried , as Rathkolb describes, "in a surprise coup to pour the voters pure wine before the election": A tax package was supposed to bring about the budget consolidation. The core of the package of measures called "Mallorca Package" by the media, which was worked out in Kreisky's holiday home on Mallorca , was a heavily criticized withholding tax on investment income, which could only be implemented as an investment income tax ten years later .

From 1982 onwards, unemployment rose significantly, even if it remained low by international standards. The nationalized enterprises, especially basic industries such VOEST and United Steel Works (VEW) received from 1981 to 1985. nearly 21 billion shillings government subsidy, but were not held later despite billions in losses in state property. In addition to their role in full employment policy (the necessary rationalizations were not implemented), failed speculative and foreign transactions were also the reason for high losses (such as the intertrading scandal , the Bayou steelworks).

Foreign policy

Foreign Minister under Kreisky

The great commitment that Kreisky had already shown to Austria's foreign policy - the second volume of his memoirs listed a total of 166 professional trips abroad from 1953 to when he took office in 1970 - he continued unreservedly as Federal Chancellor. For the position of foreign minister in his government, he sought out diplomats who were not partisan and who accepted from the outset that they would mostly be in the shadow of the nationally and internationally very present Kreisky: Rudolf Kirchschläger , subsequently Federal President, Erich Bielka and Willibald Pahr . He fully supported the application of ÖVP Foreign Minister Kurt Waldheim, who resigned in 1970, as UN Secretary- General (he was elected in 1971).

Middle East conflict

Kreisky's global appearance as a foreign politician far exceeded the expectations of a politician in a small country, all the more since he not only concerned himself with questions in the immediate interests of Austria, but also included world peace, development aid and the Middle East conflict in his work.

He maintained good relations with Arab politicians like the Egyptian President Sadat and the Libyan ruler Gaddafi , whom he welcomed in Vienna. He made it possible for the Palestinian liberation organization PLO to officially set up an office in Vienna ("PLO embassy"). At the same time, Austria acted as a transit country for Soviet Jews who wanted to emigrate to Israel , and continued this support , albeit less publicly, in spite of the hostage-taking in Marchegg on September 28, 1973 .

In Israel, however, it was heavily criticized that Kreisky had promised to close the Jewish transit camp in Bad Schönau in Lower Austria during the hostage-taking on ORF . During her visit to Kreisky on October 2, 1973, Prime Minister Golda Meir was unable to change the Chancellor's mind on this matter. In her bitterness, she claimed after the visit that the Federal Chancellery in Vienna had not even offered her a glass of water .

According to Pelinka, Kreisky later acquired the reputation of conforming to the type of “self-hating Jew” through his statements on Menachem Begin in particular and on Israel in general; or, worse, being a "Jewish anti-Semite". In any case, Kreisky's positions on the Middle East conflict would have made him an enemy for many Israelis.

The 1975 OPEC hostage-taking in Vienna did not confuse Kreisky in his Middle East policy either; When a terrorist squad attacked Vienna Airport in 1985 , Kreisky was no longer in office.

Cooperation with Brandt and Palme
Kreisky together with Helmut Schmidt (left) and Willy Brandt (right) in 1979 at an SPD election campaign event

Together with the German Chancellor Willy Brandt and the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme , both like Kreisky Social Democrats, Kreisky promoted the North-South dialogue and campaigned for an active peace and development policy . He also worked with these two (even after his resignation as Federal Chancellor) in the Socialist International .

In 2011, on the occasion of Kreisky's 100th birthday, it was emphasized that as a foreign politician he was a unique figure in the history of the Republic of Austria.

Former Chancellor (1983–1990)

Bruno Kreisky 1986 as a political pensioner in Gösing on the Mariazellerbahn

After the installation of the Small Coalition, Kreisky withdrew from domestic politics. He was replaced as Chancellor on May 24, 1983 at his suggestion by Fred Sinowatz , and in October also as party chairman. On September 28, 1983, he left the National Council, to which he had been a member since 1956, with a moving farewell speech. As he said, he had received thousands of letters on his resignation as Federal Chancellor: the most impressive were the letters from older women. They range from the unskilled workers to the former Empress of Austria , and anyone would lie if he said he didn't care.

