Timeline Austria
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25000BC In 2005 archaeologists in
northern Austria reported finding the remains of two newborns dating
back 27,000 years while excavating a hillside near Krems. The
newborns were buried beneath mammoth bones and with a string of 31
beads, suggesting that the internment involved some sort of ritual.
(AP, 9/26/05)
4800BC-4600BC More than 150 large temples,
constructed between during this period, were unearthed in fields and
cities in Germany, Austria and Slovakia in 2002-2005. A village at
Aythra, near Leipzig in eastern Germany, was home to some 300 people
living in up to 20 large buildings around the temple.
(AP, 6/12/05)
c3300BCE German hikers Erica and Helmut
Simon found a well-preserved prehistoric corpse, later named Otzi
(Frozen Fritz), on Sep 19, 1991, in a glacier on the Hauslabjoch
Pass, about 100 yards from Austria in northern Italy. It was kept at
the Univ. of Innsbruck for study. In 1998 analysis indicated that
the Ice Man had internal parasites and carried the woody fruit of a
tree fungus as a remedy. Tattoos on the body were also found to be
placed over areas of active arthritis. A flint arrow was also found
in his back.
(SFC, 4/27/96, p.A-5)(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A4)(SFEC,
5/7/00, p.T4)(WSJ, 2/3/04, p.A1)
c1000BCE A Bronze Age salt mine of this time in
Hallstatt, Austria, had a pine and spruce staircase that survived
into the 21st century.
(Arch, 1/05, p.10)
193 Apr 9, The distinguished
Roman soldier Lucius Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor by the
army at Carnuntum (Austria).
(www.roman-emperors.org/sepsev.htm)
311 In Austria a Roman
gladiator school flourished at Carnuntum 28 miles (45 km) east of
Vienna. This was a major military and trade outpost linking the
far-flung Roman empire's Asian boundaries to its central and
northern European lands. Archeological digging at the site began
around 1870 and by 2011 only 0.5 percent of the settlement was
excavated.
(AP, 9/5/11)
899 Dec 8, Arnulf of Carinthia,
last emperor of Austria-France, died.
(MC, 12/8/01)
997 The name "Austria" first
appeared in a medieval manuscript.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A16)
1192 Dec 20, English King
Richard I the Lion Hearted was captured in Austria on his return
from the Third Crusade. An entire year’s supply of wool from the
Cistercian and two other monasteries in England was promised as
ransom for the King. It was never paid in full.
(NG, 5.1988, pp. 569)(MC, 12/20/01)
1235 Jan 2, Emperor Joseph II
ordered the Jews of Galicia, Austria, to adopt family names.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1267 May 10, Vienna's Catholic
church ordered all Jews to wear distinctive garb.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1295 Trieste became a Free
Imperial City.
(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Trieste.html)
1298 Jun 24, Rindfleish
Persecutions: Jews of Ifhauben, Austria, were massacred.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1298 Jul 2, An army under
Albert of Austria defeated and killed Adolf of Nassua near Worms,
Germany.
(HN, 7/2/98)
1308 May 1, King Albert [of
Austria] was murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his
share of the Habsburg lands.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1312 The Knights Templar were
suppressed by Pope Clement at the Council of Vienna. Pressured by
King Philip of France, Pope Clement reversed his 1308 decision and
suppressed the order.
(AHD, 1971, p.724)(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)(AP,
10/12/07)
1315 Nov 15, Swiss soldiers
ambushed and slaughtered invading Austrians in the battle of
Morgarten.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1347-1350 The Black Death: A Genoese trading post
in the Crimea was besieged by an army of Kipchaks from Hungary and
Mongols from the East. The latter brought with them a new form of
plague, Yersinia pestis. Infected dead bodies were catapulted into
the Genoese town. One Genoese ship managed to escape and brought the
disease to Messina, Sicily. The disease quickly became an epidemic.
It moved over the next few years to northern Italy, North Africa,
France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, the Low
countries, England, Scandinavia and the Baltic. There were lesser
outbreaks in many cities for the next twenty years. An estimated 25
million died in Europe and economic depression followed. In 2005
John Kelly authored “The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the
Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time.”
(NG, 5/88, p.678)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(SSFC,
3/6/05, p.B1)(SFC, 10/13/11, p.A6)
1365 The University of Vienna
was founded by Duke Rudolph IV.
(StuAus, April '95, p.2)
1386 The counts of Habsburg
tried to reach their goals by military force but were again defeated
by Swiss forces at the battle of Sempach.
(http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/old-swiss-confederacy-1291.html)
1388 The counts of Habsburg
tried to reach their goals by military force but were again defeated
by Swiss forces at the battle of Naefels.
(http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/old-swiss-confederacy-1291.html)
1415 Sep 21, Frederick III,
German Emperor (1440-1493), was born in Innsbruck Austria.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1421 May 11, Jews were expelled
from Styria, Austria.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1421 May 23, Jews of Austria
were imprisoned and expelled.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1429 Jan 10, Order of Golden
Fleece was established in Austria-Hungary & Spain.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1447 The winged altarpiece of
Stephensdom in Vienna was completed. The cathedral also contains the
tomb of Friedrich III.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.67)
1477 Future Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I, a member of the Habsburg family of Austria, married
Mary of Burgundy, heiress of all the Netherlands. Maximilian had
given Mary a diamond engagement ring, a practice that soon spread.
In 1996 Andrew Wheatcroft wrote a history of the Habsburgs: "The
Habsburgs."
(WSJ, 1/19/96, p.A-12)(SFEM, 6/28/98, p.6)(SFC,
5/28/08, p.G2)
1477 The Seventeen Provinces, a
personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 16th century,
became the property of the Habsburgs. They roughly covered the
current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North
of France (Artois, Nord) and a small part of Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeland)
1490 Anne of Brittany married
by proxy the recently widowed Maximilian of Hapsburg who had
inherited Burgundy and Flanders from his first wife. Brittany was
under siege by France and Maximilian failed to send troops in its
defense. Anne had her marriage annulled and married the French
Dauphin who had been engaged to marry Margaret of Austria, the
daughter of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. Anne’s portrait was
later painted by Jan Mostaert.
(WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A13)
1490 Linz became the capital of
the province of Upper Austria.
(StuAus, April '95, p.76)
1493 The World Chronicle of
Hartmann Schedel is held at the Library of the Academy of Fine Arts
in Vienna.
(StuAus, April '95, p.49)
1496 Mar 9, Jews were expelled
from Carinthia, Austria.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1498 Emperor Maximilian I
relocated his court from Innsbruck to Vienna and brought along the
court musicians. He also decided to include boy singers which gave
rise to The Vienna Boys School and Choir. In 1918 the Austrian
government took control of the court musicians, but not the boys
choir, which became a private institution. The boys choir began to
give public concerts in 1926. In 2007 the choir accepted its first
African-born member, Jens Ibsen (12) of Daly City, Ca.
(SFC, 12/8/07, p.A8)
1513 Jun 6, Battle at Novara:
Habsburgers vs. Valois.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1515 Jul 22, Emperor
Maximillian and Vladislav of Bohemia forged an alliance between the
Habsburg [Austria] and Jagiello [Polish-Lithuanian] dynasties in
Vienna.
(HN, 7/22/98)
1516 Feb 23, The Hapsburg
Charles I succeeded Ferdinand in Spain.
(HN, 2/23/99)
1519 Jan 12, Maximilian I of
Hapsburg (59), Holy Roman Emperor and German Kaiser, died.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.11)(AP, 1/12/98)(PC, 1992, p.170)
1519 Jul 6, Charles of Spain
was elected Holy Roman emperor in Barcelona. The Catholic heir to
the Hapsburg dynasty, Charles V, was elected Holy Roman Emperor,
combining the crowns of Spain, Burgundy (with the Netherlands),
Austria and Germany. He was the grandson of Ferdnand and Isabella of
Spain.
(V.D.-H.K.p.162)(NH, 9/96, p.18)(HN, 7/6/98)
1522 Feb 7, Treaty of Brussels:
Habsburgers split into Spanish and Austrian Branches.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1523 Hans Judenkonig published
in Vienna the first manual of lute playing.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1526 Ferdinand of Austria was
elected King of Bohemia and inaugurated the Austro-Hungarian state.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
1527 Croatia formed a state
union with Austria.
(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
1529 Oct 15, Ottoman armies
under Suleiman ended their siege of Vienna and head back to
Belgrade. The Ottomans siege of Vienna was a key battle of world
history. The Ottoman Empire reached its peak with the Turks settled
in Buda on the left bank of the Danube after failing in their siege
of Vienna.
(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-16)(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(HN,
10/15/98)
1536 Feb 25, Jacob Hutter
(d.1536), Anabaptist evangelist from South Tyrol, was burned as a
heretic in Austria. He had founded of a "community of love" in 1528,
whose members shared everything.
(TL-MB, 1988,
p.13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Hutter)
1538 Feb 24, Ferdinand of
Hapsburg and John Zapolyai, the two kings of Hungary, concluded the
peace of Grosswardein.
(HN, 2/24/99)
1544 Sep 19, Francis, the king
of France, and Charles V of Austria signed a peace treaty in Crespy,
France, ending a 20-year war. The Peace of Crespy ended the fighting
between Charles V and Francis I. Henry VIII was not consulted.
France surrendered much territory and Charles gave up his claim to
Burgundy.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HN, 9/19/98)
1556 Sep 9, Pope Paul IV
refused to crown Ferdinand of Austria emperor.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1556 Sep 12, Emperor Charles
resigned and his brother Ferdinand of Austria took over. Charles V
resigned and ended his days in a Spanish monastery. He bequeathed
Spain to his son Philip II, and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother
Ferdinand I. A few years of peace in Europe followed. The event
formed the basis for a later historical play by Friedrich Schiller,
which was in turn used by Verdi for his opera "Don Carlos."
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-12)(MC,
9/12/01)
1562 The Jesuits established a
secondary school in Innsbruck. It later became the Univ. of
Innsbruck.
c1562 Austrian Archduke
Maximilian began breeding Spanish Andalusian horses.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.D2)
1568 The Spanish Riding School
in Vienna began operating and became world famous for their
Lipizzaners, white horses.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, p.T5)
1571 Oct 7, Spanish, Genoese
and Venetian ships of the Christian League defeated an Ottoman fleet
in the naval Battle of Lepanto, Greece. In the last great clash of
galleys, the Ottoman navy lost 117 ships to a Christian naval
coalition under the overall command of Spain's Don Juan de Austria.
(AP,
10/7/07)(www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1760264/posts)
1574 A provincial academy was
founded in Linz.
(StuAus, April '95, p.39)
1576 Rudolf II was crowned King
of the Holy Roman Empire and moved the Imperial Court from Vienna to
Prague.
(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A13)
1578 Don John of Austria died
of fever. He was succeeded as Governor of the Netherlands by
Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)
1579 Jan 6, The Union of
Atrecht (French: Arras) was an accord signed in Atrecht (Arras),
under which the southern states of the Spanish Netherlands, today in
Wallonia and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais (and Picardy) regions in France,
expressed their loyalty to the Spanish king Philip II and recognized
the landlord, Don Juan de Austria. It is to be distinguished from
the Union of Utrecht, signed later in the same month. The Peace of
Arras ensured that the southern provinces of The Netherlands were
reconciled to Philip II. It joined the Low Country Walloons
(Catholics) with those of Hainaut and Artois.
(http://en.allexperts.com/e/u/un/union_of_atrecht.htm)(PCh, 1992,
p.200)
1580 Austrian Archduke Karl
created a royal stud farm for horses in Lipizza.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.D2)
1583 Rudolf II moved the
Imperial Court of the Holy Roman Empire from Vienna to Prague.
(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A13)
1585 Archduke Karl II, ruler of
Styria, granted the Faculties of Arts and Catholic Theology in Graz
an official Univ. charter. He entrusted the Jesuits with the
administration.
(StuAus, April '95, p.53)
1586 Sep 10, Hans Hannibal
Hutter von Hutterhofen, Austrian nobleman, was born. Johannes Kepler
later drew up his horoscope.
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A7)
1600 Hartheim Castle was built
at Alkoven in Upper Austria. During WWII it became one of several
notorious institutions that Adolf Hitler and his regime turned into
the main venues for what they called "euthanasia" and where
individuals who did not meet their ideals were gassed or given
lethal injections.
(AP,
11/5/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Hartheim)
1612-1626 Johannes Kepler, the Imperial Court
Mathematician of the Habsburgs, taught at the provincial academy of
Linz. Here he published his famous work Harmonices Mundi.
(StuAus, April '95, p.79)
1622 Paris Lodron, the
Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, founded the Univ. of Salzburg.
(StuAus, April '95, p.87)
1625 May 15, In Upper Austria
16 rebellious farmers were hanged in Varcklamarkt.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1628 Aug 1, Emperor Ferdinand
II demanded that Austria Protestants convert to Catholicism.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1636 Aug 8, The invading armies
of Spain, Austria and Bavaria were stopped at the village of
St.-Jean-de-Losne, only 50 miles from France.
(HN, 8/8/98)
1640 Jun 9, Leopold I, Emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire (1658-1705), was born.
(HN
6/9/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1663 Apr 18, Osman declared war
on Austria.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1661-1714 Peter Strudel, Austrian painter, he was
a court painter of the Habsburgs and founded an art school that
later became the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
(StuAus, April '95, p.47)
1669 Emperor Leopold I
sanctioned the foundation of a higher school in Innsbruck, Austria.
This is considered to mark the founding of the Univ. of Innsbruck.
(StuAus, April '95, p.97)
1670 Feb 14, Roman Catholic
emperor Leopold I chased the Jews out of Vienna.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1670 Feb 27, Jews were expelled
from Austria by order of Leopold I.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1670 Jul 25, Jews were expelled
from Vienna, Austria.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1677 Pope Innocent XII
confirmed the imperial foundation of the Univ. of Innsbruck in a
papal bull that emphasized the Catholic character of the Univ. and
decreed that the important chairs of the Faculty of Theology be
filled by members of the Jesuit order.
(StuAus, April '95, p.97)
1678 Jul 26, Joseph I Habsburg,
German king, Roman catholic emperor (1705-11), was born.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1683 Feb 12, A Christian Army,
led by Charles, the Duke of Lorraine and King John Sobieski of
Poland, routed a huge Ottoman army surrounding Vienna.
(HN, 2/12/99)
1683 Sep 3, Turkish troops
broke through the defense of Vienna.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1683 Sep 12, A combined
Austrian and Polish army defeated the Ottoman Turks at Kahlenberg
and lifted the siege on Vienna, Austria. Prince Eugene of Savoy
helped repel an invasion of Vienna, Austria, by Turkish forces.
