Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , from 1919 Erik Maria Kuehnelt-Leddihn , (born July 31, 1909 in Tobelbad , Styria , Austria-Hungary , † May 26, 1999 in Lans , Tyrol ) was a right-wing conservative Austrian publicist.

Life

After graduating from high school , Kuehnelt-Leddihn studied law , political and political economics and theology in Vienna and Budapest . He was charged with a dissertation on "Britain's internal crisis" doctorate .

At the age of 16 he was already working as a journalist . At the age of 20, a Hungarian newspaper sent him to Russia as a correspondent .

In 1933 his novel Jesuiten, Spießer, Bolschewiken (Pustet, Salzburg; placed on the list of literature to be segregated after the end of the war in the Soviet occupation zone ) was published, which was soon followed by other books, some of which he published under pseudonyms ( Tomislav Vitezović , Francis Stuart Campbell and Chester F. O'Leary ).

In 1937 he married Christiane Countess von Goess and in the same year moved to the USA to teach at the Jesuit- run Georgetown University in Washington, DC . During the Spanish Civil War , he traveled as a journalist to parts of Spain held by the Spanish national forces.

After his return to the USA he accepted teaching positions at various Catholic universities.

In 1947 Kuehnelt-Leddihn returned to Austria and moved to Lans in Tyrol. From then on he worked as a freelance journalist. For example, he wrote for the conservative American magazine National Review published by William F. Buckley, Jr. , for the new right German monthly Criticón des Caspar von Schrenck-Notzing , the magazine Theologisches , the Rheinische Merkur and the right-wing extremist Aula . In 1953 his main political and philosophical work, Freedom or Equality (extended new edition 1985 as Equality or Freedom? ) Was published . In the following year he began extensive educational trips that took him to Chile, South Africa and Indochina several times in the course of his life, and he took up lecturing activities. B. 1993 at the summer university of the Junge Freiheit in Ravensburg.

Kuehnelt-Leddihn had been a member of the Catholic Austrian Landsmannschaft "Ostaricia Innsbruck" since 1984.

Political-philosophical views

Kuehnelt-Leddihn's political-philosophical thinking was shaped by the fading impressions of the Danube Monarchy and Austrian Catholicism as well as his experiences with Bolshevism during his stay in Russia and the rise of National Socialism . The main points of reference for him were the contrasts between freedom and equality and between diversity and identity. He saw in the French Revolution of 1789, with its egalitarian, traditional ideas, the basic evil of modern history and also the forerunner of Bolshevism on the one hand and National Socialism on the other. In his view, these ideologies tended towards an increasingly comprehensive leveling-off, on a national and international level, culturally as well as politically, socially and economically. Kuehnelt-Leddihn turned against basic democratic principles - which had already suffered moral shipwreck in antiquity due to the death of Socrates -, defended himself in particular against the idea of ​​equality for all people, was an opponent of national and international socialism and advocated one tradition- and God-bound, private property, the family and the nations or cultures protecting, estates - federal order and favored a re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation .

He described himself as “Catholic right-wing radical liberals ” ( Criticón , No. 24, July / August 1974), whereby it should be noted that Kuehnelt-Leddihn assigned political terms such as “ nationalism and racism as left and patriotism as right”.

In Liberty or Equality , he cited evidence that in the 19th century numerous intellectuals of various origins warned against the mania for equality and progress and a modern tyranny, such as Alexis de Tocqueville , Juan Donoso Cortés or Franz Grillparzer , and joins them. Furthermore, he subjects the democratic idea - i.e. the idea of ​​a majority rule based on equality of all - to thorough criticism and examines the advantages of the monarchy as well as the relationship between state and society. Another part of the book deals with Catholicism or the politics of the Catholic peoples. Kuehnelt-Leddihn also investigates the roots of National Socialism in Freedom or Equality , which he traces back to the Hussite Taborites , the progress teachings of the 19th century, socialism and racial teachings . In the afterword, he creates a picture for a state-federal community with a king, privy councilor, administration and representative body and evokes the imperial traditions of the Germans. However, Kuehnelt-Leddihn's considerations did not meet with a wide response in the European discourse. In paleoconservative circles in the United States, however, his views were very well received.

Magazine articles

  • The useful idiots. Criticón.
  • Christianity and Technology. Ordo, No. 9.
  • Christianity, technology, 'colonialism' and the developing world. Ordo pp. 41-85, No. 13
  • Review of Ernst Jünger: Die Marmorklippen. in American Mercury, July 1944
  • Thoughts on the Faith of a Liberal. The Catholic World, July 1, 1946
  • Catholicism in America. New York 1954

Books

  • Night over the East , novel, Verlag Anton Pustet, Salzburg 1935
  • The Menace of the Herd or Procrustes at Large , Bruce Publishing, Milwaukee 1943 ( PDF full text at archive.org )
  • Liberty or Equality. The Challenge of Our Time , Caxton Printers, Caldwell 1952
German translation: Freedom or Equality? The question of fate in the West , Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1953
extended new edition: Equality or Freedom? Democracy - a Babylonian Tower? , Hohenrain Verlag , Tübingen 1985
  • Between the ghetto and the catacomb. About Christian existence today , Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1960
  • The godless , publishing house Das Bergland Buch, Salzburg 1962
  • Latin America. History of failure? , Verlag A. Fromm, Osnabrück 1967
  • Brain, heart and backbone , Verlag A. Fromm, Osnabrück 1968
  • Das Rätsel Liebe , Herold Verlag, Vienna 1975. ISBN 3-7008-0117-3
  • Ship of fools on the left - a panorama for adults , Styria Verlag, Graz 1977. ISBN 3-222-10968-0
  • Right where the heart beats - Panoptikum for guaranteed unfashionable people , Styria Verlag, Graz 1980
  • Austria infelix or The Republic of the Envious Comrades , Böhlau Verlag , Vienna 1983
  • The wrongly set course. Der Rote Faden 1789–1984 , Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1985
  • The right set course. Wrong ways, astray and way out , Karolinger Verlag , Vienna 1989
  • Church and modernity - modern church? , Leopold Stocker Verlag , Graz 1993
  • Democracy. An analysis , Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz 1996
  • From Sarajevo to Sarajevo. Austria 1918–1996 , Karolinger Verlag, Vienna 1996
  • Church contra Zeitgeist , Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz 1997
  • Worldwide Church. Encounters and experiences in six continents 1909–1999 , Christiana-Verlag , Stein am Rhein 2000

literature

  • Johann Holzner / Christine Riccabona: The Lion of Lans. Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn . In: Sieglinde Klettenhammer (Hrsg.): Kulturraum Tirol. Literature - language - media. (Innsbruck Contributions to Cultural Studies / German Series, 75) Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck 2009, ISBN 978-3-901064-38-8 , pp. 121–135.
  • Johann Holzner, Christine Riccabona: Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , in: John M. Spalek , Konrad Feilchenfeldt , Sandra H. Hawrylchak (eds.): German-language exile literature since 1933. Volume 3. USA: Supplement 1 . Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2010 ISBN 978-3-11-024056-6 , pp. 125-137

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.polunbi.de/bibliothek/1948-nslit-k.html
  2. ↑ Catholic Austrian Landsmannschaft Ostaricia Innsbruck. Festschrift 25 Years 1982-2007, p. 32.
  3. ↑ Acton Institute: Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (1909–1999)
personal data
SURNAME Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kühnelt-Leddihn, Erik Maria Ritter von; Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Catholic publicist
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Styria
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1999
Place of death Lans (Tyrol)