After that he became increasingly alienated from the party. This began with Sinowatz's 1984 dismissal of his ministers Herbert Salcher and Erwin Lanc and reached its climax when the SPÖ under Franz Vranitzky left "his" foreign ministry to the ÖVP in 1987 after the National Council election, in which it remained No. 1, and passed it on to Alois Mock , who as an opposition politician had strongly criticized Kreisky's foreign policy course. In protest, he resigned the party's honorary chairmanship. Only in March 1990 was there a careful reconciliation with his successors Sinowatz and Vranitzky. Shortly before his death, Kreisky described the development of Austrian social democracy as the greatest disappointment of his life .

He was hit hard by the murder of his friend Olof Palme in 1986 and the death of his wife on December 5, 1988. During these years Kreisky also worked on his autobiography, the third and last volume of which was only published posthumously.

Kreisky continued his foreign policy initiatives even in old age and despite illness: He campaigned for the North-South dialogue and in the Middle East conflict, where he was active in mediating an Israeli-Palestinian prisoner exchange after the Lebanon war, among other things garnered severe criticism from the Israeli right.

In 1988 Kreisky spoke out against the premiere of the play "Heldenplatz" . The piece by Thomas Bernhard is about the aftermath of the Holocaust and the failed coming to terms with the Nazi era in Austria. The harsh criticism of Austria "must not be put up with," said Kreisky.

From 1986 to 1989 Kreisky headed the “Independent Scientific Commission for Employment Issues in Europe”, whose report “Twenty million people are looking for work” also represents his political legacy. In 1989 he finished his work for the Socialist International , of which he had been deputy chairman since 1976.

Sickness and death

Bruno Kreisky's grave with a sun disk and weeping beech, designed by Karl Prantl

Kreisky had high blood pressure and diabetes in the 1970s. In December 1979, after the opening of the Arlberg tunnel , he suffered a vascular occlusion in his eye. He himself claimed that he was suddenly blind in one eye out of anger and excitement about the finance minister Androsch, who was supposedly drunk at a reception. Others claimed that a passing car threw a stone in his eye.

Doctors in Boston , the Kreisky after failing treatment at Vienna's AKH consulted in 1981, undergoing therapy after the Viennese ophthalmologist Anton Hommer 2,011 documents published his father Peter Green, whose patient Kreisky was this because of a secondary glaucoma with Diamox . Apparently his shrunken kidney was overlooked and an eight-fold increased dose was prescribed. As a result, his kidney was apparently badly damaged, nothing improved in the eye.

In 1982 Kreisky commissioned a prominent team of doctors with an expert opinion with a view to the National Council election in 1983 , because he feared the state of health of the Federal Chancellor as an election issue. The team stated that the life-threatening condition of the last few months was over, but the risk of overstraining the heart and impaired kidney function remained as problems. Kreisky preferred not to publish this version.

In April 1984, Kreisky, a dialysis patient, underwent a kidney transplant , which made him feel better. From the mid-1980s onwards, his condition gradually deteriorated. From 1986 to 1988 he suffered several strokes, a femoral neck fracture severely restricted his mobility from 1987 onwards, and most recently he became blind in the other eye.

On July 29, 1990, Bruno Kreisky died of heart failure. He was buried on August 7th in a state funeral at the Vienna Central Cemetery (honor group 32 C, number 21 B). The funeral speech (Farewell, my dear, difficult friend) was given by Willy Brandt , who was his political companion and friend of life for almost half a century.

Fonts (selection)

Bruno Kreisky wrote the following works, among others:

  • Between the times. Memories from five decades. Siedler, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-88680-148-9 .
  • In the stream of politics. The second part of the memoir. Siedler / Kremayr & Scheriau, Berlin / Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-218-00472-1 .
  • The focus is on people. The third part of the memoir. Edited by Oliver Rathkolb , Johannes Kunz and Margit Schmidt. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-218-00622-8 .

various

Sayings and anecdotes

Bruno Kreisky pursued the motto: “My citizens can reach me 24 hours a day.” In this sense, his telephone number was in the public telephone book and was also used by many “ordinary people”.

