*** FULLY BOOKED ***

Museumsquartier Wien
Hall: ARENA 21
Museumsplatz 1, A-1070 Wien
Underground U2 or U3: Museumsquartier

Dr. Gudrun Harrer in conversation with H.E. Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Minister of State, Qatar, and Amb. Dr. Wolfgang Petritsch

MEDIATION IN TIMES OF WAR AND CONFLICT – PERSPECTIVES FOR PEACE AND SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

For many decades, the Middle East has seen conflicts and wars, economic and social challenges. The Gulf states, however, stand out in their strategic use of energy resources and economic development, but also differ in their respective regional and global policy engagements. Its geographical location and economic strength make Qatar a powerful player in the MENAT – Middle East, North Africa, Türkiye – economic region and a strategic business partner for the EU. Even before the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Israel’s war on Gaza, the State of Qatar has distinguished itself also as a mediator in conflicts in the Middle East and beyond for years. Qatari diplomacy has achieved this by establishing and maintaining relations with political forces and actors that have stayed inaccessible for other states. Qatar’s services as one of the key mediators between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas have also been of critical importance following the latter’s heinous attack on Israel on 7^th October 2023.

The official visit to Austria of H.E. Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Minister of State, whose mandate includes mediation efforts, brings a proven expert in this field to Vienna. Minister Al-Khukaifi will speak on “Qatar’s Subtle Strength: How a Small State Became a Global Mediation Leader”, followed by a conversation and discussion.  It is an important and timely opportunity to learn more about Qatar’s views on the prospect of ending Israel’s war on Gaza and “the Day After”. What are the options for reviving an Israeli-Palestinian peace process and what visions are there for a new lasting security architecture in the Middle East? 

H.E. Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Minister of State. His Excellency’s mandate includes mediation efforts, resolving conflicts, and supporting Qatar’s role in the peaceful settlement of disputes. Prior to that, Minister Al-Khulaifi served as Assistant Foreign Minister for Regional Affairs and as Dean of the College of Law at Qatar University. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Law from Qatar University and obtained both his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Law from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He has authored and published numerous articles and research papers in the field of law and serves on several State councils and committees. In 2018, Dr. Al-Khulaifi served as Legal Advisor to His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, and as the Agent of the State of Qatar before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Amb. Dr. Wolfgang Petritsch, Board Member of the Bruno Kreisky Forum for international Dialogue and President of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. Amb. Petritsch held many important European and international diplomatic functions, i.a. as the EU Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator at the Kosovo peace talks in Rambouillet and Paris 1998/99 and between 1999 and 2002 as the International Community’s High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in charge of the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Mr. Petritsch has taught and published extensively on conflict resolution and mediation.

Dr. Gudrun Harrer, journalist, senior editor, Der Standard, and lecturer for Modern History and Politics of the Near and Middle East at the University of Vienna Lektorin and at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.

