International Workshop: The Work of Otto Heller and Bruno Kreisky’s Contribution

Persecuted Austrians and their contribution to the global history of the Austrian State Treaty.

Main Reading Room of the Association for the History of the Labour Movement (VGA), Vorwärtshaus, Rechte Wienzeile 97, 1050 Vienna

Programme

Thursday, 3 September 2026

18:30 Opening remarks by Prof. Michaela Maier (VGA), Prof. Werner Anzenberger (BSF, BSA) and Christian Cwik (KonaK)
18:45 – 19:45: Heinz Gärtner (International Institute for Peace): The Austrian Model: Bruno Kreisky’s Neutrality (Keynote)
20:15 – 20:45: Uwe Christian Plachetka (KonaK/ADHILAC/Abrasa): Introduction to the research project „The Contribution of Otto Heller and Bruno Kreisky“

Friday, 4 September 2026

09:15 – 10:15: Christian Cwik (University of Klagenfurt): Vienna as a centre of conflict and peace policy in the 20th century
10.15 – 10.30: Coffee break
10.30 – 11.15: Maria Mesner (University of Vienna): Remarks on Kreisky’s perspective on the State Treaty and neutrality
11.15 – 12.00: Wolfgang Maderthaner (Vienna): Bruno Kreisky and the Late Enlightenment Project (keynote)
12:00 – 13:30: Lunch break
13:30 – 14:30: Wolfgang Petritsch (Austrian Institute for International Affairs): Bruno Kreisky and the founding of the CSCE in the context of the North-South conflict (Keynote)
14:30 – 14:45: Coffee break
14:45 – 15:30: Monica Grin (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil): The Austrian community in Rio de Janeiro and its struggle for Austrian independence (in Portuguese with German translation)
15:30 – 16:15: Marcelo Cheche Galves (University of Maranhão, Brazil): Getúlio Vargas (1951–1954) and the nation-state in Brazil
16:15 – 17:00: Romário Sampaio Basílio (University of Tocantina, Maranhão, Brazil): Brazilian Foreign Policy in Post-Colonial Globalisation: Authoritarianism and International Cooperation (1945–1985)
17:00 – 17:15: Coffee break
17:15 – 18:00: Uwe Christian Plachetka (KonaK/ADHILAC/Abrasa): The Secret History of the Austrian State Treaty
18:00 – 19:00: Sergio Guerra Vilaboy (Havana): Cuba’s role in the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement in the 1950s (in Spanish with German translation)
19:00 – 19:30: Closing discussion and summary with Uwe Christian Plachetka, Heinz Gärtner and Werner Anzenberger.

Workshop participation fee: EUR 10.00

Due to limited space, we would ask you to register at office@konak-wien.org

About the venue: The entrance to the Vorwärtshaus (Rechte Wienzeile 97) is somewhat hidden due to ongoing underground construction work. The building can be accessed via a site gate from the Gerüstpassage on the Rechte Wienzeile.

Funded by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for the Victims of National Socialism, the City of Vienna – MA 7 Science, and the Federation of Social Democratic Freedom Fighters.