The quote from Bruno Kreisky, with which he reprimanded ORF editor Ulrich Brunner in front of the camera on February 24, 1981: “Learn a bit of history, Mr. Reporter!” That he was loyal to the journalist on the matter, is well known Social Democrats, actually not right, but is almost forgotten.

His introductory sentence, "I am of the opinion ...", which was said in a sonorous voice and was followed by the actual message in Kreisky's slowly articulated manner of speaking, as well as his statement about the opponents of his favored atomic energy: "I do not need to speak of to have a few rascals treated like that! "

Bruno Kreisky called the February uprising in 1934 Franz Endler , according to a later "legend". Because “chance reigned. An uprising couldn't have been any worse prepared. "

After 1945 Austria tried to nationalize as much of what was formerly German as possible. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer countered: So, Austrian property in Germany? You know, Herr Kreisky, if I knew where Hitler's bones can be found, I would love to return them to you as Austrian property.

Opinions about Bruno Kreisky

  • “He was a man who gave me the impression that he knew everything better. But as far as I can remember, he didn't comment on German domestic and foreign policy, so there was no reason to talk to each other for hours. Except about the world situation on a large scale. He had a good view of the world. ... He probably had a better view of the world than De Gaulle or his successor Pompidou, and a much better one than any of the American presidents I have known. Because Kreisky always had the history of both the European states and the whole world in the back of his mind. ... "
“... that I never thought much of the ideological debates in the Socialist International. I always thought they were a club of people who told each other ideologies and then did something different in practice. You didn't think much of the initiatives that were launched by this body: in the North-South dialogue or in Middle East policy? Correct. They all overestimated their importance. ... "
“In and of itself, Austria was too small as a state to actually be able to influence the opinion-forming processes in the Middle East. After not even the American presidents had managed that, the Austrian Chancellor could not either. … “ Helmut Schmidt
  • “Suffer from Austria's insignificance… Of course, there were exceptions: Bruno Kreisky and, as a punishment, Kurt Waldheim. One is a monument to political talent, the other a monument to Austrian mediocrity. " Armin Thurnher
  • “The second republic needs… no strong men… But that must not be admitted, because such a state contradicts… longing, but for heaven's sake to finally get the great" leader "in front of him…… Bruno Kreisky was a master at this contradiction - apparently - to dissolve. ... he enjoyed credibility with representatives of the most opposing interests. ... What Renner was in extremely troubled times, Kreisky was in - comparatively - calm: "a man for all seasons". " Anton Pelinka
  • “Nevertheless, it gave me much more pleasure to subsequently elect Bruno Kreisky, who brought the country all-round openness : social democracy opened up to the center, society opened up to the left-wing liberalism of his Justice Minister Christian Broda , one opened after the defeat in two world wars, in a withdrawn country vis-à-vis international politics. And unfortunately also opening up to those brown spirits who brought Austria the most painful of these defeats. ” Peter Michael Lingens
  • "The majority of the voters was not a given fact for him," remembers ... the journalist Trautl Brandstaller, "but a majority, for which he fought with arguments."
  • "... has ... Kreisky by handshake with ... Dr. Otto Habsburg "[this took place in 1972]" - without identifying in the slightest with the more than problematic political statements of this man, making friends - the Habsburg dispute ended politically, which contributed to the years of the First ... and the Second Republic of Austria to poison. In 1978 it became known that Kreisky had already proposed Otto Habsburg as Austrian ambassador to the Vatican decades earlier . " Friedrich Heer
  • “Every second although , as Marcel Proust stated in his search for lost time , is a disguised because . Austria's otherwise sensible Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky appointed four former ministers not even though he was Jewish, but because he believed he was putting his Jewish origins into perspective . "Peter Michael Lingens
  • “... that another Austrian who was good at dealing with the media likes to describe himself as Kreisky's political heir : Jörg Haider . This is, of course, gross nonsense. Bruno Kreisky himself clearly stated during his lifetime what he thought of the Carinthian and had to pay a fine of 21,000 schillings for insulting him: he described Haider as a life-threatening Nazi . " Franz Kotteder
  • “What distinguished Bruno Kreisky was not outstanding intellect, but common sense, paired with a lot of imagination and even more intuition. This triad brought Austria a breathtaking social and economic upheaval and the SPÖ a unique soaring - but its inability to think problems through analytically, prepared its decline today. "Peter Michael Lingens
  • "Despite statements like If the Jews are a people, they are a bad one , I don't want to go so far as to accuse Bruno Kreisky of anti-Semitism ..." Peter Michael Lingens