In cooperation with DIPLOMATISCHE AKADEMIE

Robert Misik im Gespräch mit Daniel Cohn-Bendit und Claus Leggewie

ZURÜCK ZUR WIRKLICHKEIT

Hellwach und blitzgescheit, der Liebe zum Widerspruch ebenso treu wie der Melange aus Realpolitik und Utopie: ein unverzagter Blick zurück nach vorn.
Katastrophen darf man nicht persönlich nehmen, auch wenn eine Hoffnung nach der anderen schwindet: die auf dauerhaften Frieden, auf ein starkes Europa, auf ein multikulturelles Zusammenleben, auf eine nachhaltige Weltgesellschaft.
Was ist schiefgegangen, wo liegen die Fehler, aber auch: Was ist trotz allem möglich? Ohne Illusionen, ohne Weinerlichkeit, ohne Zorn und ohne Rechthaberei schauen Daniel Cohn-Bendit und Claus Leggewie zurück und gleichzeitig mitten hinein in die aktuelle Wirklichkeit.
Ihr unangepasstes Denken und die lange politische Erfahrung machten beide zu begehrten Kommentatoren, sei es zum Nahostkonflikt, dem Aufstieg der Rechten oder zur französischen und US-amerikanischen Politik. Die aus langen Diskussionen gewonnenen Einsichten sind in einer politisch so heiklen Lage wie der jetzigen von besonders hohem Wert.
In diesem Buch erzählen sie von Meilensteinen in ihrem Leben und verraten auch weniger Bekanntes wie etwa die herausfordernden Beratungstätigkeiten für Merkel und Macron.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, genannt Dany, Ikone im französischen Mai 1968 und bekannt geworden als anti-autoritäre Autorität der 70er. Kein Berufsrevolutionär geworden, sondern Kindergärtner, Buchhändler, Herausgeber des Sponti-Magazins ›Pflasterstrand‹, Realo-Anführer bei den Grünen, 1990 Stadtrat für Multikulturelle Angelegenheiten in Frankfurt, dann zwanzig Jahre Mitglied des Europaparlaments, abwechselnd als Spitzenkandidat in Deutschland und in Frankreich.
Heute Autor von Dokumentarfilmen, Debattenredner und Kommentator des Zeitgeschehens in französischen und deutschen Medien.

Claus Leggewie, Jahrgang 1950, Politologe und Publizist. Zehn Jahre Direktor des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts in Essen und Berater der Bundesregierung in Sachen Globale Umweltveränderungen. 2021 Honorary Fellow am Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles.
Derzeit Ludwig-Börne-Professor an der Universität Gießen und Initiator des ›Panel on Planetary Thinking‹, das die Grenzen zwischen Natur und Kultur verflüssigt. Bei Wagenbach erschien u.a. »Die Konsultative. Mehr Demokratie durch Bürgerbeteiligung« (mit Patrizia Nanz) sowie »Die Visegrád-Connection. Eine Herausforderung für Europa« (mit Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski).

Moderation: Robert Misik, Autor und Journalist

Claus Leggewie, Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Zurück zur Wirklichkeit. Eine politische Freundschaft
Wagenbach Verlag 2025, ISBN 978-3-8031-3753-1, 24,– €

BRUNO KREISKY FORUM IM KINO

Location:
Stadtkino Wien, Akademiestraße 13, 1010 Wien

Screening and Panel Discussion
TO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE FIRE

Beirut uprising in 2019, the explosion of the port in 2020, dangers for a civil war and the effects of war and conflicts in the neighborhood have all contributed to the chronic political deadlock, economic collapse, and social fragmentation in Lebanon. The film To Close Your Eyes and See Fire by Nicola von Leffern und Jakob Carl Sauer is a cinematic exploration of memory, loss, and resilience in the city of Beirut. Despite all challenges, there has been remarkable creativity, cultural expression, and civic engagement. However, the question remains: who will leave the country and at what cost?

Set against the backdrop of Lebanon’s turbulent recent history and the citizens of Beirut portrayed in the film, Katharina Wagner (ORF) will discuss with Mohanad Hage Ali, esteemed academic and political journalist, the perspectives for Beirut, Lebanon and the region given not only the challenges but also the many voices of those who do not give up striving for peace, justice and a better future.

The Bruno Kreisky Forum for international Dialogue together with Golden Girls Filmproduction www.goldengirls.at and Stadtkino www.stadtkinowien.at cordially invites you to this filmscreening and the afterward public discussion, followed by a closing reception in the Foyer.

Please note: The film will be in Arabic with English subtitles, the discussion will be held in English.

Tickets for the screening are 10,50 EUR.

Mohanad Hage Ali is the Deputy Director for Research at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. An academic and political journalist, he holds a PhD and MSc in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In addition to his role at Carnegie, Hage Ali teaches political science at Emory University and has lectured at the Lebanese American University. He is the author of Nationalism, Transnationalism, and Political Islam: Hezbollah’s Institutional Identity (2017) and co-editor of A Restless Revival: Political Islam after the 2011 Uprisings.

Moderator:

Katharina Wagner, journalist at the foreign news department of the Austrian Broadcaster ORF. She worked several years as a correspondent for ORF in Paris and Rome and was Bureau Chief of the broadcaster’s office in Istanbul and Tehran until recently.