Marco d'Aviano, sent by Pope Innocent XI to unite the outnumbered
Christian troops, spurred them to victory. The Turks left behind
sacks of coffee which the Christians found too bitter, so they
sweetened it with honey and milk and named the drink cappuccino
after the Capuchin order of monks to which d'Aviano belonged. An
Austrian baker created a crescent-shaped roll, the Kipfel, to
celebrate the victory. Empress Maria Theresa later took it to France
where it became the croissant. In 2006 John Stoye authored “The
Siege of Vienna.”
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-16)(HN,
9/12/98)(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A1)(Reuters, 4/28/03)(WSJ, 6/3/03, p.D5)
(WSJ, 12/6/06, p.D12)
1686 Jul 8, The Austrians took
Buda, Hungary, from the Turks and annexed the country. Hapsburg rule
lasted to 1918.
(HN, 7/8/98)(Sm, 3/06, p.76)
1687 The Austrian Army captured
Petrovaradin (Serbia) after 150 years of Turkish control during the
Great Turkish War. The Austrians began to tear down the old fortress
and build new fortifications according to contemporary standards.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eug%C3%A8ne_de_Cro%C3%BF)
1692 Oct 18, Charles Eugene de
Croy, a field marshal fighting for Austrian forces, laid the
cornerstone for a new great fortress at Petrovaradin (later Serbia),
built to guard against the Ottoman Turks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eug%C3%A8ne_de_Cro%C3%BF)
1692 The Austrian Emperor
assumes the patronage of the Vienna art school founded by Peter
Strudel and it becomes the Academy of Fine Arts.
(StuAus, April '95, p.47)
1697 Sep 11, Prince Eugene of
Savoy led the Austrians to victory over the Ottoman Turks at Senta
(Serbia). This resulted in creating the conditions for the 1699
conclusion of the peace at Karlowitz.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eug%C3%A8ne_de_Cro%C3%BF)
1697 Sep 20, The Treaty of
Ryswick was signed in Holland. It ended the War of the Grand
Alliance (aka War of the League of Augsburg,1688-1697) between
France and the Grand Alliance. Under the Treaty France’s King Louis
XIV (1638-1715) recognized William III (1650-1702) as King of
England. The Dutch received trade concessions, and France and the
Grand Alliance members (Holland and the Austrian Hapsburgs) gave up
most of the land they had conquered since 1679. The signees included
France, England, Spain and Holland. By the Treaty of Ryswick, a
portion of Hispaniola was formally ceded to France and became known
as Saint-Domingue. The remaining Spanish section was called Santo
Domingo.
(www.caribbeanguides.net/hispaniola.htm)(www.jacobite.ca/documents/1697ryswick.htm)
1699 Jan 26, The Treaty of
Karlowitz ended the war between Austria and the Turks.
(HN, 1/26/99)
1701 Sep 7, England, Austria,
and the Netherlands formed an Alliance against France.
(HN, 9/7/98)
1703 Sep 30, The French, at
Hochstadt in the War of the Spanish Succession, suffered only 1,000
casualties to the 11,000 of their opponents, the Austrians of Holy
Roman Emperor Leopold I.
(HN, 9/30/98)
1704 Aug 13, The Battle of
Blenheim, Germany, was fought during the War of the Spanish
Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.
The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Austria defeated the
French Army at the Battle of Blenheim. In 1705 Joseph Addison wrote
the poem "The Campaign" for the Duke of Marlborough to commemorate
the military victory over France and Spain at the Battle of
Blenheim: "Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and
directs this storm."
(AP, 8/13/97)(HN, 8/13/98)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.A6)
1705 May 5, Leopold I von
Hapsburg (b.1640), Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1706 Mar 8, Vienna's Wiener
Stadtbank was established.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1713 Most European powers vowed
to respect the 1713 royal pronouncement of the Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI, called the Pragmatic Sanction, in which he declared that
if he had no direct male heir upon his death, his Austrian domains
would go to his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa.
(HNQ, 7/29/99)
1713 The plague in Vienna
ended. The Karlskirche Church, designed by Johann Bernard Fischer
von Erlach was built to commemorate this event. It is considered to
be Vienna's greatest Baroque church.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)
1717 May 13, Maria Theresa was
born in Vienna. She later became Archduchess of Austria, a Queen of
Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and a Holy Roman Empress.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria)
1717 Aug 22, The Austrian army
forced the Turkish army out of Belgrade, ending the Turkish revival
in the Balkans.
(HN, 8/22/98)
1718 Jul 21, The Turkish threat
to Europe was eliminated with the signing of the Treaty of
Passarowitz between Austria, Venice and the Ottoman Empire.
(HN, 7/21/98)
1732 Mar 31, Joseph Haydn
(d.1809), Austrian composer who helped develop the classical style,
was born. In his career he composed 104 symphonies, 82 string
quartets and 60 piano sonatas. He also wrote some 175 baritone
pieces for his patron, the Hungarian prince Nickolaus Esterhazy, who
played the complex stringed instrument. The Canadian scholar David
Schroeder wrote: "Haydn and the Enlightenment."
(CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.42)(WUD, 1994, p.651)(WSJ,
8/26/97, p.A14)(HN, 3/31/98)
1732 The Kaiserbrunn (emperor’s
brook) was discovered by Emperor Charles VI while on a hunting
expedition. It later supplied over half of Vienna's daily
requirement of drinking water, through a 130-km-long, rock-cut
tunnel called the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline, constructed
in 1873.
(www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2006/12/10/stories/2006121000080200.htm)
1733 Oct 10, France declared
war on Austria over the question of Polish succession.
(HN, 10/10/98)
1737 Jul 18, The Turkish army
beat the Austrians in the Battle at Banja Luka.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1737 Sep 14, Johann Michael
Haydn (d.1806), composer and younger brother of Franz Joseph, was
born in Austria.
(http://www.haydn.dk/index.php)
1739 Sep 18, Turkey and Austria
signed peace treaty with Austria ceding Belgrade to Turks. [see Sep
23]
(MC, 9/18/01)
1739 Sep 23, The Austrians
signed the Treaty of Belgrade after having lost the city to the
Turks.
(HN, 9/23/98)
1740 Oct 20, Maria Theresa
became ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia upon the death of her
father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.
(AP, 10/20/06)
1740 The ignoring of the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 led to the War of the Austrian Succession
in 1740. When Charles VI died in 1740, Maria Theresa’s claim was
ignored by Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, Augustus III of Saxony
and Poland, and Philip V of Spain, igniting a general European war.
(HNQ, 7/29/99)
1741 Mar 13, Jozef II, arch
duke of Austria, Roman Catholic German emperor (1765-90), was born.
(MC, 3/13/02)
1741 Jun 11, Austria ceded most
of Silesia to Prussia by Treaty of Breslau.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1742 Jan 24, Charles VII was
crowned Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the Austrian
Succession.
(AP, 1/24/07)
1742 May 17, Frederick great
(Emperor of Prussia) beat Austrians.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1743 Sep 13, England, Austria
& Savoye-Sardinia signed the Treaty of Worms.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1744 Nov 25, Austrian forces
pillaged and killed Jews of Prague.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1744 The Royal Porcelain
Manufactory of Vienna began to use an upside down shield, resembling
a beehive, as its emblem. Royal Vienna porcelain was made until
1864.
(SFEC, 10/9/96, Z1 p.8)(SFC, 10/17/07, p.G2)
1745 Jan 8, England, Austria,
Saxony and the Netherlands formed an alliance against Russia.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1745 Jun 4, Frederick the Great
of Prussia defeated the Austrians & Saxons.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1745 Dec 25, Prussia and
Austria signed the Treaty of Dresden. This gave much of Silesia to
the Prussians.
(MC, 12/25/01)
1747 Sep 16, The French
captured Bergen-op-Zoom, consolidating their occupation of Austrian
Flanders in the Netherlands.
(HN, 9/16/98)
1748 Oct 18, The Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle brought the war of Austrian Succession, which began
in 1840, to an end and upheld the Pragmatic Sanction.
(HNQ, 7/29/99)(MC, 10/18/01)
1749 King George commissioned
Handel’s "Music for the Royal Fireworks" to highlight the end of the
War of the Austrian Succession.
(WSJ, 6/25/97, p.A20)
1750 The Jesuits at the Univ.
of Graz assumed a leading role in the reception of the work of Isaac
Newton in Austria.
(StuAus, April '95, p.53)
1751 Jul 30, Maria A. [Nannerl]
Mozart, Austrian pianist, Wolfgang's sister, was born.
(MC, 7/30/02)
1756 Jan 27, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart (d.1791) was born on Gertreiderstrasse in Salzburg, Austria,
the son of violinist and composer Leopold Mozart. He later played
string quartets with Johan Baptist Vanhal, Haydn and Dittersdorf.
The young Mozart began composing minuets at age 5 and, with his
older sister Marianne, gave concerts in Munich and Vienna from age
6. At 13, Mozart became director of concerts for the archbishop of
Salzburg and in 1782 he married Constanze Weber against her father's
wishes. Although Mozart gave piano concerts throughout Europe and
composed more than 600 works, including 40 symphonies, he and his
wife were plagued by debt. When Mozart died in 1791, probably of
heart disease, he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. It was
not until his works were published, in many cases near the end of
the 19th century, that Mozart's genius became widely recognized. His
works included "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Magic Flute." In
2005 Stanley Sadie authored “Mozart: The Early Years,” which
chronicled Mozart’s life to age 25.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, Par p.11)(HNPD, 1/26/99)(HN,
1/27/99)(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.D8)
1756-1763 The Seven Years War. France and Great
Britain clashed both in Europe and in North America. In 2000
"Crucible of War" by Fred Anderson was published. France, Russia,
Austria, Saxony, Sweden and Spain stood against Britain, Prussia and
Hanover. Britain financed Prussia to block France in Europe while
her manpower was occupied in America.
(V.D.-H.K.p.223)(SFC, 7/7/96, BR p.7)(WSJ,
2/10/00, p.A16)
1757 Jun 18, Battle at Kolin,
Bohemia: Austrian army beat Prussia.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1757 Nov 22, Austrians defeated
Prussians at Breslau in the Seven Years War.
(HN, 11/22/98)
1760 Jun 23, Austrians defeated
the Prussians at Landshut, Germany.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1760 Aug 15, Frederick II
(1712-1786), king of Prussia, defeated the Austrians at the
Battle of Liegnitz.
(HN, 8/15/98)(WUD, 1994, p.565)
1760 Oct 9, Austrian and
Russian troops entered Berlin and began burning structures and
looting.
(HN, 10/9/98)
1760 Nov 3, Following the
Russian capture of Berlin, Frederick II of Prussia defeated the
Austrians at the Battle of Torgau (Germany).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Torgau)
1762 Aug 5, Russia, Prussia and
Austria signed a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland.
(HN, 8/5/98)
1762 Oct 5, Gluck's opera
"Orfeo ed Euridice" had its premiere at Vienna’s Burgtheater on the
namesday of Emp. Francis I. Gluck revised "Orpheus and Euridice" in
1774 for the Paris Royal Opera.
(WSJ, 4/11/96, p.A-16)(WSJ, 10/21/99, p.A20)(MC,
10/5/01)
1762 Dec 31, The Mozart family
moved from Vienna to Salzburg.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1764 Apr 3, Austrian arch duke
Jozef crowned himself Roman Catholic king.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1765 Mar 24, Austrian Empress
Maria Theresa issued a decree to establish a School for Healing
Animal Diseases. This led to the founding of the Univ. of Veterinary
Medicine.
(StuAus, April '95, p.23)
1766 Mar 28, Joseph Weigl,
Austrian composer, conductor (Emmeline), was born.
(MC, 3/28/02)
1767 May 13, Mozart's opera
"Apollo et Hyacinthus," premiered in Salzburg.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1767 Christophe Willibald
Gluck, Vienna court Kappellmeister, composed his opera "Alcestis."
It was revised in 1776 for the Royal Paris Opera.
(WSJ, 10/21/99, p.A20)
1769 Wolfgang von Kempelen of
Hungary invented the Automoton Chess Player. It was 1st demonstrated
to the Austrian court in 1770. In 2001 the deception was analyzed by
James W. Cook in his book "The Arts of Deception." In 2002 Tom
Standage authored "The Turk," an examination of the 18th century
fascination with automatons.
(WSJ, 7/12/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 4/12/02, p.W12)
1772 Upon the partition
of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Kingdom of Galicia and
Lodomeria, or simply Galicia, became the largest, most populous, and
northernmost province of Austria where it remained until the
dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_(Central_Europe))
1773 May 15, Prince Clemens Von
Metternich (d.1859), Chancellor of Austria, was born in Coblenz. His
policies dominated Europe after the Congress of Vienna.
(HN, 5/15/99)(WUD, 1994 ed., p.903)
1773 The Jesuit Order was
abolished at the Univ. of Graz.
(StuAus, April '95, p.53)
1774 Dec 18, Empress Maria
Theresa expelled Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1775 Apr 8, Adam A. earl von
Neipperg, Austrian general, Napoleon's wife Marie lover, was born.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1775 Apr 23, Mozart's Opera "Il
Re Pastore" was produced (Salzburg).
(MC, 4/23/02)
1777 May 13, University library
at Vienna opened.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1778 The Faculty of Law was
established at the Univ. of Graz.
(StuAus, April '95, p.53)
1780 Nov 29, Maria Theresa
Hapsburg (63), Queen of Austria, died.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1781 May 1, Emperor Josef II
decreed protection of population.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1781 May 25, Ferdinand,
archduke of Austria-Este, Governor-General (Sicily), was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1781 Sep 6, Anton Diabelli,
Austria publisher and composer, was born.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1781 Count Arco, a secretary of
Austria’s Archbishop of Salzburg, fired Mozart from the service of
the Archbishop. Mozart then began working on his comic opera “The
Abduction from the Seraglio,” which premiered the next year.
(WSJ, 4/25/08, p.W14)
1782 Jul 16, Mozart's opera
"Das Entfuehrung aus dem Serail" (The Abduction from the Seraglio)
premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1782 The Univ. of Innsbruck was
changed to a lyceum with four departments.
(StuAus, April '95, p.97)
1783 After this year German
officially replace Latin as the language of instruction.
(StuAus, April '95, p.17)
1784 Apr 29, Premiere of
Mozart's Sonata in B flat, K454 (Vienna).
(MC, 4/29/02)
1785 Sep 1, Mozart published
his 6th string quartet opus 10 in Vienna.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1787 Feb 18, Austrian emperor
Josef II banned children under 8 from labor.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1787 May 28, Johann Georg
Leopold Mozart (67), Austrian composer, died.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1787 Aug 10, Mozart completed
his "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."