Awards (selection)

Bruno Kreisky received the following awards:

Bust in Bruno-Kreisky-Park in the 5th district of Vienna

Bruno Kreisky Prizes

Objects named after Kreisky (selection)

Kreisky era

The Kreisky era describes in a narrower sense the time of his chancellorship and the policy implemented in the course of its. The following is a selection of reforms from this reign:

  • Shorter military service and introduction of community service
  • Reduction of the age of majority
  • Free travel for students
  • Abolition of the AHS entrance examination
  • Abolition of tuition fees
  • Marriage Allowance
  • Deadline solution
  • Individual taxation
  • Decriminalization of homosexuality
  • Equality for illegitimate children
  • Abolition of the “filth and trash” paragraph
  • Place Sign Act
  • Free school book
  • School education reform and student co-administration
  • University reform and a say for students and assistants
  • Mother Child pass
  • Increase in birth grant
  • value added tax
  • Criminal law reform
  • Marriage Equality and Divorce Reform
  • Reduced working hours (40-hour week) and four weeks' minimum vacation
  • Clearance for workers

See also

Literature (chronological)

Documentaries

  • Helene Maimann , Paul Lendvai : Kreisky. Light and shadow of an era. ORF, Vienna 2000.
  • Helene Maimann: Kreisky. Politics and passion. ORF, Vienna 2011.

