Bruno Kreisky: A Reassessment

The iconic Bruno Kreisky was arguably the most important Austrian post-World War II statesman. He served in many different political functions: as a diplomat in Scandinavia, an advisor to the Austrian President, a Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry, a Foreign Minister (1959-66), leader of the Socialist Party (1966-70), and as Chancellor (1970-83). 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of his leaving office. He visited the United States regularly and worked with many of its Presidents. In 1976, during Kreisky's chancellorship, the Austrian state funded two Austrian studies programs as a Bicentennial Gift to the United States: one at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and the other at Stanford University. This Workshop aims at reassessing Kreisky's leadership and his place in postwar Austrian History.

Panel times are subject to change. Unless otherwise noted, all workshop panels (i.e., the public portions of the workshop) will take place in Social Sciences 710. 

April 19th, 6:00 PM (Social Sciences 710): Keynote Address with Professor Oliver Rathkolb (University of Vienna) - "Bruno Kreisky and His Times"

April 20th, 10:00-11:00 AM: Kreisky and the United States  - Social Sciences 710

Chair: Sheer Ganor (Assistant Professor - UMN Department of History)

Daniel Aschheim (Israeli Consulate, Chicago), Kreisky, His Jewish Identity, and Israel

Anna Graf-Steiner (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War, Graz),  Kreisky, the Soviet Union, and the Road to Helsinki

April 20th, 11:30-12:30 PM: Kreisky and Domestic Politics - Social Sciences 710

Chair: Saskia Jaszoltowski (Visiting Associate Professor - UMN Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature)

Matthew Paul Berg (John Carroll University), Kreisky and the Socialist Party

Günter Bischof (University of New Orleans), Kreisky and the Marshall Plan

April 20th, 2:00-3:30 PM: Foreign Policy - Social Sciences 710

Chair: Professor Gary Cohen (Professor Emeritus - UMN Department of History) 

Lonnie Johnson (Vienna), Austria's Bicentennial Gift to the University of Minnesota in 1976: Fulbright, Kreisky, and the Establishment of the Center for Austrian Studies

Michael Burri (Temple University & Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies), “The Sun King and the Intellectual: Bruno Kreisky, Heinrich Drimmel, and the United States”

Christoph Beitl (Univ of Vienna), Kreisky and the Media

April 20th, 4:00-5:00 PM: Concluding Keynote Address - Social Sciences 710 

Wolfgang Petritsch (Institute of International Politics & Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, Vienna), Kreisky’s Foreign Policy: A Personal Perspective

Chair: Günter Bischof (University of New Orleans)