(MC, 8/10/02)
1787 Aug 24, Wolfgang A. Mozart
completed his viola sonata in A, K526.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1787 Nov 25, Franz Xavier
Gruber, Austria, organist and composer (Silent Night), was born.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1788 Dec 18, Camille Pleyel,
Austrian piano builder and composer, was born.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1788 The Café
Frauenhuber was established in Vienna in what had been a medieval
bathhouse.
(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.C14)
c1789 The Marquis de Lafayette
wrote the original version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
He was appalled by the excesses of the revolution and fled to
Austria where he was imprisoned for 5 years.
(WSJ, 1/15/97, p.A12)
1790 Jan 26, Mozart's opera
"Cosi Fan Tutte" premiered in Vienna.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cos%C3%AC_fan_tutte)
1791 Feb 20, Carl Czerny,
pianist, composer (Schule der Virtuosen), was born in Vienna,
Austria.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1791 Jul 26, Franz Xavier
Wolfgang Mozart, 6th child of Austrian composer WAM, was born.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1791 Aug 4, The chief item in
the Peace of Sistova agreement between the Austrian Empire and
Turkey was the return of Belgrade to Turkey. The peace initiative
resulted from the terms of the Convention of Reichenbach between
Prussia and Austria. Belgrade had been taken in 1789 by the Holy
Roman emperor Joseph II.
(HNQ, 6/25/99)
1791 Dec 5, Austrian composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35. His
first opera was "Idomeneo." In 1920 Hermann Abert authored “W.A.
Mozart.” In 1991 Georg Knepler authored "Wolfang Amade Mozart," a
Marxist view of Mozart in his times. In 1995 Maynard Solomon
published a psychoanalytic biography of Mozart. In 1999 Peter Gay
authored a Penguin short life of Mozart and Robert W. Gutman
authored the comprehensive biography "Mozart."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.54)(AP, 12/5/97)(WSJ,
12/2/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 3/1/08, p.W8)
1791 The lyceum at Innsbruck
was again granted University status.
(StuAus, April '95, p.97)
1792 Feb 7, Cimarosa's opera
"Il Matrimonio Segreto," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1792 Apr 20, France declared
war on Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia, marking the start of the
French Revolutionary wars.
(AP, 4/20/97)(HN, 4/20/98)
1792 Nov 6, Battle at Jemappes:
French army beat the Austrians.
(MC, 11/6/01)
1792 Dec 12, In Vienna Ludwig
Van Beethoven (22) received 1st lesson in music composition from
Franz Joseph Haydn.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1793 Mar 5, Austrian troops
crush the French and recapture Liege.
(HN, 3/5/99)
1793 Mar 18, The 2nd Battle at
Neerwinden: Austria army beat France.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1794 May 18, The 2nd battle of
Bouvines was between France and Austria.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1794 Jun 26, The French
defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus. The French used
a tethered balloon to observe the battlefield and direct artillery
fire.
(www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_fleurus_1794.html)(NPub,
2002, p.4)
1794 Sep 28, The
Anglo-Russian-Austrian Alliance of St. Petersburg, which was
directed against France, was signed.
(HN, 9/28/98)
1794-1824 Matthias Schmutzer, artist, produced
over 1000 large-format watercolors of specimens from the imperial
gardens of Francis I. In 2006 H. Walter Lack authored
“Florilegium Imperiale: Botanical Illustrations for Francis I of
Austria.”
(WSJ, 5/27/06, p.P9)
1795 Mar 29, Beethoven (24)
debuted as pianist in Vienna.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1795 Aug 20, Joseph Haydn
returned to Vienna from England.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1795 Oct 24, Russia, Austria
and Prussia held a convention in Petersburg to finalize the 3rd
division of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic. Most of Lithuania with
Vilnius went to Russia, Warsaw and the left bank of the Nemunas
River went to Prussia and Cracow went to Austria. King Stanislovas
Augustas of Poland was forced from his capital and moved to Grodno
(Gardinas).
(Voruta #27-28, 7/1996, p.5)(MC, 10/24/01)
1796 Apr 13, Battle at
Millesimo, Italy: Napoleon beat the Austrians.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1796 May 10, Napoleon Bonaparte
won a brilliant victory against the Austrians at Lodi bridge in
Italy.
(HN, 5/10/99)
c1796 Numbered bank accounts
originated during the Hapsburg era.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C2)
1797 Jan 15, In St. Petersburg
Russia, Prussia and Austria signed and act that terminated the
Lithuanian-Polish state.
(LHC, 1/15/03)
1797 Jan 14, Napoleon Bonaparte
defeated Austrians at Rivoli in northern Italy.
(HN, 1/14/99)
1797 Jan 31, Franz
Schubert, Austrian composer, was born in Lichtenthal, Austria. His
works included the C Major Symphony and The Unfinished Symphony.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.B11)(AP, 1/31/98)(HN,
1/31/99)(MC, 1/31/02)
1797 Feb 12, Haydn’s song "Gott
erhalte Franz den Kaiser," (popularized years later as "Deutschland
Uber Alles," by Nazis), premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1797 Apr 18, France and Austria
signed a cease fire.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1798 Apr 28, Joseph Haydn's
oratorio "The Creation" was rehearsed in Vienna, Austria, before an
invited audience.
(AP, 4/29/07)
1798 The Piber Stud Farm began
breeding Lipizzaner horses.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.D2)
1799 Mar 12, Austria declared
war on France.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1799 Mar 19, Joseph Haydn’s
"Die Schopfung," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1799 Jul 30, The French
garrison at Mantua, Italy surrendered to the Austrians.
(HN, 7/30/98)
1799 Oct 24, Carl Ditters von
Dittersdorf (59), Austrian composer, died.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1800 Jun 14, French General
Napoleon Bonaparte pushed the forces of Austria out of Italy in the
Battle of Marengo. In 2007 the sword he wore was auctioned off for
over $6.4 million.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marengo)(SFC, 6/11/07, p.A2)
1800 Dec 3, Austrians were
defeated by the French at the Battle of Hohenlinden, near Munich.
(HN, 12/3/98)
1801 Apr 12, Josef Franz Karl
Lanner, Austrian composer, violist, was born.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1803 Nov 29, Christian Doppler
(d.1853), Austrian physicist who discovered the Doppler effect, was
born. Hubble used his name for the Doppler Effect, that describes
the apparent change in the frequency of a wave depending on whether
the wave is approaching or receding.
(WUB, 1994, p.426)(HN, 11/29/98)
1805 Apr 7, Beethoven conducted
the premiere of his "Eroica" symphony. It was 1st published in
Vienna.
(MC, 4/7/02)(WSJ, 5/20/03, p.A1)
1805 Aug 9, Austria joined
Britain, Russia, Sweden and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the
Third Coalition against Napoleonic France and Spain.
(HN, 8/9/98)(HNQ, 10/19/98)
1805 Oct 20, Austrian general
Karl Mac surrendered to Napoleon’s army at the battle of Ulm.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1805 Nov 20, Beethoven's
"Fidelio," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1805 Dec 2, Napoleon Bonaparte
celebrated the first anniversary of his coronation with a victory at
Austerlitz over a Russian and Austrian army.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1806-1813 Trieste was held under French rule.
(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Trieste.html)
1808 Mar 27, Joseph Haydn’s
oratorio "The Seasons," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1808 Dec 21, Ludwig van
Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor and Symphony No. 6 in F Major
had their world premieres in Vienna, Austria.
(AP, 12/22/06)
1809 Apr 10, Austria declared
war on France and her forces entered Bavaria.
(HN, 4/10/99)
1809 Apr 20, Napoleon defeated
Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria.
(HN, 4/20/98)
1809 Apr 22, At the Battle at
Eckmahl Napoleon beat Austrian archduke Karl.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1809 May 31, Composer Franz
Joseph Haydn died in Vienna, Austria on his 77th birthday. When
Napoleon’s armies marched into Vienna, the commanding general posted
guards in front of Haydn’s house to protect Haydn from trouble, and
a young officer was sent to sing for the old man.
(AP, 5/31/97)(WSJ, 1/8/98, p.A7)
1809 Jul 5-1809 Jul 6, Napoleon
beat Austria’s archduke Charles at the Battle of Wagram. He annexed
the Illyrian Provinces (now part of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro), and abolished the Papal
States.
(http://tinyurl.com/vx8dk)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram)
1809 Aug 4, Hapsburg Emp.
Francis I appointed Count Clemens von Metternich (36) minister of
state.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.371)
1809 Oct 8, Hapsburg Emp.
Francis I appointed Count Clemens von Metternich (36) foreign
minister of Austria.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.371)(ON, 5/04, p.1)
1809 Oct 14, The Treaty of
Schönbrunn ended hostilities between France and Austria.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.371)
1809 Dec 16, Napoleon Bonaparte
was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French
Senate. Metternich had convinced Francis I of Austria to offer his
daughter Marie Louise as a bride to Napoleon.
(AP, 12/16/97)(ON, 5/04, p.2)
1810 Salzburg, Austria was
annexed by Bavaria during the Napoleonic Wars and the Univ. of
Salzburg was suspended. The Univ. of Innsbruck was also abolished
and transformed back to a Lyceum.
(StuAus, April '95, p.87,97)
1811 The Technical Univ. of
Graz was founded as a Technical College.
(StuAus, April '95, p.53)
1812 Nov 29, After a charity
concert organized by a group of aristocratic women, Joseph von
Sonnleitner, Secretary of the court Theater, founded a Society for
the Friends of Music of the Austrian Imperial State. This led to the
establishment of a school for voice and a conservatory.
(StuAus, April '95, p.39)
1813 Jun 26, Metternich met
with Napoleon at Dresden and informed him that he must sue for peace
if he wanted continued Austrian support.
(ON, 5/04, p.3)
1813
Aug 26-1813 Aug 27, The Battle of Dresden was Napoleon’s last major
victory against the allied forces of Austria, Russia and Prussia.
(www.napoleonguide.com/battle_dresden.htm)
1813 Oct 16-1813, Oct 19, In
the Battle at Leipzig (aka Battle of the Nations) Napoleon faced
Prussia, Austria and Russia and suffered one of his worst defeats.
(DoW, 1999, p.325)
1813 Oct 18, The Allies
defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at Leipzig.
(HN, 10/18/98)
1814 Sep, The Congress of
Vienna convened in late September and continued to June 8, 1815.
Friedrich von Gentz of Austria served as secretary to the Congress.
It was held after the banishment of Napoleon to Elba. The congress
aimed at territorial resettlement and restoration to power of the
crowned heads of Europe with Prince Metternich of Austria as the
dominant figure. Viscount Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington
represented Britain. Alexander I stood for Russia. Talleyrand stood
for France. Prince von Hardenberg stood for Prussia. In 2007 Adam
Zamoyski authored “Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the
Congress of Vienna.” In 2008 David King authored “Vienna 1814: How
the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War and Peace at the Congress
of Vienna.
(Econ, 4/14/07,
p.94)(www.bartleby.com/65/vi/Vienna-C.html)(SSFC, 4/6/08, Books p.4)
1814 Dec 24, Austrian Emperor
Francis I appointed Joseph Ritter von Prechtl as the first director
of the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna.
(StuAus, April '95, p.23)
1814 In Austria rebuilding
began of the 14th century Arenberg Castle following a major fire.
(SFC, 4/20/09, p.A2)
1815 Jun 8, The Congress of
Vienna ended. Negotiations had begun in 1812 to rearrange Europe
following the defeat of Napoleon. The final conclave began Nov 1,
1814. In 2007 Adam Zamoyski authored “Rites of Peace: The Fall of
Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna.”
(www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/vienna.html)(WSJ, 8/1/07, p.D7)
1815 Sep 26, Russia, Prussia
and Austria signed a Holy Alliance. "Justice, charity and peace"
were to be the precepts that guided the Holy Alliance as envisioned
by Czar Alexander I of Russia. The alliance of Russia, Austria and
Prussia was formed after the downfall of Napoleon and later all
European rulers signed the agreement except the prince regent of
Great Britain, the pope and the sultan of Turkey. With no specific
aims beyond mutual assistance, the provisions of the Holy Alliance
were so vague that it had little effect on European diplomacy.
Metternich quietly replaced the entire alliance by the purely
political alliance of 20 November, 1815, between Austria, Prussia,
Russia and England.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/07398a.htm)(HNQ,
7/7/98)
1815 Nov 20, The treaties known
collectively as the 2nd Peace of Paris were concluded. Austria’s
chancellor Klemens von Metternich helped create a “Concert of
Europe,” a system by which 4-5 big powers kept miscreants in check
and managed the affairs of smaller states for over a decade.
(http://tinyurl.com/2sqgp9)(Econ, 6/9/07,
p.68)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/07398a.htm)
1815-1850 This period is covered on the referenced
website.
(http://www.pvhs.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/austria/austime.html)
1816 The Music Society of
Styria established a school for voice.
(StuAus, April '95, p.62)
1818 Dec 24, Franz Gruber wrote
"Silent Night."
(HFA, '96, p.44)(SI-WPC, 12/6/96)
1818 Dec 25, "Silent Night" by
Franz Gruber was performed for the first time, at the Church of St.
Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.
(HFA, '96, p.44)(AP, 12/25/97)
1819 Johann Wilhelm Klein of
Vienna, Austria, published a book on training dogs for the blind.
(ON, 12/03, p.5)
1820 Dec, Franz Schubert
composed his String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor (Quartettsatz). It was
only introduced to the public in 1867.
(www.owlhaven.com/schubert/schubertchron.htm)
1821 Mar 26, Franz
Grillparzer's "Das Goldene Vliess" premiered in Vienna.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1821 An independent institution
for the instruction of Lutheran and reformed theologies was
established at the Univ. of Vienna.
(StuAus, April '95, p.18)
1822 Jul 22, Gregor Johann
Mendel (d.1884), Austrian botanist who developed the theory of
heredity, was born.
(HN, 7/22/98)(NH, 6/01, p.30)
1822 Oct 15, Alfred Meissner,
Austrian physician and writer, was born.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1823 Dec 20, Franz Schubert's
"Ballet-Musik aus Rosamunde," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1824 Sep 4, Anton Bruckner,
composer and Wagner disciple, was born in Austria.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1825 May 7, Italian composer
Antonio Salieri (74) died in Vienna, Austria.
(AP, 5/7/97)(MC, 5/7/02)
1825 Oct 25, Johann Strauss
(d.1899), Austrian orchestra conductor and composer, was born.