Raimund Löw in conversation with Reinhard Heinisch, Christian Grose and Linda Feldmann

HOW TRUMPS WAR AGAINST THE UNIVERSITIES IS CHANGING AMERICA

Outstanding universities are a source of research and innovation in the United States. Bright young people from all over the world used to dream of attending American elite universities. Not any more. The Trump administration considers Harvard and other institutions of higher education as liberal adversaries.  Foreign students, an important source of income for universities, feel rejected.   Billions of dollars of grants and federal contracts are frozen. Political activism is attacked as antisemitic. What does this assault on the famous elite universities mean for the education system as a whole? How efficient is the resistance against the threats from Washington DC? How successful are the attempts of the administration to create a climate of intimidation and to lead America in an authoritarian direction?

Reinhard Heinisch, Professor of Austrian Politics in Comparative European Perspective Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg

Christian Grose, Academic Director, USC Schwarzenegger Institute and Professor of Political Science and International Relations Professor of Public Policy University of Southern California

Linda Feldmann, Washington Bureau Chief The Christian Science Monitor

Moderation: Raimund Löw, journalist and historian, is editor of the podcast Falter Radio. He has been foreign correspondent for Austrian Radio and Television ORF in Washington DC, Beijing, Brussels and Moscow. He is author and coautor of several books on international affairs including Welt in Bewegung (2022), Weltmacht China (2018)

Irene Horejs in conversation with Claude Maon, Knut Dörmann, Günther Barnet and Shoura Zehetner-Hashemi

HUMANITARIANS UNDER ATTACK
Does the “Zeitenwende” threaten International Humanitarian Law and humanitarian action?

Since WWI and WWII, the international community has established a series of legal and institutional instruments to reduce the horrors of war and put efforts of prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts in the centre of multilateral policy. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols constitute the core of International humanitarian law (IHL) – the “ius in bello” – whose purpose is to protect the lives and dignity of civilians, civilian infrastructure, access to food, water, medicine and humanitarian support – to allow for UN aid agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent and humanitarian NGOs to alleviate the suffering of civilians in warfare.

After decades of Western leadership in strengthening the humanitarian system and in establishing mediation capacities and enforcement procedures of human rights by reinforcing international institutions (like the UN High Commission for Human Rights, the special UN rapporteurs, the International Criminal Court etc), the same Western nations suddenly seem to accept a world in which armament and war are again the means of first choice to deal with conflicts. Today´s wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine are marked by the ferocity of killing, blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid. And while humanitarian needs are multiplying, funding is being cut, not only by the US but also by EU member states. Today the humanitarian system is under-funded, overstretched and constantly under assault. Humanitarian workers face indiscriminate hostilities, deadly attacks and incessant obstruction of their work.

This event is the first one under the focus on “Humanity in der Zeitenwende”. We will discuss the implications of the permanent violations of IHL and the reduction of finance on humanitarian action and affected populations in current conflicts. What are the implications of EU double standards in the interpretation of IHL on future political developments, in particular in the context of rearmament policies in Europe? How to give humanity a stronger voice in this period of the “Zeitenwende”?

Knut Dörmann, former Head of the Delegation to the EU, NATO and the Kingdom of Belgium and former Chief Legal Officer and head of the ICRC’s Legal Division,
Claude Maon, Director of the International Legal Department at Médecins Sans Frontières, Brussels
Günther Barnet, Department for Regional Cooperation with Africa and the Middle East, Austrian Ministry of Defence
Shoura Zehetner-Hashemi,Lawyer, Executive Director Amnesty International Austria

Moderator:
Irene Horejs, Former Director of DG ECHO and former EU Ambassador to Peru, Mali and Niger

Robert Misik im Gespräch mit Ingrid Brodnig und Johannes Hillje

MEHR EMOTIONEN WAGEN
Wie wir Angst, Hoffnung und Wut nicht dem Populismus überlassen

