Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer

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Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer (born September 4, 1894 in Ranshofen / Braunau am Inn , † December 27, 1957 in New York ) was an Austrian-American diplomat , journalist , lawyer and political scientist .

Life

Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer was the son of the Catholic landowner Julius Wertheimer in Ranshofen near Braunau am Inn. His family has extensive Jewish ancestry. His grandfather Ferdinand Wertheimer was a member of the Upper Austrian state parliament and a descendant of Samson Wertheimer . After the First World War - from which he returned as a Marxist - he studied in Vienna , Zurich , Berlin , Munich and Heidelberg until 1921 . In Heidelberg he approached the socialist student group around Carlo Mierendorff . Over the years, Ranshofen-Wertheimer developed an increasingly pragmatic attitude and turned into a social democrat . First he worked from 1921 to 1924 as an editor in Hamburg and then until 1930 as a foreign correspondent for the social democratic newspaper Vorwärts in London. There he wrote his first book Portrait of the British Workers' Party , which became a bestseller, and had first contacts with the young Salzburg journalist and economist Leopold Kohr .

His book caught the attention of the British government, which had a great influence on the League of Nations . That is why he was able to work for ten years in Geneva from 1930 as a diplomat and department head of the League of Nations. In view of the emergence of National Socialism, he emigrated to America, where he worked as a professor at the American University in Washington in 1940/41 and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1942 to 1945. In 1945/46 he was a consultant for UN affairs in the US State Office.

Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer supported the US government in World War II against Germany by taking a stand against the National Socialist government with his younger colleague Leopold Kohr (including in the New York Times ). From 1946 until his retirement in 1955 he worked for the United Nations in the commissions for Korea, Somaliland and Eritrea. After his retirement from 1956 he was an advisor to the Austrian UN representation.

Ranshofen Cemetery: Grave of the Wertheimer family, in which Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer is also buried

Through his work The International Secretariat - A Great Experiment in International Administration he was a pioneer of the United Nations.

Ranshofen-Wertheimer and Kohr, they also campaigned for the end of the four-power rule and the constitutional independence of Austria. Austria also owes the rapid admission of the young Second Republic to the United Nations (1955) to the commitment of Ranshofen-Wertheimer.

After his death in New York, Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer was transferred to Austria and, after a Catholic funeral service, was buried in his family's grave in the Ranshofen parish cemetery.

Quotes

“Austria owes its influence to the Marshall Plan, among other things . Ranshofen-Wertheimer was deliberately kept quiet by forgetful politicians of the post-war period, because he did not want to sweep under the carpet the responsibility of the Austrian Nazis for the fall of the country. "

- Gerald Lehner : December 21, 2010

reception

Sculpture lectern - The Peace Speaker's Desk at Ranshofen Abbey

Since 2007, the Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer Prize of the City of Braunau has been awarded as part of the Braunau Contemporary History Days .

In September 2007 the 16th Braunau Contemporary History Days dealt with Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer under the title “Peacemakers Manual”.

On November 4, 2012, the sculpture "REDNERPULT - The Peace Speaker's Desk" by the artist Reinhard Blum, dedicated to Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer's life's work, was unveiled in a courtyard of Ranshofen Abbey .

Publications

  • The face of the British Labor Party. JHW Dietz Nachf., Berlin 1929
  • Victory is not enough. The strategy for a lasting peace. WW Norton & Company Publishers, New York 1942
  • The International Secretariat. A Great Experiment in International Administration. Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, Washington 1945

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferdinand Wertheimer . Jewish Historical Association Augsburg, December 6, 2015
  2. ^ Hitler's Braunau opponent in the USA . Salzburg.ORF.at, December 21, 2010
  3. ^ Program of the 16th Braunau Contemporary History Days. ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 28.-30. September 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hrb.at
  4. ↑ Short typescript transcription of Ranshofen-Wertheimer's wartime memoirs of his friend Robert Bass (1888-1919), who served as a doctor in the Austrian Army during the first World War on the Eastern Front
personal data
SURNAME Ranshofen-Wertheimer, Egon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wertheimer, Egon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian diplomat, journalist, lawyer and political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th September 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Ranshofen , Braunau am Inn
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1957
Place of death New York City