(WUD, 1994, p.1405)(HN, 10/25/98)
1826 Mar 21, Beethoven's
Quartet #13 in B flat major (Op 130) premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1826 The Faculties of
Philosophy and Law were reestablished at the Univ. of Innsbruck.
(StuAus, April '95, p.97)
1827 Mar 26, Ludwig von
Beethoven (56), German composer, died in Vienna. He had been deaf
for the later part of his life, but said on his death bead "I shall
hear in heaven." It was later determined that he suffered from lead
poisoning. In 1995 Tia DeNora authored "Beethoven and the
Construction of Genius." In 2000 Russell Martin authored
"Beethoven’s Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a
Scientific Mystery Solved."
(WSJ, 5/29/96, p.A5)(AP, 3/256/97)(HN,
3/26/99)(SFC, 10/18/00, p.A2)(WSJ, 1/17/02, p.A12)
1827 Mar 29, Composer Ludwig
van Beethoven was buried in Vienna amidst a crowd of over 10,000
mourners.
(HN, 3/29/01)
1827 Aug 22, Josef Strauss,
Austrian composer (Dorfschwalben aus Austria), was born.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1827 Emperor Francis I
reestablishes the Univ. of Graz. It thus became known as the
Karl-Franzens Univ. in honor of its founder and patron of
reestablishment.
(StuAus, April '95, p.53)
1829 Oct 29, Maria A. [Nannerl]
Mozart, Austrian pianist (Wolfgang's sister), died.
(MC, 10/29/01)
1830-1916 Marie Ebner von Eschenbach, Austrian
writer: "No one is so eager to gain new experience as he who doesn’t
know how to make use of the old ones."
(AP, 11/6/00)
1831 Nov 14, Ignaz Joseph
Pleyel (74), Austrian composer and piano builder, died.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1831 The Austro-Italian
insurance company Assicurazioni Generali Austro-Italiche was
established.
(www.generali.ro/eng_despre_noi/istorie.htm)
1836 Jan 27, Leopold von
Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (masochism), was born.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1837 Oct 17, Johann Nepomuk
Hummel, Austrian composer, died at 58.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1838 Feb 20, Ludwig Boltzmann
(d.1906), Austrian atomic physics engineer, was born. [see
1844]
(HN, 2/20/98)
1840 May 29, Hans Makart,
Austrian painter (Plague in Florenz), was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1840 Nov 4, The School for
Mining and Metallurgy in the village of Vordernberg was established.
(StuAus, April '95, p.62)
1841 The Salzburg Cathedral's
Music Society founded the Mozarteum to preserve the memory of Mozart
and to promote the instruction and performance of music.
(StuAus, April '95, p.91)
1841 The Johann Maresch pottery
company began operating in Aussig, Bohemia (later Usti nad Labem,
Czech Rep.). At this time Bohemia was under Austrian rule and the
firm used the mark “JM Austria.”
(SFC, 9/12/07, p.G7)
1842 Apr 29, Karl Millocker,
conductor, composer (Beggar Student), was born in Austria.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1843 Apr 14, Joseph Franz Karl
Lanner (42), Austria, composer, violist, died.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1844-1906 Ludwig Boltzmann (d.1906), Austrian
atomic physics engineer, was born. His Vienna tombstone read
"Entropy is the logarithm of probability." [see 1838]
(WUD, 1994, p.167)(WSJ, 7/28/98, p.A16)
1847 Nov 25, Friederich von
Flotow's opera "Martha" was produced in Vienna.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1848 Mar 13, Metternich was
overthrown by a mob in Vienna. This ended his career as foreign
minister of Austria and Emp. Francis I elevated him to the rank of
prince.
(ON, 5/04,
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1848 Mar 15, In Hungary an
uprising against Habsburg rule began in front of the national museum
in Budapest.
(Reuters, 3/15/07)
1848 Mar 23, Hungary proclaimed
its independence of Austria.
(HN, 3/23/99)
1848 Mar, Italian nationalists
celebrated as Austrian forces fled Milan.
(WSJ, 3/13/09, p.A9)
1848 May 29, Battle at
Curtazone: Austrians beat Sardinia-Piemonte.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1848 Jun 17, Austrian General
Alfred Windischgratz crushed a Czech uprising in Prague.
(HN, 6/17/98)
1848 Nov, Emperor Ferdinand
abdicated in favor of Franz Joseph.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_of_Austria)
1848 The painter-poet Josef
Victor von Scheffel published cynical poems with titles as
'Biedermann's Evening socializing' and 'Bummelmaier's Complaint' in
the Viennese satirical magazine 'Fliegende Blätter' (Flying
Leaves). These names were combined into the pseudonym 'Gottlieb
Biedermaier' by Ludwig Eichrodt, who together with Adolf Kussmaul
published poems by the schoolmaster Samuel Friedrich Sauter under
this name. The spelling finally changed into 'Biedermeier' in 1869
when Eichrodt published 'Biedermeier's Liederlust'.
(www.rupertcavendish.co.uk/Biedermeier/WhatisBiedermeier/whatisbiedermeier.htm)
1848 Trieste became a separate
Kronland of the Austrian monarchy.
(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Trieste.html)
1848 The Austro-Italian
insurance company Assicurazioni Generali Austro-Italiche began
placing a picture of the winged lion of St. Mark on policies.
(www.generali.ro/eng_despre_noi/istorie.htm)
1849 Mar 7, The Austrian
Reichstag was dissolved.
(HN, 3/7/99)
1849 Mar 23, Battle of Novara
(King Charles Albert of Sardinia vs. Italian republic). Austria’s
Gen. Radetzky (83) crushed the Piedmontese forces. Charles Albert
abdicated and was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel II, who
reigned until 1861.
(PCh, 1992, p.449)(SS, 3/23/02)
1849 Jun 17, Russian troops
invaded Hungary.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.448)
1849 Jul 2, The leaders of the
Republic of Rome surrendered to French and Austrian forces.
Garibaldi, his wife and some 4,700 men left Rome with the intent to
fight a guerrilla war against Austria.
(ON, 10/06, p.5)
1849 Jul 31, Garibaldi asked
San Marino for asylum from Austrian forces. San Marino brokered for
Garibaldi’s surrender to Austrian forces. Garibaldi and his wife
escaped, and made their way to Ravenna. Anita Garibaldi died
enroute. Garibaldi managed to reach safety in the Kingdom of
Sardinia.
(ON, 10/06, p.7)
1849 Aug 9, Russian forces
defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Temesovar.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.448)
1849 Aug 11, Lajos Kossuth,
president of Hungary, abdicated in favor of Gen. Gorgey as Russia
intervened in the Hungarian revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1849 Aug 13, Hungary’s Gen.
Gorgey surrendered to the Russian forces. Russia gave Hungary back
to Austria.
(PC, 1992 ed,
p.448)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1849 Aug 28, Venice, under
Daniele Manin, surrendered to Austrians under Count Radetsky,
following a siege since July 20 after proclaiming independence.
(HTNet, 8/28/99)(MC, 8/28/01)
1849 Archduke Johann, the
Styrian Prince, declared that the Mining Academy in the village of
Vordernberg be moved to Leoben.
(StuAus, April '95, p.65)
1849 In Vienna, Austria,
balloonists dropped bombs to break up a revolt.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, Z1 p.8)
1850 Jul 14, The 1st public
demonstration of ice made by refrigeration took place. James
Harrison of Australia designed an ice-making machine. It was an
improvement on one invented by Jacob Perkins in 1834.
(MC, 7/14/02)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1850 Aug 22, Nikolaus Lenau
(48) (pseudonym of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch), Hungarian-born poet and
writer, died in Austria.
(MC, 8/22/02)(Internet)
1851 Responsibility for the
Vienna School for Voice and Conservatory was transferred to the
state and the city of Vienna.
(StuAus, April '95, p.39)
1853 Oct 2, Austrian law
forbade Jews from owning land.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1854 Elisabeth of Bavaria (16)
married the Habsburg Emp. Franz Josef II (23).
(WSJ, 12/8/97, p.A13)
1855 May 4, Camille Pleyel
(66), Austrian piano builder, composer, died.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1856 May 6, Sigmund Freud
(d.1939), father of psychology and the Viennese physician who
discovered the unconscious, was born. He treated his hysterical
patients by encouraging them to associate freely. He insisted that
sexual desires and fears lay just beneath the surface of
everyone’s mind. A biography of Freud was later written by
Peter Gay. Freud was the founder of theoretical and clinical
psychoanalysis, the first to try to make emotional energies the
"object of empirical science." Freud's influence had spread beyond
medicine and social science and into contemporary arts. The National
Socialists condemned Freud’s theories as a "denial of all moral
values" and the embodiment of "the high level of moral dissolution
peculiar to Jewry."
(V.D.-H.K.p.281-282)(SFEC, 1/11/98, BR p.9)(HN,
5/6/98)(HNPD, 3/24/00)
1857 Apr 27, Establishment of
Jewish congregations in Lower Austria prohibited.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1857 Jul 15, Carl Czerny (66),
Austrian pianist, composer, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1857 Adalbert Stifter
(1805-1868), Austrian writer, authored his novel “Indian Summer.” He
noted the issue of bureaucracy long before it was covered by
sociologists.
(WSJ, 2/10/07, p.P8)
1857 The Vienna-Trieste railway
was completed.
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Trieste)
1857 Ludwig Moser (d.1916)
started a glassmaking shop in Carlsbad. The work was intended for
royal families around the world and included intricate gold overlay
and detailed hand painting.
(SFC, 3/5/96, z-1 p.2)
1858 Apr 7, Anton Diabelli
(76), Austrian publisher, composer, died.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1858 Apr 29, Austrian troops
invaded Piedmont.
(HN, 4/29/98)
1859 Apr 9, Realizing that
France had encouraged the Piedmontese forces to mobilize for
invading Italy, Austria began mobilizing its army.
(HN, 4/9/00)
1859 May 3, France
declared war on Austria.
(HN, 5/3/98)
1859 May 9, Threatened by the
advancing French army, the Austrian army retreated across the River
Sesia in Italy.
(HN, 5/9/00)
1859 May 10, French emperor
Napoleon III left Paris to join his troops preparing to battle the
Austrian army in Northern Italy.
(HN, 5/10/02)
1859 May 20, A scratch force of
Austrians collide with Piedmontese cavalry at the village of
Montebello, in northern Italy.
(HN, 5/20/00)
1859 May 28, The French army
launched a flanking attack on the Austrian army in Northern France.
(HN, 5/28/00)
1859 May 30, The Piedmontese
army crossed the Sesia River and defeated the Austrians at Palestro,
Italy.
(HN, 5/30/00)
1859 Jun 4, The French army
under Napoleon III took Magenta from the Austrian army after a
bloody battle in northern Italy.
(HN, 6/4/99)
1859 Jun 24, At the Battle of
Solferino, also known as the Battle of the Three Sovereigns, the
French army led by Napoleon III defeated the Austrian army under
Franz Joseph I in northern Italy. Some 6,000 men died in the battle
and thousands of wounded were effectively abandoned as witnessed by
Henri Dunant (31),a Swiss businessman seeking Napoleon for a land
development proposal. In 1862 Dunant published “A Memory of
Solferino” and began a campaign for a volunteer society to aid
wounded soldiers.
(HN, 6/24/99)(ON, 4/08, p.11)
1859 Jul 8, With the signing of
the truce at Villafranca Austria ceded Lombardy to France. France
also received Nice and Savoy.
(HN, 7/8/99)
1859 Jun 11, Prince Metternich
(b.1773), Austrian diplomat and statesman, died in Vienna.
(WUD, 1994 ed., p.903)(Internet)
1860 May 2, Theodor Herzl,
journalist, founder (Zionist movement), was born in Austria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1860 Jul 7, Gustav Mahler,
conductor of the Vienna State Opera House, was born in Kalischat,
Bohemia, Austria.
(HN, 7/7/98)(MC, 7/7/02)
1862 May 15, Arthur Schnitzler
(d.1931), playwright and novelist (La Ronde), was born in Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schnitzler)
1862 May 25, Johann N. Nestroy
(60) Austrian actor (Einmal Keine Sorgen Haben), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1862 In Austria Julius Meinl
founded a coffee and food store in Vienna. After 20 years his
roasting factory served all of Austria-Hungary. The company
developed into a chain and later into the Meinl Bank.
(Econ, 8/2/08, p.74)(Econ, 8/1/09, p.60)
1864 May 9, Austria and Denmark
held a ship battle at Helgoland.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1864 Nov 10, Austrian Archduke
Maximilian became emperor of Mexico.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1864 The Imperial State
Manufactory Vienna, a maker of porcelains since 1744, closed. The
royalty owned firm used the beehive or shield mark.
(SFC, 10/17/07, p.G2)
1865 Aug 13, Ignaz Semmelweis
(b.1818), Hungarian gynecologist, died from an infection in Vienna
after being beaten up by warders in an asylum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis)(Econ, 3/13/10, p.57)
1866 Jun 15, Prussia attacked
Austria.
(HN, 6/15/98)
1866 Aug 23, Treaty of Prague
ended the Austro-Prussian war.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1867 Feb 13, Johann Strauss'
"Blue Danube" waltz premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1867 Jun 19, Mexican Emperor
Maximillian (35) was executed on the orders of Benito Juarez by a
firing squad in Queretaro. The event was immortalized in a painting
by Manet.
(HN, 6/19/98)(SFEC, 11/7/99, p.T10)(PCh, 1992,
p.505)(WSJ, 5/5/00, p.17)
1867 Trieste was granted status
as an independent province of the Habsburg Empire.
(http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/AUT/aut-hun.html)
1867 The Univ. of Applied Arts
was established as the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts.
(StuAus, April '95, p.43)
1867 Maximillian’s wife
Carlotta returned to the Miramar Castle just outside Trieste. It had
been built for Archduke Maximilian.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.D7)
1868 May 9, Anton Bruckner's
1st Symphony in C premiered.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1869 Oct 1, Austria issued the
world's first postal card, the Correspondenz Karte, a plain-line
card printed with a 2-kreuzer stamp.
(Hem, 6/96,
p.97)(http://shilohpostcards.com/webdoc2.htm)
1869 Ludwig Karl Kahlbaum in
Innsbruck, Austria, described for the 1st time the medical condition
of catatonia. He compiled a list of almost 40 signs involving
unusual movements. For decades it was thought to be a type of
schizophrenia. By 2006 it was still not well understood.