Ein Plädoyer für eine demokratische Emotionskultur

Populisten und Extremisten dominieren die politischen Emotionen. Sie schüren nicht nur Wut, sondern gelten ihren Anhängern auch als Hoffnungsträger. Demokratische Kräfte wirken dagegen oft blutleer und technokratisch. Dabei lehrt die Geschichte, dass man die Emotionen nicht den Radikalen überlassen darf. In seinem aktuellen Buch fordert Johannes Hillje ein Umdenken und zeigt, wie Emotionen zur Politik gehören und in den Dienst der Demokratie gestellt werden können. Anhand von eigenen Studien und konkreten Beispielen beweist Hillje, dass Hoffnung, Wut und Angst zu einer neuen demokratischen Emotionskultur gehören.

Hillje ist als Forscher seit Jahren mit sozialpsychologischen Dynamiken und politischen Emotionen befasst und macht immer wieder auch große empirische Forschungen. So arbeitete er an der großen Feldstudie „Die Rückkehr zu den politisch Verlassenen“ mit, die er seinerzeit auch im Bruno Kreisky Forum vorstellte.

Ingrid Bordnig, Autorin und Journalistin, beschäftigt sich in ihrer Arbeit mit den Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf unsere Gesellschaft. Ein Schwerpunkt ist dabei der Umgang mit Desinformation und Hasskommentaren. Brodnig hat sechs Bücher verfasst, zuletzt “Wider die Verrohung”, das Tipps gibt, um sich für eine sachliche demokratische Debatte einzusetzen.

Ingrid Brodnig, Journalistin, Buchautorin und Kolumnistin der Tageszeitung Standard

Johannes Hillje studierte Politische Kommunikation an der London School of Economics und Politikwissenschaft und Publizistik an der Universität Mainz. Danach sammelte er Erfahrungen im Journalismus und bei den Vereinten Nationen in New York. Heute arbeitet der ehemalige Wahlkampfmanager als selbstständiger Politik- und Kommunikationsberater für Unternehmen, Ministerien, Politiker und Parteien und kommentiert häufig in den Medien. Hillje lebt mit seiner Familie in Berlin.

Moderation:
Robert Misik, Autor und Journalist

Johannes Hillje:
Mehr Emotionen wagen.
Piper Verlag, 2025, 22,70 €

Solmaz Khorsand in conversation with Ali Fathollah-Nejad & Azadeh Kian

INSIDE IRAN: REGIME RESILIENCE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CHANGE

Solmaz Khorsand, Independent journalist and podcaster; fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM)

Ali Fathollah-Nejad, German-Iranian political scientist, Director of the Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG), and author of most recently Iran – How the West Betrayed its Values and Interests (in German) (Berlin: Aufbau).

Azadeh Kian, Iranian-French academic, Professor of Sociology, director of the Social Sciences department and director of the Center for Gender and Feminist Studies at the University Paris Cité

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Dani Gal, Guli Dolev-Hashiloni and Atheer Elobadi

ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN VOICES IN DIALOGUE IN TIMES OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Civil society activists on international solidarity and the attempt to uphold the rule of international law

Israelis for Peace is as Berlin based group of Israeli activists. These Israeli citizens, currently living in Germany, have come together out of a strong sense of responsibility to contribute to peace, equality, and justice for everyone living in Israel-Palestine. Their engagement reflects the conviction that voices from civil society can and must play a central role in shaping a more just and peaceful future. Standing Together Vienna is a Jewish-Arab alliance for peace in the Middle East. The group is an initiative with members from different backgrounds that promotes dialogue and co-existence as a means of achieving a just peace in the Middle East.

The panel will discuss how this can be achieved in Austria and Germany. The discussion will address some of the most pressing issues of the present moment: the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, and forms of protests inside Israel that often remain invisible in the international debate. The event highlights non-violence, justice, and democratic rights and underscores the importance of transnational solidarity and civic courage in times of crisis.

