Hardy Eisenstadt

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Hardy Eisenstädter (* 1939 in the Kingdom of Egypt ) is a former Austrian eventing rider , brigadier , interpreter and author .

Live and act

Hardy Eisenstädter was born in 1939 as the eldest son of Margarete Eisenstädter , later a respected lawyer, public prosecutor and judge under the name Margarete Haimberger-Tanzer , in what was then the Kingdom of Egypt. He only came to Austria at the age of 16, where he completed his officer training at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt . Subsequently, he was responsible for basic research for the Middle East at the National Defense Academy in Vienna and performed due to his excellent knowledge of Arabicvaluable services. As a sworn interpreter for Arabic, he accompanied the then Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky , as well as other members of the government. On September 28, 1973, Eisenstädter was also the first person who learned of the exact demands of the Palestinian terrorists during the hostage-taking in Marchegg .

Eisenstädter, at that time still with the rank of captain , was picked up by the police on the morning of the day in question and taken to Vienna-Schwechat airport , where the hostage-takers and their hostages had been driven. Arrived at the airport, the then Interior Minister Otto Rösch and other senior officials from the Interior Ministry and the security service were already there . Due to a direct order from the interior minister, Rösch was supposed to go to the airfield and negotiate with the terrorists. Initially mistaken for an agent of the Mossad , Eisenstädter had to identify himself at gunpoint before members of the Palestinian group As-Sa'iqa agreed to speak to him. The Palestinians demanded the closure of the transit camp for Soviet Jews in Schönau Palace , an agreement on this with the Austrian government, and confirmation of the whole procedure by Arab ambassadors in Vienna. They also demanded that the hostages be left unmolested to an Arab country in order to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners.

After initial problems - it was the weekend and nobody could be reached at the embassies - after 13 hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached with the Palestinians, accompanied by Arab ambassadors. In addition to the Lebanese ambassador, the Libyan ambassador Mahmud Al-Ghadsmi was in charge of the negotiations that resulted in the closure of the transit camp, the release of the hostages and the safe escort of the hostage-takers to Tripoli . Eisenstädter was subsequently neither mentioned in the official report of the federal government nor in the public media. Furthermore - in contrast to all other participants - he received no award for his efforts. Officials viewed his role as interference.

Even years later, Eisenstädter felt this negative attitude again and again. Kreisky had often used him for mediation missions in the Middle East, which the official diplomatic channels disliked. Even around three decades after Marchegg was taken hostage, he felt this attitude when he intervened in 2000 in the tensions between the Austrian UN troops on the Golan and the local population. He had already made contact with the Secretary General of Hezbollah , Hassan Nasrallah , in order to obtain the release of four Israeli hostages before this assignment was canceled by the Austrian Foreign Ministry and Germany took over further efforts.

In the course of his military career, Eisenstädter rose to the rank of brigadier . Today he lives in the 13th district of Hietzing in Vienna and is still registered as a court-sworn interpreter for Arabic. He is also a non-fiction author on the subject of horses and riding accidents. In 1972 he became the Austrian national champion in eventing . In equestrian sports he also appears regularly as a tournament commissioner and tournament judge.

Works (selection)

  • A ride through the Paragraph Parcours
  • The Austrian Armed Forces as a pioneer in the field of environmental protection? Environmental standards and environmental education in the Austrian Armed Forces - successes and open questions . In: Dr. Christian Wagnsonner (Ed.), MilSup MMag. Stefan Gugerel (Ed.): War with nature? Military operations between command of the terrain and preservation of the environment . 2013, ISBN 978-3-902761-15-6 . Pp. 73 to 85

Web links and sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hardy Eisenstädter on the official website of the Federal Ministry for Constitution, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, accessed on May 3, 2018
  2. ↑ Hardy Eisenstädter on the official website of the Main Association of Court Experts, accessed on May 3, 2018
  3. ↑ State champion eventing on the official website of the Austrian Equestrian Federation , accessed on May 3, 2018
  4. ↑ OEPS tournament information 5/2011 , accessed on May 3, 2018
  5. ^ Judges without further training , accessed on May 3, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Eisenstadt, Hardy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian eventing rider, brigadier, interpreter and author
DATE OF BIRTH 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingdom of Egypt