(SSFC, 12/24/06, p.B6)
1870 Feb 7, Alfred Adler,
psychiatrist (Inferiority Complex), was born in Austria.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1870 Mar 6, Oscar Strauss,
composer (Ein Walzertraum), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1870 Jul 21, Josef Strauss
(42), Austrian composer (Dynamids), died.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1870 Sep 6, The last British
troops to serve in Austria were withdrawn.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1871 Oct 14, Alexander von
Zemlinsky (d.1942), composer (Schneeman), was born in Vienna,
Austria. His work included "Frulingsbegrabnis" (a cantata from
1897), "Die Seejunbfrau" (1902-1903), "Eine Florentinische Tragodie"
(an opera from 1914-1915), "Symphonic Songs" (1929), and "Der Zwerg"
(The Dwarf, an opera from 1921) and 7 other operas.
(WSJ, 6/11/98, p.A20)(MC, 10/14/01)
1872 April 10, The
Polytechnical Inst. of Vienna became the Vienna Univ. of Technology.
(StuAus, April '95, p.23)
1873 Aug 18, Leo Slezak,
Austria tenor, actor (Othello), was born.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1874 Apr 5, Johann Strauss,
Jr.'s Opera "Die Fledermaus" was produced in Vienna.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1874 Sep 13, Arnold Franz
Walter Schoenberg (d.1951), 12-tone composer, was born in Vienna,
Austria. He wrote the book "Style and Idea" and composed such works
as the 21 songs of "Pierrot Lunaire" based on a poem by Albert
Giraud translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben, "Moses und
Aron," "A Survivor from Warsaw" and "Erwartung."
(LGC-HCS, 1970, p. 562-575)(WSJ, 8/20/96,
p.A8)(WSJ, 8/22/96, p.A12)(MC, 9/13/01)
1874 The Imperial Technical
Univ. in Graz became a state institution.
(StuAus, April '95, p.58)
1875 Feb 2, Fritz Kreisler,
violinist, composer, was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1875-1926 Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet. He
was born in Prague to German-speaking parents. His works include New
Poems (1907), his autobiographical novel: "The Notebooks of Malte
Laurids Brigge," and his masterpieces the "Duino Elegies" and "The
Sonnets to Orpheus." His mistress was Lou Andreas-Salome, a
novelist, essayist and clinical psychologist. Ralph Freedman
wrote a biography of Rilke titled Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke
in 1996. His complete works were published in 1966 and an annotated
edition in 1996. In 1997 his early work was published: "Diaries of a
Young Poet," translated by Edward Snow and Michael Winkler. On the
new year day: "And now let us believe in a long year that is given
to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of
work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands;
and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too
much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary,
serious and great things."
(WSJ, 3/19/96, p.A-12)(WSJ, 12/15/97, p.A20)(AP,
1/1/98)
1877 Dec 30, Johannes Brahms'
2nd Symphony in D, premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 12/30/01)
1878 Mar 3, Russia and the
Ottomans signed the Treaty of San Stefano, granting independence to
Serbia. With the Treaty of San Stefano (and subsequent negotiations
in Berlin) in the wake of the last Russo-Turkish War, the Ottoman
Empire lost its possession of numerous territories including
Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. The Russo-Turkish wars
dated to the 17th century, the Russians generally gaining territory
and influence over the declining Ottoman Empire. In the last war,
Russia and Serbia supported rebellions in the Balkans. In concluding
the Treaty of San Stefano, the Ottomans released control of
Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, granted autonomy to Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and allowed an autonomous state of Bulgaria to be
placed under Russian control.
(HN, 3/3/99)(HNQ, 2/23/01)
1878 Mar 3, The Treaty of San
Stefano was signed after Russo-Turkish War. It assigned
Albanian-populated lands to Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia; but
Austria-Hungary and Britain blocked the treaty's implementation.
Albanian leaders meet in Prizren, Kosova, to form the League of
Prizren. The League initially advocated autonomy for Albania. At the
Congress of Berlin, the Great Powers overturned the Treaty of San
Stefano and divided Albanian lands among several states. The League
of Prizren began to organize resistance to the Treaty of Berlin's
provisions that affected Albanians.
(www, Albania,
1998)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_San_Stefano)
1878 Jul 13, The Treaty of
Berlin amended the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which had
ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. The Congress of Berlin
divided the Balkans among European powers. Austria-Hungary and
Britain, alarmed at the possibilities of growing Russian power,
concluded the Treaty of Berlin, reducing the military and political
gains Russia had made with the San Stefano treaty.
(AP, 7/13/97)(HN, 7/13/98)(HNQ, 2/23/01)
1878 Bosnia came under
Austro-Hungarian. This continued until 1918. A representative from
Vienna governed the area.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.65)(Econ, 10/20/07, p.72)
1879 Oct 2, A dual alliance was
formed between Austria and Germany, in which the two countries
agreed to come to the other's aid in the event of aggression.
(HN, 10/2/98)
1880 Aug 25, Robert E. Stolz
(d.1976), Austrian composer, conductor, was born. He initially
auditioned under Johann Strauss and later became conductor at the
Theater-an-der-Wien.
(WSJ, 12/28/99, p.A16)(MC, 8/25/02)
1880 In Austria Dr. Josef
Breuer (1842-1925) found his patient Bertha Pappenheim (aka Anna O),
an hysteric woman, was relieved of symptoms after he had induced her
to recall unpleasant past experiences under hypnosis. His talk
therapy involved some 1,000 hours of treatment. The case introduced
Freud to the cathartic method, the “talking cure,” pivotal in his
later work.
(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/79009/Josef-Breuer)(Econ,
3/5/11, p.85)
1880-1942 Robert Musil, Austrian writer. His work
included "The Man Without Qualities."
(SFEC, 1/31/99, BR p.9)
1881 Nov 28, Stefan Zweig
(d.1942), poet, essayist, dramatist (Beware of Pity), was born in
Vienna, Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Zweig)
1881 Dec 8, Vienna's Ring
Theater was destroyed by fire and 640-850 people were killed.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1881 Anton Romako (Vienna)
painted "Girl on a Swing (Olga van Wassermann)."
(SFC, 8/29/01, p.E5)
1881 The area around Bosnia was
annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1882 Apr 17, Artur Schnabel,
pianist (Beethoven Piano Sonatas), was born in Lipnik, Austria.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1883 Anton Webern (d.1945),
Austrian composer, was born.
(WSJ, 2/14/00, p.A20)
1884 Jan 6, Gregor Mendel
(b.1822), Austrian botanist and Augustine monk, died at age 61. He
is considered to be the father of genetics.
(NH, 6/01, p.30)(MC, 1/6/02)
1885 Feb 9, Alban Maria
Johannes Berg, composer, was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1885 May 29, Alfred von
Meissner (63), Austrian physician, writer (Ziska), died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1885 Oct 24, Johann Strauss'
operetta, "The Gypsy Baron," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1885 Dec 2, Karl Goldmark's
opera "Queen of Sheba," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 12/2/01)
1886 Karl von Frisch, Austrian
ethologist, was born. In the 1940s he first described the method by
which honeybees describe the source of gathered pollen to their
fellow bees. The bees perform a dance is that integrates information
about the orientation of the sun and the distance to the pollen
source.
(WUD, 1994, p.569)(NH, 9/97, p.60)
1887 Aug 12, Erwin Schrodinger,
physicist, was born in Austria.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1887 Oct 6, Maria Jeritza,
[Jedlicka], singer (Vienna Opera, Met Opera), was born in Austria.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1887 Nov 14, Bernhard
Paumgartner, musicologist, conductor, composer, was born in Austria.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1887 Aloys Zötl (b.1831),
Austrian naïve artist, died. Zotl’s paintings included "The
Rhinoceros."
(WSJ, 4/9/03, p.D10)
1887 Geographers of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire set fixed points to measure altitude in
connection with the European measurement of meridional and parallel
degrees. One marker at Rakhiv, Ukraine, was later interpreted to
mark the center of Europe.
(WSJ, 7/14/04, p.A1)
1888 May 10, Maximilian Raoul
Walter Steiner (Max Steiner), composer (Gone With Wind), was born in
Vienna.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1889 Apr 20, Adolf Hitler
(d.1945), dictator of Nazi Germany, was born in Braunau, Austria.
The German Fascist leader, promised to bring Germany to the promised
land on one condition: that the state would have total control over
all the organs, organizations, and citizens of the nation.
(V.D.-H.K.p.309)(AP, 4/20/97)(HN, 4/20/98)
1889 Apr 26, Ludwig
Wittgenstein (d.1951), philosopher (Tractatus), was born in Vienna,
Austria. He pondered the nature of knowledge and the limits of
language. He argued that the criteria for the correct use of any
language must be social. "The human body is the best picture of the
human soul."
(SFEC, 10/27/96, BR p.4)(SFC, 1/31/98, p.E1)(WSJ,
8/21/98, p.W13)(AP, 1/3/01)(MC, 4/26/02)
1890 Mar 21, Austrian Jewish
communities were defined by law.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1890 Aug 5, Erich Kleiber,
conductor (NBC Symphony 1945-46), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1890 Sep 10, Franz Werfel,
author (40 Days of Musa Dagh), was born in Austria.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1891 Nov 22, Edward L. Bernays
(d.1995), public relations pioneer, was born in Vienna, Austria. In
1892 his family moved to New York City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays)
1891 In Austria Daniel
Swarovski invented a machine to cut crystal stones to resemble
faceted diamonds. His company prospered and in 2004 the Swarovski
company placed a crystal star atop the Christmas tree at Rockefeller
Center in NYC.
(WSJ, 12/22/04, p.A1)
1891-1938 Bergasse 19 in Vienna is where Freud
(1856-1939) lived and practiced psycho-analysis until he was forced
out by the Nazis.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.70)(WUD, 1994, p.568)
1892 Feb 16, The opera
“Werther” premiered at the Imperial Theatre Hofoper in Vienna. It
was composed in 1887 by French composer Jules Massenet based on
Goethe’s 1774 novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther.”
(SFC, 9/17/10,
p.F1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werther)
1892 Mar 9, Joseph Weinheber,
Austrian poet, writer (Adel und Untergang), was born.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1892 May 16, Richard Tauber,
[Ernst Seiffert], Austria-British, tenor, conductor ("Deine ist mein
ganzes Herz"), was born.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1892 Jul 22, Arthur
Seyss-Inquart, Austrian chancellor, Nazi war criminal, was born.
(MC, 7/22/02)
1892 Oct 4, Engelbert Dollfuss,
Austrian Fascist chancellor, was born. He was killed by Nazis in
1934.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1892 In Vienna the Hotel
Bristol opened.
(WSJ, 9/26/08, p.A20)
1893 Mar 31, Clemens Krauss,
conductor (Berlin State Orch-1937), was born in Vienna.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1893 Oct 27, Gustav Mahler
(1860-1911), Austrian composer, conducted a revised version of his
First Symphony at Hamburg's Ludwig Konzerthaus, still in its
original five-movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler)
1894 Aug 28, Karl Boehm,
Austrian conductor, was born. Famed for his interpretations of
Wagner and Beethoven.
(RTH, 8/28/99)
1894 Roland Paris, Austrian
sculptor, was born. He specialized in satirical bronzes and was a
student of Henry van de Velde, one of the founders of the Bauhaus.
(SFC, 9/2/98, Z1 p.6)
1895 Mar 9, Leopold von
Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (Masochism), died.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1896 Oct 11, Anton Bruckner
(b.1824), Austrian composer (Te Deum, Wagner Symphony), died at 72.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Bruckner)
1897 Mar 24, Wilhelm Reich
(d.1957), Austrian-US psychoanalyst (character analysis), was born.
In 1999 Farrar, Straus & Giroux published: "American Odyssey:
Letters and Journals 1940-1947."
(WUD, 1994,
p.1209)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich)
1897 Apr 3, The Vienna
Secession was founded by artists Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef
Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, and others. Although
Otto Wagner is widely recognized as a fundamental member of the
Vienna Secession he was not a founding member.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Secession)
1897 May 29, Erich Wolfgang
Korngold, movie composer (Violanta), was born in Brno, Austria.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1897 Jun 21, In Austria a giant
Ferris wheel, designed by Walter Bassett of England, opened in
Vienna. It was built in the Wurstelprater amusement park to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the accession of Emperor Franz
Joseph to the Habsburg throne.
(Econ, 5/31/08, p.71)(http://tinyurl.com/3tawph)
1897 Oct 8, Emperor Karl Joseph
I named Gustav Mahler director of Vienna Opera.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1897 Nov 3, David Schwarz of
Austria crashed his 156-foot aluminum powered airship with 2
propellers on its maiden flight.
(ON, 3/03, p.11)
1897 Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
helped found the Vienna Secessionist art movement. He was chosen as
its 1st president. It rebelled against the sentimental academic
painting of the 19th century.
(WSJ, 10/22/99, p.W14)(WSJ, 7/11/01, p.A15)
1897-1904 Henry-Louis de La Grange, French writer,
focused on these years in Vienna in writing his multivolume
biography of Gustav Mahler titled: Vienna: The Years of Challenge.
Vol. 1 in English was released in 1973. A 3-volume French edition
came out between 1979-1984. A new 4-volume English was launched in
1995.
(WSJ, 6/9/95, p.A-12)(SFEC, 6/7/98, DB p.37)
1898 Sep 10, Empress Elisabeth
of Bavaria (60), Queen of Hungary and wife of Emp. Franz Josef II,
was assassinated in Geneva by the Italian anarchist Luigi Luccheni.
A 1997 German rock musical, "Elisabeth," by Michael Kunze and
Sylvester Levay was based on her life.
(EWH, 1968, p.744)(WSJ, 12/8/97, p.A1,13)
1898 Oct 1, The Univ. of
Economics and Business Admin. of Vienna was founded as the
Imperial-Royal Export Academy.
(StuAus, April '95, p.27)
1898 Oct 18, Lotte Lenya,
actress and singer (Appointment, Semi-Tough), was born in Vienna,
Austria.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1898 In Austria the Secession
building was completed and later housed Klimt's Beethoven Frieze in
its gilt-domed gallery.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)
1898 Austrian Prince Camillo
Heinrich Starhemberg (1835-1900) donated Hartheim Castle as a gift
to the Upper Austria Charity Organization. With the help of
additional donations, they used the castle from the beginning of the
20th century as a psychiatric institution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Hartheim)
1899 May 8, Friedrich August
von Hayek (d.1992), Austrian-born British economist, was born. He
found solutions to problems proposed by Keynesian economics. He was
dedicated to illuminating the problems of socialism and held that
inflation, unemployment and recession result from governmental
interference. He won a Nobel prize in 1974.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1899 Jun 3, Johann Strauss
(73), Jr., composer ("Waltz King"), died.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1899 Dec 31, Karl Millocker
(57), Austrian conductor and composer, died.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1899 Gustav Klimt painted "Nude
Veritas."