Dani Gal, (* 1975, Jerusalem) lives and works in Berlin. He studied at Bezalel Academy for Art and Design in Jerusalem, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Stäadelschule in Frankfurt and in Cooper Union in New York. His films and installations have been shown at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), Istanbul Biennale (2011), New Museum New York (2012), Kunsthalle St. Gallen Switzerland (2013), The Jewish Museum New York (2014), Berlinale Forum Expanded (2014), Kunsthaus Zurich (2015) Kunsthalle Wien (2015), Documenta 14 (2017), Centre Pompidou (2018, 2023) and at Club TransMediale Festival Berlin (2020).
-In 2024-25 Gal was  Fellow in the Centre for Advanced Studies INHERIT. Heritage in Transformation ist ein vom BMBF gefördertes Käte Hamburger Kolleg –  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
– In 2019 he was artist-in-residence with Blood Mountain Projects and research fellows at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute.

Guli Dolev – Hashiloni is a writer and researcher based in Berlin. He is a founding member of Israelis from Peace, holds an MA in Contemporary Middle East Politics (University of Haifa) and an MA in Global History (Freie Universität Berlin) and translates from German and Yiddish to Hebrew. He is a current fellow at the LABA residency in Künstlerhaus Bethanien, and his debut novel „Tsulul“, taking place in a human rights NGO based in Tel-Aviv, came out earlier this year in Hebrew.

Atheer Elobadi is a Palestinian and Israeli citizen who grew up in Tira, Israel, where he became politically active early on. He left Israel in 2008 and moved to Austria in 2009, where he became involved in social and political movements, including the organisation “Vielmehr für alle” and refugee and homeless aid. He is a co-founder of Standing Together Vienna, an initiative that promotes dialogue and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians as well as the promotion of peace, justice and equality. He is also a member of the artistic-political collective OneState Embassy, which uses performative art and diplomatic interventions to challenge political structures, promote intercultural dialogue and explore new forms of belonging beyond nation states.

Tessa Szyszkowitz, Austrian journalist and author, is a UK correspondent for Austrian weekly Falter and other German and Swiss publications. She curates Philoxenia at Kreiskyforum and she is a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute in London. Her book “Der Friedenskämpfer” (2011) was a biography of Issam Sartawi, a Palestinian politician who tried to establish dialogue with Israelis with support of Bruno Kreisky.

In cooperation with the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe (CFA/ÖFZ) 

Raimund Löw in conversation with Gudrun Harrer, Christian Berger and Myriam Benraad

EUROPA’S ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: BETWEEN ASPITRATION AND ACTION

Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israel set off a devastating war in Gaza, followed by a twelve-day clash with Iran. Both conflicts have been reshaping Middle Eastern politics. They have sidelined the United Nations and left little space for diplomacy, exposing the limits of multilateral action. For the European Union, the war poses a strategic dilemma. The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinians and has long positioned itself as a normative power, yet it remains largely excluded from peacemaking efforts. Internal divisions and strained transatlantic ties hamper a common strategy, even as Europe’s own security is directly affected by turmoil on its doorstep. To stay relevant, the EU must move beyond the role of donor and define a coherent approach that balances humanitarian credibility with strategic influence in a region where force increasingly trumps principle.

Opening
Sabine Kroissenbrunner, Secretary General of the Bruno Kreisky Forum

Discussion
Gudrun Harrer, Senior Editor and Middle East editor at the newspaper Der Standard (tbc)
Christian Berger, Director of the Crisis Response Centre at the European External Action Service (EEAS), Brussels
Myriam Benraad, Political scientist specialised in the Middle East, Institut catholique de Paris (ICP) / Sciences Po, Paris
Moderation
Raimund Löw, Historian, journalist, columnist for the Vienna Weekly „Falter“ (tbc)

Conclusion
Dietmar Schweisgut, Secretary General of the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Jonathan Coe and Giuliano da Empoli

IN PRAISE OF POLITICAL LITERATURE

When politics goes low, literature goes high: When, how and why do authors give their novels a political twist?