Web links

Commons : Bruno Kreisky  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Bruno Kreisky  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruno Kreisky: We got everything we wanted . In: Der Spiegel 38/1986. See also Bruno Kreisky: Between Times. Memories from five decades. Siedler Verlag 1986.
  2. ^ Website of the Felix company
  3. ↑ http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/kaiser-franz-joseph-von-oesterreich-wohltaeter-und.2540.de.html?dram%3Aarticle_id=370796
  4. ↑ a b 100 years of Bruno Kreisky. SPÖ - Wieden , January 17, 2011, accessed on September 13, 2014 .
  5. ↑ a b Biographical overview and chronology. In: Bruno Kreisky: The focus is on people. The third part of the memoir. Edited by Oliver Rathkolb , Johannes Kunz and Margit Schmidt. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-218-00622-8 , pp. 333-3365.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Petritsch : Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , p. 29.
  7. ^ Konrad R. Müller, Werner A. Perger, Wolfgang Petritsch, Bruno Kreisky: Gegen die Zeit (Heidelberg 1995), p. 97.
  8. ↑ Joseph T. Simon: Eyewitness . ISBN 3-900 336-016 , 1979, pp. 220-221
  9. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 69–86.
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography . Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 19f, 230f.
  11. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 87-99.
  12. ↑ Eric C. Kollman: Theodor Körner. Military and politics. Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1973, ISBN 3-7028-0054-9 , p. 156 and 363.
  13. ↑ Kollman: Theodor Körner. Military and politics. P. 373
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 101-113.
  15. ↑ Oliver Rathkolb: The paradoxical republic. Austria 1945 to 2005. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-552-04967-3 , p. 177.
  16. ↑ Bruno Kreisky: Between the Times. Memories from five decades. Siedler, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-88680-148-9 , p. 476.
  17. ↑ a b Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 115–142.
  18. ↑ Austrian German
  19. ↑ Rathkolb: The paradoxical republic. Austria 1945 to 2005. p. 179.
  20. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 188
  21. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 276 f.
  22. ↑ Winfried R. Garscha : South Tyrol and the Vienna of "Mr. Karl" . In: Georg Grote , Hannes Obermair , Günther Rautz (eds.): “Un mondo senza stati è un mondo senza guerre”. Politically motivated violence in a regional context (=  Eurac book 60 ). Eurac.research , Bozen 2013, ISBN 978-88-88906-82-9 , pp. 167-180, here: pp. 177-178 . - Gustav Pfeifer, Maria Steiner (ed.): Bruno Kreisky and the South Tyrol question. Files from the International Colloquium on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his death. Bolzano, June 12, 2015 (= publications of the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives , special volume 4). Edition Raetia, Bozen 2016, ISBN 978-88-7283-590-6 ( review ).
  23. ↑ Miriam Rossi: La questione altoatesina all'ONU. Tra diritto all'autodeterminazione dei popoli e Guerra fredda . In: Giovanni Bernardini, Günther Pallaver (ed.): Dialogo vince violenza. La questione del Trentino-Alto Adige / South Tyrol nel contesto internazionale. (Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento. Quaderni 94). Bologna: Il Mulino 2016. ISBN 978-88-15-25821-2 , pp. 181-204.
  24. ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 143–171.
  25. ↑ On the 15th anniversary of Bruno Kreisky's death. A review of political opponents from a distance , quotations from Robert Kriechbauer: The Kreisky era , Böhlau, Vienna 2004/2005 , ISBN 3-205-77262-8 , ORF Science Department, 2005
  26. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 189
  27. ↑ Cf. Claus Gatterer : "Der kuk Sozialdemokrat", in: Die Zeit from February 10, 1967.
  28. ^ Klaus poster 1970, website of the Democracy Center Vienna
  29. ↑ Simon Rosner: The way of the vote in the National Council. In: Wiener Zeitung. Retrieved September 19, 2019 .
  30. ^ Anton Pelinka: After the calm. A political autobiography , Lesethek Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-99100-006-8 , p. 42.
  31. ↑ Wolfgang Neugebauer, Peter Schwarz: The will to walk upright . Ed .: BSA. S. 161 ( bsa.at [PDF]).
  32. ↑ Kreisky's brown minister. In: The Standard . December 19, 2005.
  33. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 384
  34. ↑ Falter 45/2005: Austria alone at home  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.falter.at  
  35. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 184.
  36. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 29.
  37. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 72 f.
  38. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 213 ff.
  39. ↑ Armin Thurnher: The trauma, a life. Austrian details. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-552-04926-6 , p. 185.
  40. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 347
  41. ↑ a b c d Oliver Rathkolb: The Kreisky era (1970–1983) . In: Rolf Steininger, Michael Gehler (Hrsg.): Austria in the 20th century. Volume 2: From World War II to the Present . Böhlau, Vienna 1997. ISBN 3-205-98527-3 , pp. 305–343.
  42. ↑ Article 9a B-VG, Federal Law Gazette No. 368/1975
  43. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 2/1975 (= p. 361)
  44. ^ Obituary for Ernst Federn by Roland Kaufhold