(WSJ, 7/11/01, p.A15)
1899 The railway station of
Vienna was built exclusively for Emperor Franz Josef by Otto Wagner.
1900 Jan 13, To combat Czech
nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary decreed that
German would be the language of the imperial army.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1900 Apr 25, Wolfgang Pauli,
physicist (Nobel 1945), was born in Austria.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1900 The Lohner-Porsche was
introduced at the World’s Fair in Paris. The hybrid car relied on
batteries and a generator to produce electricity for its motors.
Ferdinand Porsche working for Jacob Lohner in Vienna put electric
motors into the hubs of the wheels of the Lohner-Porsche.
(Econ, 4/24/10, p.78)
1901 Feb 17 Gustav Mahler
(1860-1911) conducted the Viennese premiere of his Second Symphony,
which also saw the first public performance of his early work Das
klagende Lied, in a revised two-part form.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler)
1902 Mar 9, Composer Gustav
Mahler married Alma Schindler in Vienna.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1902 Apr 8, Josef Krips,
conductor (London Symph 1954-63), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1902 May 3, Walter Slezak,
actor (Bedtime for Bonzo, Inspector General), was born in Vienna.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1902 Jun 23, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and Italy renewed the Triple Alliance for a 12 year
duration.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1902 Sep 1, The
Austro-Hungarian army was called into the city of Agram to restore
the peace as Serbs and Croats clashed.
(HN, 9/1/99)
1902 Nov 17, Lee Strasberg,
acting coach and actor (And Justice for All), was born in Austria.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1902 Nov 22, Emanuel Feuermann,
cellist (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), was born in Kolomea, Galicia
(under crown of Austria).
(MC, 11/22/01)
1902 Nov 25, Franz Lehar's
opera "Wiener Fraueen," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1902 Gustav Klimt painted
"Portrait of Emilie Flöge."
(WSJ, 7/11/01, p.A15)
1903 Jan 3, The Bulgarian
government renounced the treaty of commerce tying it to
Austro-Hungarian empire.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1903 Feb 11, Anton Bruckner's
9th Symphony premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1903 Feb 19, The
Austria-Hungary government decreed a mandatory two year military
service.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1903 Oct 4, Ernst
Kaltenbrunner, Austrian Nazi (SS/SD) and successor to Reinhard
Heydrich, was born. He was hanged in 1946.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1904-1984 Reverend Karl Rahner, Austrian
theologian: "The theological problem today is to find the art of
drawing religion out of a man, not pumping it into him."
(AP, 6/26/99)
1905 Jan 26, Maria Augusta von
Trapp (d.1987), Austrian singer, inspired "Sound of Music," was
born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_von_Trapp)(SSFC, 10/14/07, p.B6)
1905 Dec 5, Otto Preminger,
director and producer (Laura, Exodus), was born in Austria.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1906 Apr 28, Kurt Gödel
(d.1978), Austrian mathematician, was born in the Moravian city of
Brno. Godel later developed his incompleteness theorem showing that
within any logical system, no matter how rigidly structured, there
are always questions that cannot be answered with certainty,
contradictions that may be discovered, and errors that may lurk.
(V.D.-H.K.p.340)(SFC, 6/14/05, p.D2)
1906 Felix Salten (1869-1945),
Austrian writer, authored the novel “Josephine Mutzenbacher,” the
fictional autobiography of a Vienna prostitute, a notorious
pornographic novel. In 1923 he authored “Bambi.”
(Econ, 11/8/08,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Salten)
1906 The first cornea
transplant was performed in Austria by Dr. Eduard Zirm.
(www.lionseyebank.org/facts.htm)
1907 Apr 29, Fred Zinnemann
(d.3/14/97), Hollywood film director, was born in Vienna. His films
included "A Hatful of Rain," "The Sundowners," "The Nun’s Story,"
"From Here to Eternity," "Julia" and "A Man for All Seasons" (1966)
with Paul Scofield.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A19)(MC, 4/29/02)
1907 Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
painted the portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer I.” The painting was stolen
in 1938 when the Nazis took Austria. Her niece, Maria Altman
(1917-1994), fought for the recovery of family paintings and won
their return. In 2006 the portrait sold for a record $135 million to
cosmetics magnate Ronald S. Lauder. Adele Bloch-Bauer (d.1925) was
the wife of a Jewish sugar industrialist in Vienna.
(SFC, 6/19/06,
p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt)(Econ, 2/19/11,
p.96)
1907 Adolph Hitler (18) applied
to study art in Vienna but was rejected. A pair of his watercolor
paintings were reported in 1999 to be in Dubai, UAR, under the
ownership of the Bonyad Mostazafan foundation.
(SFC, 7/6/99, p.C3)
1908 Jan 4, Angela Maria "Geli"
Raubal, Austrian nude model, Hitler's cousin and lover, was born.
(MC, 1/4/02)
1908 Feb 1, Movie producer and
animator George Pal was born in Austria-Hungary.
(AP, 2/1/08)
1908 Apr 5, Herbert von
Karajan, Nazi, conductor (Berlin Philharmonic), was born in Austria.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1908 Oct 6, Austria annexed
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1908 Nov 14, Oscar Strauss'
musical "The Chocolate Soldier," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1908 Dec 1, The Italian
Parliament debated the future of the Triple Alliance and asked for
compensation for Austria’s action in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1908 The Karntner-Durchgang is
an American Bar in Vienna at the top of Kartnerstrasse designed by
architect Adolf Loos.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)
1909 Feb 16, Serbia mobilized
against Austria and Hungary.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1909 Mar 6, Gerhart Hauptmann's
"Griselda," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1909 Sep 13, Herbert Berghof,
actor (Belarus File), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1909 Adolf Hitler painted a
series of views around Linz, Austria, including the watercolor
"Mountain Chapel."
(WSJ, 7/24/02, p.D12)
1909 Sigmund Freud‘s only visit
to the United States was to accept an honorary degree at Clark
University in 1909. G. Stanley Hall, the president of the university
in Worcester, Massachusetts, had invited Freud to "[set] forth your
own views" in a series of lectures at a conference honoring Clark‘s
20th anniversary. Following a visit to New York City, Freud
delivered five lectures at Clark, all of them in German. He then
went on to visit Niagara Falls and the Adirondacks before returning
to Europe.
(HNQ, 6/4/00)
1911 Jan 22, Bruno Kreisky,
bandleader, chancellor (1970-83), was born in Austria.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1911 May 18, Composer Gustav
Mahler (50) died in Vienna, Austria. His wife Alma Schindler married
Walter Gropius in 1915. Mahler left his 10th symphony unfinished. A
1996 recording was made based on work by Remo Mazzetti Jr. who in
turn based his work on the late Deryck Cooke. In 2004 Cornell Univ.
Press published “Gustav Mahler: Letters to His Wife.” In 2010 Norman
Lebrecht authored “Why Mahler: How One Man and Ten Symphonies
Changed the World.”
(SFEC, 5/18/97, DB p.52)(AP, 5/18/01)(WSJ,
12/15/04, p.D10)(Econ, 7/10/10, p.81)
1911 Egon Schiele, Austrian
expressionist, painted "Dead City III."
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A7)
1912 Feb 4, Erich Leinsdorf
(d.1993), conductor, was born in Vienna, Austria. Leinsdorf earned a
reputation for exacting standards. He published books and essays on
musical matters and became a naturalized American citizen in 1942.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Leinsdorf)
1912 Jun 26, Gustav Mahler's
9th Symphony premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 6/26/02)
1912 Nov 24, Austria denounced
Serbian gains in the Balkans; Russia and France backed Serbia while
Italy and Germany backed Austria.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1912 Dec 5, Italy, Austria, and
Germany renewed the Triple Alliance for six years.
(HN, 12/5/98)
1912 Egon Schiele, Austrian
expressionist, painted "Portrait of Wally."
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A7)
1913 Jan 20, Karl Wittgenstein
(b.1847), Viennese industrialist and father of philosopher Ludwig
Wittgenstein (1889-1951), died of throat cancer. In 2009 Alexander
Waugh authored “The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War.”
(WSJ, 2/28/09,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wittgenstein)
1913 Aug 12, Kurt Kaszner,
actor (Cmdr Fitzhugh-Land of the Giants), was born in Vienna,
Austria.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1913 Sep 11, Hedy Lamarr,
actress, was born in Austria. She featured in numerous minor roles
in Austro-German film prior to her 1938 Hollywood arrival and gained
significant notoriety for her libidinous 10 nude scene in the Czech
film 'Ecstasy' (1932). She was cast in many romantic films
including 'Samson and Delilah' and 'My Favorite Spy' "Any girl can
be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid"--
Hedy Lamarr.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1913 Oct 18, Austrian-Hungary
demanded that Serbia and Albania leave.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1914 Jun 28, Austrian Archduke
Francis Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sofia,
were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serb nationalist. As the
royal couple rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open touring
car, seven young radicals from an obscure Serbian-Bosnian
nationalist group, called the Black Hand, lay in wait. An initial
assassination attempt failed, but a wrong turn brought the car near
Gavrilo Princip, who fired two shots at point-blank range into the
couple's bodies. Within minutes, both the Archduke and Sophia were
dead. Princip was arrested, but political tensions were so high
between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that war broke out as a result.
Like falling dominoes, international alliances brought one country
after another into the conflict. The event triggered World War I. In
2011 Adam Hochschild authored “To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty
and Rebellion.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.252, 284-285,290)(AP, 6/28/97)(HNPD,
6/28/98)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.93)
1914 Jul 23, Austria and
Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia after the assassination of
Archduke Ferdinand; the dispute led to World War I.
(AP, 7/23/98)
1914 Jul 26, Austrian-Hungary
condemned a Serbian ultimatum.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1914 Jul 28, Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I. The New York Stock
Exchange closed for 4 1/2 months.
(CFA, '96, p.50)(HN, 7/28/98)
1914 Aug 6, Austria-Hungary
declared war against Russia and Serbia declared war against Germany.
(AP, 8/6/00)
1914 Aug 12, Great Britain
declared war on Austria-Hungary.
(MC, 8/12/02)
1914 Dec 2, Austrian troops
occupied Belgrade, Serbia.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1914 Egon Schiele (b.1990),
Viennese artist, made his "Reclining Woman With Raised Chemise."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1914 The Mozarteum of Salzburg
became a publicly accredited conservatory.
(StuAus, April '95, p.91)
c1914-1919 Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951),
Viennese-born philosopher, wrote his "Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus" while serving in the Austrian army during WW
I. He had "set out to chart the logical limits of language and ended
with poetic gestures toward what words could not capture." In 1996
Marjorie Perloff wrote "Wittgenstein’s Ladder: Poetic Language and
the Strangeness of the Ordinary."
(SFEC, 10/27/96, BR p.4)
1915 Jan 2, Karl Goldmark
(b.1830), Hungarian composer (Queen of Saba), died in Vienna.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Goldmark)
1915 May 23, Italy declared war
on Austria-Hungary in World War I.
(AP, 5/23/97)(HN, 5/23/98)
1915 Jun 22, Austro-German
forces occupied Lemberg on the Eastern Front as the Russians
retreated.
(HN, 6/22/98)
1915 Aug 5, The Austro-German
Army took Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front.
(HN, 8/5/98)
1915 Sep 2, Austro-German
armies took Grodno, Poland (Belarus).
(HN, 9/2/98)
1915 Nov 7, An Austrian
submarine torpedoed the Italian passenger ship Ancona, and 272 were
killed.
(www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsA.html)
1915 Egon Schiele made his
"Self-portrait With Striped Armlets."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1916 Nov 21, Franz Jozef I,
King of Austria and Hungary, died.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1916 Egon Schiele, Viennese
artist, made his "Reclining Woman Exposing Herself."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1916 Charles I took the throne
and worked for peace as the Austro-Hungarian empire neared its end.
He abdicated at the end of the war in 1918 and died in Portugal in
1922 at age 34. In 2003 the Vatican attributed a miracle to the last
emperor of Austria-Hungary, paving the way for the eventual
beatification and sainthood of Charles I.
(AP, 12/21/03)
1917 Mar 23, Austrian Emperor
Charles I made a peace proposal to French President Poincare.
(HN, 3/23/98)
1917 Aug 14, The Chinese
Parliament declared war on the Central Powers, Germany and Austria,
during World War I.
(AP, 8/14/97)(HN, 8/14/98)
1917 Oct 24, The Austro-German
army routed the Italian army at Caporetto, Italy. In what came to be
known as the 1st blitzkrieg German and Austro-Hungarian forces took
at least 250,000 Italian soldiers as prisoners on the Isonzo Front.
(HN, 10/24/98)(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.T14)
1917 Dec 7, The US declared war
on Austria-Hungary with only one dissenting vote in Congress and
became the 13th country to do so.
(HN, 12/7/98)
1917 Gustav Klimt, Austrian
modernist, created his oil painting "Garden of Flowers."
(WSJ, 7/17/02, p.D12)
1917 Egon Schiele, Viennese
artist, made his "Kneeling Girl Propped on Her Elbows."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1918 Jan 25, Austria and
Germany rejected U.S. peace proposals.
(HN, 1/25/99)
1918 Feb 6, Gustav Klimt
(b.1862), Austrian Symbolist artist, died. He helped found the
Vienna Secessionist art movement (1897) and was chosen as its 1st
president.
(WSJ, 7/11/01,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt)
1918 Mar 3, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World
War I. Germany and Austria forced Soviet Russia to sign the Peace of
Brest, which called for the establishment of 5 independent
countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. The
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World
War I, was annulled by the November 1918 armistice. The treaty
deprived the Soviets of White Russia.
(HN, 3/3/99)(LHC, 3/1/03)(AP, 3/3/08)
1918 Apr 15, Clemenceau
published secret French-Austrian documents.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1918 Sep 25, Brazil declared
war on Austria.
(HN, 9/25/98)
1918 Oct 18, Czechs seized
Prague, renounced Hapsburg's rule and declared independence from the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Masaryk proclaimed the foundation of
Czechoslovakia from Pittsburgh, Pa.
(HN, 10/18/98)(http://tinyurl.com/856hg)
1918 Nov 4, Austria signed an
armistice with Allies.
(HN, 11/4/98)
1918 Oct 31, Egon Schiele (28),
Viennese artist, died in the flu epidemic. He produced some 3,000
drawings and 300 paintings in about 12 years.