When Michelle Obama coined the phrase “When they go low, we go high” at the Democratic Party conference in 2016 she was talking about ethical leadership. Different from politicians, authors do not have an obligation to be either ethical nor leaders. Or do they?

Literature has been abused for political propaganda throughout history. Vergil’s “Aeneis” portrayed the emperor Augustus as heroic and his regime as a gift from God. In more modern times Jean Paul Sartre and Theodor Adorno had a public spat about Pros and Cons of political Literature: In his essay “What is literature?” Sartre advocated for engaged literature to further social change. In his essay “Commitment” Adorno called such literature as ineffective and even harmful.

Both Jonathan Coe and Giuliano da Empoli are known for their political literature. While Coe often uses humour and satire to mix social commentary into his bestsellers –  as in his Brexit-Satire Middle England – da Empoli comes from the other direction entirely. His first time novel and instant bestseller The Wizard of the Kremlin – Der Magier im Kreml – was a beautiful novel about a trade he knows all too well himself. He writes about Vladislaw Surkow, former influential chief advisor to the Russian president Vladimir Putin, after da Empoli served as a political former advisor to former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.

Jonathan Coe, born 1961, is a British novelist. He would possibly rather be known as a musician –he still plays keyboards and composes music for two bands: The Peer Group and Italy’s Artchipel Orchestra. But since he became too successful as a novelist, people know him as an author. “What a Carve Up!”, “The Rotters club”, “Middle England” are only a few highlights in his oeuvre. He received many prizes among them The Costa Novel of the Year and the Prix du Livre Européen. His newest novel was  published this August in German: “Der Beweis meiner Unschuld”, Folio Verlag, 2025.

Giuliano  da Empoli, born 1973, is the Swiss Italian author of The Wizard of the Kremlin – Der Magier im Kreml, a first time novel and bestseller about Vladislaw Surkow, former influential chief advisor to the Russian president Vladimir Putin. He is a former political advisor himself, he served as the deputy mayor for cultural affairs in Florence to Matteo Renzi, and later as his political advisor during Renzi’s term as head of the Italian government (2014-2016) – an experience recounted in Le Florentin („The Florentine“) Giuliano da Empoli is a professor at Sciences Po university, the founder of the pro-European political thinktank  Volta in Milan and has just publishedhis new book  Die Stunde der Raubtiere (L’Heure des prédateurs, The Hour of the Predator,), a reflection on the current era of new autocrats allied with tech magnates. 

Tessa Szyszkowitz is an author and UK correspondent for the Austrian weekly Falter. Her latest book was “Echte Engländer – Britain and Brexit” (2018)

Robert Misik im Gespräch mit Heinz Fischer, Hilde Hawlicek und Wolfgang Greif

INS RAMPENLICHT
Persönlichkeiten der SPÖ zu Beginn der Zweiten Republik

„In diesem Buch geht es nicht um Karl Marx und auch nicht um Victor Adler, Karl Renner, Otto Bauer, Adolf Schärf, Bruno Kreisky oder etliche andere Lichtgestalten der österreichischen Sozialdemokratie, deren Leben und Leistungen abgeschlossen vor uns liegen.

Es geht vielmehr um eine weitere Gruppe sozialdemokratischer Pionierinnen und Pioniere aus Österreich, und zwar Männer und Frauen, deren Arbeit und Einsatz als „wegweisend“ für die Sozialdemokratie, für die Gewerkschaftsbewegung, für Menschenrechte, für Gleichberechtigung und auch für den Frieden gelten. Sie standen und stehen jedoch nicht im gleichen Ausmaß im Rampenlicht der Öffentlichkeit wie die zuvor genannten Persönlichkeiten.“ HBP a.D. Dr. Heinz Fischer im Vorwort zum Buch

Die Biografien jener 25 Frauen und Männer der SPÖ, die im soeben erschienen Buch zusammengetragen wurden, reichen alle weit in die Erste Republik zurück. Sie durchlebten in den bitteren Jahren von Diktatur, Faschismus und Krieg 1934 – 1945 persönlich und politisch allesamt dramatische und opferreiche Erfahrungen. Ihr gesellschaftliches Wirken reichte zumeist weit in die Zweite Republik hinein.