  45. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 71
  46. ↑ Peter Michael Lingens: Views of an Outsider . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-218-00797-9 , p. 148
  47. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 386
  48. ↑ Klaus Vogelauer: The affair Kreisky / Peter / Wiesenthal. Chronology and background of an atypical political scandal , seminar paper, University of Vienna, Vienna 2002
  49. ↑ Unconditional prison sentence seldom , on orf.at, accessed on October 13, 2014
  50. ↑ Peter Michael Lingens: Views of an Outsider . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-218-00797-9 , p. 149.
  51. ↑ Public debt: overview in accordance with Section 42 (4) BHG 2013 , p. 13; BMF, December 2012.
  52. ^ Christian Rainer: Kreisky and the money. Weekly magazine profil , Vienna, January 22, 2011.
  53. ↑ a b c d e Roman Sandgruber: Economy and Politics. Austrian economic history from the Middle Ages to the present . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-8000-3981-8 , pp. 486-493.
  54. ↑ Rathkolb, Paradoxe Republik , p. 138
  55. ↑ Kreisky, Memoirs II, p. 413 f.
  56. ^ Anton Pelinka: After the calm. A political autobiography . Lesethek Verlag, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-99100-006-8 , p. 158.
  57. ^ Stenographic minutes, 11th session of the National Council of the Republic of Austria, XVI. Legislative period, September 28, 1983, p. 710 ff. (PDF; 3.4 MB)
  58. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Petritsch: Bruno Kreisky: The Biography. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3 , pp. 373-401.
  59. ↑ A terrible simplifier: Historian Rathkolb in an interview on 100 years of Kreisky ( Memento from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  60. ↑ https://diepresse.com/home/kultur/news/593316/Heldenplatz_Bernhards-Skandalstueck-wieder-in-Wien
  61. ↑ Werner A. Perger: Farewell on installments. In: weekly newspaper Die Zeit , Hamburg, No. 42, October 14, 2010, Austria edition, p. 16.
  62. ↑ Herbert Lackner: Fatal side effects , in: Wochenmagazin profil , Vienna, No. 5, January 31, 2011, p. 24 f.
  63. ↑ Georg Markus : Bruno Kreisky: An era ended 25 years ago. "Stories with a History" series. Kurier , April 27, 2008, pp. 44-45. Article on androsch.com (PDF; p. 2; 1.0 MB) . Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  64. ^ Franz Endler: Austria between the lines. The transformation of land and people since 1848 in the mirror of the " press " . Fritz Molden Verlag, Vienna 1973. ISBN 3-217-00467-1 , p. 248.
  65. ↑ Rathkolb: Paradoxe Republik , p. 39
  66. ↑ Joachim Riedl: The chemistry wasn't cheap , interview with Helmut Schmidt about his colleague Bruno Kreisky and the hopelessness of his Middle East initiatives; in: Weekly magazine Die Zeit , Hamburg, No. 4, January 20, 2011
  67. ↑ Armin Thurnher: The trauma, a life. Austrian details. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1999. ISBN 3-552-04926-6 , p. 29.
  68. ^ Anton Pelinka: After the calm. A political autobiography . Lesethek Verlag, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-99100-006-8 , p. 184.
  69. ^ Franz Endler: Austria between the lines. The transformation of land and people since 1848 in the mirror of the " press " . Verlag Fritz Molden, Vienna 1973. ISBN 3-217-00467-1 , p. 321.
  70. ↑ Peter Michael Lingens: Views of an Outsider . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-218-00797-9 , p. 13.
  71. ↑ quoted from Franz Kotteder: Statesman with many faces. The Pasinger factory is showing a remarkable exhibition about Bruno Kreisky and his time . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , Munich, November 22, 2000.
  72. ^ Friedrich Heer: The struggle for the Austrian identity . Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., Graz 1981. ISBN 3-205-07155-7 , p. 113 f.
  73. ↑ Peter Michael Lingens: Views of an Outsider . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-218-00797-9 , p. 91.
  74. ^ Franz Kotteder: statesman with many faces. The Pasinger factory is showing a remarkable exhibition about Bruno Kreisky and his time . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , Munich, November 22, 2000.
  75. ↑ Peter Michael Lingens: Views of an Outsider , Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-218-00797-9 , p. 115.
  76. ↑ Peter Michael Lingens: Views of an Outsider . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-218-00797-9 , p. 162.
  77. ↑ a b Bruno Kreisky. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (ed.); accessed on January 11, 2011
  78. ^ RK preview of dates from May 18 to 27, 1998. Archive report of the town hall correspondence from May 15, 1998. See also the Vienna School Guide of the City School Council for Vienna: KMS Dr. Bruno Kreisky School and GTVS Leberberg, Dr. Bruno Kreisky School . All: Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  79. ↑ On Suzanne (notation): cf. Döbling too : BV Tiller unveiled the Bruno Kreisky bust. Press release of the press information service of the City of Vienna, October 18, 2000. Accessed on 11th 2011.
  80. ↑ Ramallah GIS
  81. ↑ Stefan Egger: Deconstructing Kreisky, Part 1: Why the “Sun Chancellor” remains as visionary in 2011 as it was in 1971 . June 16, 2011. Accessed July 25, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Kreisky, Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (SPÖ), member of the National Council and Federal Chancellor
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1990
Place of death Vienna