(SFC, 10/13/97, p.E3)(MC, 10/31/01)
1918 Nov 3, The
Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1918 Nov 12, Emperor Karl of
Austria-Hungary, husband of Zita, relinquished participation in the
Austrian state and then fled to Switzerland. Austria became a
republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_I_of_Austria)(Hem., Dec. '95,
p.69)
1918 Dec 1, The Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formed and was ruled by the Serbian
Karageorgevic dynasty. It included the previously independent
kingdoms of Serbia and Macedonia, the Hungarian-controlled regions
of Croatia and Slovenia, the Austrian province of Dalmatia, Carniola
and parts of Styria, Carinthia and Istria.
(AP, 10/3/97)(HN, 10/3/98)(HNQ, 3/26/99)(LCTH,
10/3/99)
1918 Egon Schiele made his
crayon sketch: "Edith Schiele on Her Deathbed."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1918 Austria enacted
legislation to keep artworks from leaving the country.
(WSJ, 12/9/98, p.A20)
1918 Italy gained Trieste from
the Hapsburg Empire.
(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Trieste.html)
1918 Vienna became the capital
of the Republic of Austria.
(StuAus, April '95, p.14)
1918 The first democratic
elections were held.
(SFC, 10/25/96, p.A16)
1918 Gustav Klimt (b.1862),
artist, died. He helped found the Vienna Secessionist art movement
(1897) and was chosen as its 1st president.
(WSJ, 7/11/01, p.A15)
1919 Apr 3, Austria expelled
all Habsburgs.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1919 Jun 20, Treaty of
Versailles: Germany ended the incorporation of Austria. [see Jun 28]
(MC, 6/20/02)
1919 Jun 28, The Treaty of
Versailles was signed in France, ending (WW I) World War I. World
War I began in 1914 and ended on this date. Germany signed the
Treaty of Versailles under protest. Books by participants included
"Peacemaking" by Harold Nicolson; "The Economic Consequences of the
Peace" by John Maynard Keynes; and "The Truth About the Peace
Treaties" by David Lloyd George. In 2000 Richard Holmes authored
"The Western Front." Nearly 1 million British died and nearly 2
million each for France, Germany, Russia and Turkey. In 2002
Margaret MacMillan authored "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the
World."
(HFA, ‘96, p.32)(AP, 6/28/97)(HN, 6/28/98)(WSJ,
8/16/00, p.A20)(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.M3)
1919 Austria enacted laws that
barred the Habsburgs from public office and resulted in the
confiscation of their property.
(WSJ, 12/8/97, p.A13)
1919 Austria was obliged to pay
reparations to countries ravaged by WW I fighting.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.97)
1920 Jan 15, The United States
approved a $150 million loan to Poland, Austria and Armenia to aid
in their war with the Russian communists.
(HN, 1/15/99)
1920 Mar 1, Austria became a
kingdom again under Admiral Horthy.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1920 Oct 10, The Carinthian
Plebiscite determined the border between Austria and the newly
formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carinthian_Plebiscite)
1920 Dec 15, China won a place
on the League Council; Austria was admitted.
(HN, 12/15/98)
1920 The 1897 play, "Reigen,"
by Arthur Schnitzler had its premiere in Vienna. The name meant
round dance and represented a circle of sexual encounters and was
promptly closed down by police. A 1998 adaptation by David Hare
featured Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen in "The Blue Room."
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.A21)
1920 The Graz School for
Voice became a fully accredited conservatory.
(StuAus, April '95, p.62)
1920-1933 Joseph Roth, Austrian novelist, spent
this period in Berlin. In 2002 his writings from this time were
translated by Michael Hofmann and published as "What I Saw: Reports
From Berlin 1920-1933." His later novel "The Radetzky March covered
the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M3)
1921 Mar 6, Julius Rudel,
conductor (NYC Opera), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1921 May 30, Salzburg, Austria,
voted to join Germany.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1921 Economist Ludwig von Mises
wrote a full-scale refutation of socialist economics and predicted
the precise nature of its failure.
(WSJ, 1/30/97, p.A16)
1921 The film "Lady Hamilton"
starred Liane Haid (d.2000 at 105) of Austria.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.C8)
1922 Apr 1, Karl I (b.1887),
leader of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, died. Also known in the West
as Charles I, he took the throne in 1916 and worked for peace,
abdicating at the end of World War I, a few years before his death.
In 2004 he was beatified by Pope John Paul VI.
(AP,
10/3/04)(www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/KarlI/)
1922 Aug 8, Rudi Gernreich,
designer (1st women's topless swimsuit, miniskirt), was born in
Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 8/8/02)(Internet)
1922 The Vienna Porcelain
Factory began operations. It considered itself to be the successor
to the original royal factory (1744-1864).
(SFC, 10/17/07, p.G2)
1923 May 4, In Vienna, Austria,
bloody street battles took place between Nazis, socialists and
police.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1923 Aug 29, Alexander
Zemlinsky (1871-1942, Vienna-born composer, completed his 45-minute
Lyric Symphony for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra, in Seven Songs
on Poems by Rabindranath Tagore, Opus 18.
(www.sfsymphony.org/music/ProgramNotes.aspx?id=45152)
1923 Sep, The Int’l. Criminal
Police Commission (Interpol) formed in Vienna.
(www.exxun.com/ekio/io_interpol_2088.html)
1923 Felix Salten (1869-1945) a
Viennese Jew, wrote his antifascist allegory "Bambi, A Life in the
Woods." It was translated into English by Whittaker Chambers (28)
and published by Simon & Schuster in 1928. In 1942 it was
made into an animated Disney film.
(WSJ, 10/14/97,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Salten)
1924 May 2, Theodore Bikel,
Austrian-US folk singer, actor (Russians Are Coming), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1924 The Austrian silent film
"Hands of Orlac" was made by Robert Wiene. Wiene was the
expressionist who made The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.D4)(SFC, 1/7/97, p.E1)(SFC,
1/17/96, p.D7)
1925 Rudolf Steiner (b.1861),
Austrian philosopher and educator, died. He was the founder of the
spiritual view called anthroposophy which included a complicated
theory of child development that formed the basis of the Waldorf
method for teaching children.
(SFC, 10/29/00, p.A7)
1926 Dec 29, Rainer M. Rilke
(51), Austrian songwriter and writer (Wise Queen), died.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1926 Arthur Schnitzler of
Austria authored his novel "Traumovelle." English versions were
called "Dream Story" or "Rhapsody." It was the basis for the 1999
Kubrick film "Eyes Wide Shut."
(SFC, 7/24/99, p.B1)
1927 Oct 6, Paul Badura-Skoda,
pianist (Mozart specialist), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1927 Pez candy originated in
Austria as a breath mint for cigarette smokers. The name came from
"pfefferminz," the word for peppermint in German. The line was
imported to the United States in 1952, when the company decided it
could do better with fruit candy dispensed by plastic toys.
(SFEC, 4/5/98,
p.C11)(http://money.cnn.com/2002/06/13/pf/q_pez/)
1828 Nov 19, In Vienna German
composer Franz Schubert (31) died of syphilis. In this year he
composed his song cycle "Schwanengesang." His work included the
C-Major Symphony, string quartets, 3 piano sonatas, and the C-Major
String Quartet. Otto Erich Deutsch catalogued his work [hence the
"D" numbers] and wrote a documentary biography. In 1997 Brian
Newbould wrote "Schubert: The Music and the Man."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.32)(WSJ, 4/16/97,
p.A16)(WSJ, 5/13/97, p.A21)(HN, 11/19/00)
1929 Apr 8, Walter Berry,
singer, ex husband of Christa Ludwig, was born in Austria.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1929 Oct 3, The Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom
of Yugoslavia. It included the regions of Serbia, Montenegro,
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Macedonia. King
Alexander I renamed the Balkan state called the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats, and Slovenes, Yugoslavia. The Kingdom had been formed on
December 1, 1918 and was ruled by the Serbian Karageorgevic dynasty.
It included the previously independent kingdoms of Serbia and
Macedonia, the Hungarian-controlled regions of Croatia and Slovenia,
the Austrian province of Dalmatia, Carniola and parts of Styria,
Carinthia and Istria.
(AP, 10/3/97)(HN, 10/3/98)(HNQ, 3/26/99)(LCTH,
10/3/99)
1930 Apr 1, Cosima Liszt (92),
wife of Austrian composer Richard Wagner, died.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1930 Dec 8, Maximilian Schell,
Austrian actor and director (Odessa File, Julia), was born.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1931 In Austria a run on Credit
Anstalt bank set off a chain of events that took Britain off the
gold standard and raised fears that America might follow. Its
failure rippled around the world and intensified the Depression.
(Econ, 10/04/08, p.83)(Econ, 9/12/09, p.86)
1932 Feb 25, Adolf Hitler of
Austria got German citizenship.
(MC, 2/25/02)
1932 Oct 19, Austria forbade
demonstration by Nazis and antifascists.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1933 Mar 4, Chancellor Dollfuss
dissolved the Austrian parliament.
(www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2005/mar2005p17_1890.html)
1934 Jul 25, There was a Nazi
coup in Vienna. Austrian Premier Engelbert Dollfus was shot and
killed by Nazis. Hitler murdered Austria's Chancellor Dollfus.
(WUD, 1994, p.424,1682)(TMC, 1994, p.1934)(HN,
7/25/98)
1934 The music drama "Der Weg
Der Verheissung" was created by Kurt Weill, Franz Werfel and Max
Reinhardt in exile in Austria.
(WSJ, 9/4/01, p.A19)
1935 Stefan Zweig (1881-1942),
Austrian novelist, wrote the libretto for the opera Die Schweigsame
Frau (The Silent Woman) with music by Richard Strauss. It was banned
by the Nazis and Zweig was driven into exile.
(Econ, 5/23/09,
p.91)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Zweig)
1935 Austrian physicist Erwin
Schrodinger imagined putting a cat into a sealed box along with a
flask of Prussic acid, a radioactive atom, a Geiger counter, an
electric relay and a hammer. If the atom decayed, the Geiger counter
would detect the radiation and send a signal to trip a relay, which
would release the hammer, which would smash the flask and poison the
cat. The famous unperformed experiment became known as Schrodinger’s
cat.
(Econ, 10/3/09,
p.100)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat)
1936 Mar 23, Italy, Austria and
Hungary signed Pact of Rome.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1937 Feb 14, Austrian leader
Schuschnigg threatened to restore the Hapsburg monarchy.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1937 May 28, Alfred Adler (67),
Austria psychiatrist (Individual Psychology), died.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1937 Alban Berg (1885-1935),
Austrian composer, wrote his opera "Lulu." It was based on two
dramas by German fin-de-siecle playwright Frank Wedekind
(1864-1918). It tells the story of a sexually attractive dancer who
several men and women become obsessed with, often dying as a result,
and who ends up as a prostitute murdered by Jack the Ripper.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alban_Berg)(AP,
2/5/10)
1938 Jan 12, Austria recognized
the Franco government in Spain.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1938 Feb 20, Hitler demanded
self-determination for Germans in Austria and Czechoslovakia. As
Hitler's quest for Lebensraum ("living space") expanded into
Czechoslovakia, thousands of Czechoslovakian soldiers and airmen
escaped to participate in the liberation of their country.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1938 Mar 9, In Vienna, Kurt
Schuschnigg defied the Nazis calling for a decree on independence.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1938 Mar 12, Germany invaded
Austria after the Austrian Nazi Party invited German troops to march
in and the union came to be know as the Anschluss. Hitler took over
Austria and a chunk of Czechoslovakia. The Nazis took over Austria
and expelled all Jews and other political opponents from the
universities.
(WUD, 1994, p.1682)(TL, 1988, p.111)(TMC, 1994,
p.1938)(StuAus, April '95, p.18)
1938 Spring, Cardinal Theodor
Innitzer of Vienna met with Hitler and then directed all Catholic
clergy and laity to "unconditionally support the great German State
and the Fuhrer."
(SFEC, 9/7/97, BR p.4)
1938 Mar 26, Herman Goering
warned all Jews to leave Austria.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1938 Mar, Within days of the
Anschluss squads of Nazis and Austrian museum personnel emptied the
Viennese palaces of the Rothschild brothers, Alphonse and Louis.
After the war Clarice Rothschild, the widow of Alphonse, recovered
much of the collection, which had been hidden in the Alt Aussee salt
mines near Salzburg. She was forced to give up many works as
"donations" in exchange for export licenses.
(WSJ, 7/6/99, p.A13)
1938 Apr 6, U.S. recognized the
German conquest of Austria.
(HN, 4/6/98)
1938 Apr 10, Germany annexed
Austria.
(HN, 4/10/98)
1938 Apr 26, Austrian Jews
required to register property above 5,000 Reichsmarks.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1938 Aug 7, Nazi's closed the
theology department of Innsbruck university.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1938 Aug 28, Mauthausen
concentration camp began operating in Austria.
(MC, 8/28/01)
1938 Dr. Feng Shan Ho (d.1997),
Chinese consul general in Vienna, rescued thousands of Jews by
giving them exit visas after the Nazis annexed the country.
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A15)
1938 Freud was convinced to
flee Vienna for England after Germany annexed Austria and after his
daughter was arrested by the Gestapo and held in custody for a day.
He died in London on September 23, 1939.
(HNQ, 3/24/00)
1939 Feb 11, Franz Schmidt
(64), Austrian composer, died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1939 Oct 31, Otto Rank,
[Rosenfeld], Austria psychoanalyst (Trauma of Geburt), died.
(MC, 10/31/01)
c1939-1945 Some 119,000 people died at the
Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria.
(SFC, 2/25/00, p.A16)
1940 May-1944 Dec, In Austria
approximately 30,000 physically and mentally disabled were killed at
Hartheim Castle by gassing and lethal injection as part of the T-4
Euthanasia Program, named after the infamous Berlin address
"Tiergartenstrasse 4." The castle was regularly visited by the
psychiatrists Karl Brandt, Professor of Psychiatry at Würzburg
University, and Werner Heyde.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Hartheim)
1941 Oct-1941 Nov, Nazi doctor
Aribert Heim, dubbed "Dr. Death," worked at the Mauthausen
concentration camp near Linz, Austria, as camp doctor. Heim fled
Germany in 1962.
(AP, 8/24/08)
1942 Feb 23, Stefan Zweig
(b.1881), Austrian Jewish writer (Die Welt von Gestern), committed
suicide with his wife in Brazil. Zweig's nostalgic but rather
impersonal memoirs of the "Golden Age of Security", The World of
Yesterday, was published posthumously in 1943. His last novel (The
Ecstasy of Transformation) was published posthumously in Germany in
1982. In 2008 it was translated into English as “The Post-Office
Girl.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/szweig.htm)(WSJ, 6/21/08,
p.W9)(Econ, 5/23/09, p.91)
1942 Mar 15, Alexander van
Zemlinsky (70), Austrian-US composer (African Dance), died.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1942 May 7, Felix Paul von
Weingartner, Austria conductor, composer, died.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1942 Oct 10, 1,300 Austrian
Jews were transported to Theresienstadt.