Es geht aber nicht nur darum, das Leben und Wirken dieser „anerkannten Köpfe hinter den Kulissen“ mit ihren Leistungen beim Wiederaufbau der SPÖ und der Republik nach 1945 vor dem Vergessenwerden zu bewahren.

In der Zusammenschau dieser Portraits wird auch ein Abschnitt in der Geschichte der österreichischen Arbeiterbewegung in einer Phase des grundlegenden Wandels nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs sichtbar: gekennzeichnet von organisatorischen und personellen Kontinuitäten der sozialdemokratischen Bewegung wie auch von weitreichenden ideologischen und strategischen Brüchen innerhalb der SPÖ.

Zu den Portraitierten zählen u. a. Rosa Jochmann, Karl Czernetz, Maria Emhart, Josef Hindels, Peter Strasser sowie Marianne und Oskar Pollak. Portraitiert von den Herausgebern und zahlreichen Co-Autor:innen wie Helmut Konrad, Brigitte Kepplinger oder Florian Wenninger.

Bundespräsident a.D. Dr. Heinz Fischer und die ehemalige Unterrichts- und Kulturministerin Dr. Hilde Hawlicek haben einige dieser im Buch beschriebenen Persönlichkeiten noch selbst gekannt und teilen ihre Erinnerungen und gemeinsamen Erfahrungen.

Begrüßung:

Sabine Kroissenbrunner, Generalsekretärin Bruno Kreisky Forum

Martin Birkner, Mandelbaum Verlag

Zum Buch:

Peter Autengruber und Alexander Neunherz, Co-Herausgeber

Im Gespräch:

Heinz Fischer, Jurist, Bundespräsident der Republik Österreich von 2004-2016

Hilde Hawlicek, AHS-Lehrerin, Bundesministerin für Unterricht, Kunst und Sport von 1987-1990, SPÖ Delegationsleiterin im Europäischen Parlament von 1995-1999

Wolfgang Greif, Historiker, ehem. Leiter der Abteilungen Bildung sowie EU/Internationales in der Gewerkschaft GPA, Co-Herausgeber

Moderation: Robert Misik, Autor und Journalist

Peter Autengruber, Wolfgang Greif, Alexander Neunherz (Hg.)

Ins Rampenlicht
Persönlichkeiten der SPÖ zu Beginn der Zweiten Republik.
Mit einem Vorwort von Heinz Fischer
Mandelbaum Verlag, September 2025, 22,- €

Cathrin Kahlweit im Gespräch mit Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven

PUTINS ANGRIFF AUF DEUTSCHLAND

Der erfahrene Diplomat, ehemaliger Vizechef des deutschen Bundesnachrichtendienstes BND und Ex-Geheimdienstkoordinator der Nato, ist ein langjähriger Experte für das Ost-West-Verhältnis. Freytag von Loringhoven, der an den Botschaften Paris, Moskau, Prag und Warschau tätig war, befasst sich seit mehr als drei Jahrzehnten mit Moskaus Blick auf EU und Nato, aber auch mit den Auswirkungen von Desinformation, Propaganda und Cyberattacken. Gemeinsam mit dem Wissenschaftler Leon Erlenhorst hat er ein Buch über „Putins Angriff auf Deutschland“ geschrieben, das indes nicht nur die bilateralen Beziehungen, sondern auch die gezielten Attacken auf Demokratie und freiheitliche Grundwerte ins Visier nimmt. Im Gespräch mit Cathrin Kahlweit erläutert Freytag von Loringhoven, der das Auswärtige Amt, den BND und die Nato hervorragend von innen kennt, was geschehen muss, um die westlichen Gesellschaften zu stärken.

Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, deutscher Diplomat i. R., ehem. Vizepräsident des Bundesnachrichtendienstes, ehem. Beigeordneter Generalsekretär der NATO

Cathrin Kahlweit, langjährige SZ-Korrespondentin, ist Publizistin und Moderatorin.