(MC, 10/10/01)
1942 Joseph Schumpeter
(1883-1950), former Austrian minister of finance (1919-1920),
authored "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy," in which he
predicted the decline of the family. He introduced here the concept
of “creative destruction:” that old ways of doing things are
constantly being swept away for new ones.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schumpeter)(Econ, 11/24/07, SR
p.11)
1943 Oct 31, Max Reinhardt,
Austrian stage manager (Turandot), died.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1943 Dec 2, 1st RSHA transport
out of Vienna reached Birkenau camp.
(MC, 12/2/01)
1943 Sister Restituta Kafka was
beheaded by the Nazis for putting up crosses in a hospital. Pope
John Paul II planned to beatify her in 1998.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1944 Mar 17, The United States
Eighth Air Force bombs Vienna.
(HN, 3/17/00)
1944 Hans Asperger, Austrian
pediatrician 1st described a syndrome (Asperger’s syndrome) that
related to autism, which was 1st described in 1943 by psychiatrist
Leo Kanner. Symptoms included problems with social interaction.
(SSFC, 2/2/03, Par p.4)
1945 Mar 29, German SS as well
as Hitler Youth members shot at least 57 laborers in woods near the
small town of Deutsch Schuetzen, later part of Austria. In 2009
German prosecutors charged a 90-year-old alleged former member of
Hitler's SS with 58 counts of murder.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
1945 Mar 30, The Soviet Union
invaded Austria during World War II.
(AP, 3/30/97)(HN, 3/30/98)
1945 Apr 13, Vienna fell to
Soviet troops.
(HN, 4/13/99)
1945 May 2, The Soviet Union
announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender
of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1945 May 5, The 761st Tank
Battalion, an all black unit under Gen. Patton, linked with Russian
allies near Steyr, Austria.
(SSFC, 5/30/04, p.B4)
1945 May 5, The Mauthausen
Concentration camp in Austria was liberated.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1945 May, In Austria US Army
officers and troops plundered a “gold train” on its way to Germany
from Hungary that carried gold, jewels, paintings and other
valuables seized by the Nazis from Jewish families. A 2001 suit
filed in Miami said the army falsely classified it as unidentifiable
and enemy property, which avoided having to return the goods to
their rightful owners. The suit alleged that the US made no effort
to return the goods and lied to Hungarian Jews who sought
information about their property after the war. In 2004 the property
was estimated to be worth ten times its original $200 million
valuation. In 2005 the US government reached a $25.5 million
settlement with families of the Hungarian Holocaust victims for
distribution to needy Holocaust survivors.
(AP, 12/20/04)(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A5)
1945 May, The Allies liberated
Austria. [May 8 was VE-Day]
(StuAus, April '95, p.44)
1945 May, The Univ. of Vienna
reopened.
(StuAus, April '95, p.18)
1945 Jul 31, Pierre Laval,
premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government, surrendered to U.S.
authorities in Austria; he was turned over to France, which later
tried and executed him.
(AP, 7/31/05)
1945 Oct 8, Felix Salten
(b.1869), Austrian writer and the creator of Disney’s Bambi (1923),
died in Switzerland. In 1906 he authored the novel Josephine
Mutzenbacher, the fictional autobiography of a Vienna prostitute, a
notorious pornographic novel.
(Econ, 11/8/08,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Salten)
1945 Nov 30, Russian forces
took Danzig, and invaded Austria.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1945 Austria retrieved some
18,000 looted artworks from a US Army depot in Munich. The bulk of
them were restituted to former owners over the next 3 years.
(WSJ, 12/9/98, p.A20)
1945 Some 40,000 anti-Soviet
Cossacks, who had surrendered to the British, were turned over to
the Red Army. Some 30,000 Yugoslavs were handed over to Tito under
the pretense that they were being sent to Italy. The Yugoslavs were
locked into trains and taken to Slovenia, where they were shot and
buried in mass graves.
(WSJ, 3/17/98, p.A16)
1945 The far-right Freedom
Party was founded.
(SFC, 10/5/99, p.A10)
1945 Anton Webern (b.1883),
Austrian composer, died. He was accidentally shot by an American
soldier policing his town.
(WSJ, 2/14/00, p.A20)
1946 May 13, US condemned 58
camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1947 Jul 30, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, 5x Mr. Universe and film star, was born in Thal bei
Graz, Austria. In 2003 he was elected governor of California.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, Par p.4)(Internet)
1947 Paula von Preradovic,
Austrian poet, wrote a new Austrian anthem after the old one was
pinched by the Germans.
(Econ, 11/24/07, SR p.3)
1948 Jan 8, Richard Tauber
(55), Austria-British tenor, composer (Lehar), died.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1948 Oct 24, Franz Lehar,
Austrian-Hungarian composer (Wiener Frauen), died at 78.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1949 Oct 9, In Austria general
elections brought losses to both the People’s Party and the
Socialists. Many former Nazis rallied behind the new Union of
Independents. The government was composed of a coalition of the
People’s Party and the Socialists.
(EWH, 1968, p.1185)
1949 Leonie Rysanek (d.1998 at
71), singer-actress, made her debut in Innsbruck. She became a
leading opera singer and sang in 2,100 performances.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.D3)
1952 Emilie Flöge,
Viennese fashion designer, died. She was a long time companion of
Gustav Klimt. Dr. Wolfgang Fischer later authored "Gustav Klimt and
Emilie Flöge, An Artist and His Muse."
(WSJ, 10/22/99, p.W14)
1953 Robert Musil (d.1942),
Austrian author, got published in short form in English his
unfinished book "The Man Without Qualities" set in Vienna around
1913. A full 2 volume set ($60) was published in 1995.
(WSJ, 4/12/95, A-12)
1954 Jan 11, Oscar Straus (83),
Austrian composer (The Chocolate Soldier), died.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1954 Jan 12, Austria's worst
avalanche killed 200. 9hrs later a 2nd one killed 115.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1955 May 15, A treaty was
signed in Vienna by the representatives of the four powers and
Austria. It formally reestablished the Austrian republic in its
pre-1938 frontiers as a “sovereign, independent and democratic
state.”
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-33385/Austria)
1955 Sep 21, The last allied
occupying troops left Austria.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1955 Aug 25, Last Soviet forces
left Austria.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1955 Oct 25, Austria resumed
its sovereignty after the departure of last Allied occupation
forces, for 1st time since German occupation of 1938.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-33385/Austria)
1955 Oct 26, Austria, under
request by Russia, promulgated a constitutional law of perpetual
neutrality.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-33385/Austria)(Econ, 11/24/07, SR
p.8)
1955 Nov 5, The new Vienna
Opera house opened.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1955 The Austrian Neutrality
Pact negotiations led to the pullout of Allied and soviet troops.
Rudolf Kirchschlaeger represented Austria.
(SFC, 3/31/00, p.E5)
1956 Nov, Austria provided
humanitarian aid to nearly 200,000 Hungarians fleeing their homeland
after Soviet tanks crushed freedom fighters aiming to overthrow
repressive communist rule.
(AP, 10/20/06)
1957 May 12, Erich von Stroheim
(b.1885), Austrian-US actor and director, died in Paris. His films
included "Grand Illusion," "The Merry Widow," and "Greed." In 2000
Arthur Lennig published the biography "Stroheim."
(WSJ, 2/23/00, p.A20)(MC, 5/12/02)
1957 Nov 3, Wilhelm Reich
(b.1897), Austria-born psychoanalyst, died in the US. His work was
based on the sexual energy in people that he called "Orgone." In
1999 Farrar, Straus & Giroux published: "American Odyssey:
Letters and Journals 1940-1947."
(WUD, 1994,
p.1209)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich)
1959 Nov 20, Seven European
nations (Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland) signed the Stockholm Convention to form the European
Free Trade Association (EFTA). The organization becoming operative
on May 3 1960.
(www.iceland.org/efta/the-mission/int-organizations/efta/)
1960 May 3, Austria became a
founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), along
with Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. The
agreement took effect in 1994.
(Econ, 11/24/07, SR
p.7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association)
1961 Jun 3, JFK and Khrushchev
met in Vienna.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1961 A Vienna Convention barred
the taxing of foreign diplomatic staff.
(AP, 9/15/02)
1963 The Graz Conservatory for
Voice became the Academy of Music and Drama.
(StuAus, April '95, p.62)
1963 In Austria a Vienna
Convention produced a treaty that protected the right of individuals
jailed in a foreign land to contact their national consulate.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.A3)
1964 The Philosophical Faculty
resumed teaching at the Univ. of Salzburg.
(StuAus, April '95, p.87)
1964 The Winter Olympics was
held in Innsbruck, Austria.
(StuAus, April '95, p.95)
1965 The Faculty of Law was
established at the Univ. of Salzburg.
(StuAus, April '95, p.87)
1966 Andreas Rett, an Austrian
doctor, first describe the complex neurological disorder that came
to be called Rett’s syndrome. The cause was later found to be a
mutation in a gene called MeCP2.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.90)
1968 Mar 2, In Switzerland the
World Ice Pairs Figure Skating Championship in Geneva was won by
Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov (USSR). The Ladies Figure
Skating Championship was won by Peggy Fleming (USA). The Men's
Figure Skating Championship was won by Emmerich Danzer (Austria).
(SC,
3/2/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Figure_Skating_Championships)
1970 Mar 1, Kreisky's
social-democrats won the Austrian parliamentary election.
(http://tinyurl.com/3tv72y)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_legislative_election,_1970)
1970 Mar 21, Marlen Haushofer
(b.1920), Austrian writer died. Her 1962 novel “The Wall” was her
only work translated into English.
(WSJ, 4/25/09,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlen_Haushofer)
1970 Apr 21, Bruno Kreisky
(1911-1990) became the 1st socialist chancellor of Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Kreisky)
1970 The Graz Academy of Music
and Drama became the University of Music and Drama.
(StuAus, April '95, p.62)
1970 The Univ. of Klagenfurt in
the Carinthia province of Austria was founded.
(StuAus, April '95, p.73)
1971 Dec 22, The UN General
Assembly voted to ratify the election of Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007)
of Austria to succeed U Thant as the 4th Secretary-General.
(AP, 12/22/99)
1971 Dec 28, Maximilian Raoul
Walter Steiner (b.1888), Austrian-born American composer, died. He
is known best for the score he composed for the classic film “Gone
with the Wind” and for the score and hugely popular theme song for
the film “A Summer Place.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Steiner)
1971 Ivan Illich (1926-2002),
Austrian philosopher, anarchist social critic and former Catholic
priest, authored "De-Schooling Society."
(SFC, 12/4/02,
p.A28)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich)
1971 Gottfried von Einem
(1918-1996), Austrian composer, composed the opera "The Visit of the
Old Lady," based on the 1956 play by Friedrich Durenmatt.
(WSJ, 4/16/97,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_von_Einem)
1972 Jan 1, Kurt Waldheim
(1918-2007) of Austria began serving as the UN Secretary-General. He
continued until Jan 1, 1982.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A1)
1973 Sep 29, Wystan Hugh Auden
(b.Feb 21, 1907), English born American poet, critic and playwright
(Spain, Platonic Blow), died in Austria after suffering from
Touraine-Solente-Gole in which the skin of the forehead, face,
scalp, hands, and feet becomes thick and furrowed. He wrote the
libretto for Benjamin Britten’s first music drama, "Paul Bunyan." In
1999 Edward Mendelson published "Later Auden," which covered the
years 1939-1973.
{USA, Poet, Austria, Playwright}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden)(WSJ,
1/8/98, p.A7)(SFEC, 4/18/99, BR p.3)
1973 The Univ. of Art and
Industrial Design in Linz was founded was established.
(StuAus, April '95, p.83)
1973 Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989),
Austrian zoologist, won the Nobel Prize.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz)
1974 The Austria National
Gallery bought W. de Kooning's "Woman V" (1953) for $850,000.
(http://tinyurl.com/3rr4bw)
1974 Rudi Gernreich, Austrian
engineer, introduced the first "thong bikini."
(WSJ, 6/7/99,
p.A8)(www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1970-1975_SS/1970-1975.html)
1974 Rudolf Kirchschlaeger
(d.2000 at 85) began serving as president of Austria and continued
to 1986.
(SFC, 3/31/00, p.E5)
1975 Jul 6, Otto Skorzeny
(b.1908), German-Austrian SS officer, died. He was the commando
leader who rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from
imprisonment after his overthrow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny)
1975 Jun 27, Robert Stolz
(b.1880), Austrian composer (Freuhling im Prater), died.
(http://robert.stolz.free.fr/Biography.htm)
1975 Das Brucknerhaus, a new
concert hall in Linz, Austria, was dedicated to Anton Bruckner, who
had played regularly on the organ of the Old Cathedral.
(StuAus, April '95, p.76)
1975 Dec 21, There was a
terrorist kidnapping of Saudi oil minister Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani
and other ministers at the OPEC gathering in Vienna, Austria. Three
people were killed and 11 taken hostage. The oil ministers were
taken to North Africa in a hijacked plane in a $1 billion ransom
drama. Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, later admitted
to planning the attack. In 2001 Germany sentenced Hans-Joachim Klein
to 9 years for his role in the attack.
(WSJ, 12/4/95, p.B-1)(SFC,12/11/97, p.C2)(SFC,
2/16/01, p.D2)
1976 Dec 7, The UN Security
Council endorsed Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007) of Austria for a 2nd
5-year term as UN Secretary-General.
(www.worldofquotes.com/history/12_7/6/index.html)
1976 A German edition of Robert
Musil's diaries was published. In 1999 Philip Payne published an
abridged version "Diaries 1899-1942."
(SFEC, 1/31/99, BR p.9)
1976 The Winter Olympics were
again held in Innsbruck, Austria.
(StuAus, April '95, p.95)
1978 Nov 5, In Austria 50.5% of
the voters said no to turning on the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant
and the Austrian nuclear power program came to a halt. The plant at
Zwentendorf, begun in 1970, was completed at a cost of 8 billion
Austrian schillings and was intended to be the first of six Austrian
nuclear plants.
(www.sustainer.org/dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn166zwented)
1979 Jun 18, President Carter
and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic
arms limitation treaty in Vienna. The agreement set a ceiling on
long-range bombers and missiles and limited development to only one
new land-base missile system for the duration of the treaty.
(AP, 6/18/97)(HNQ, 11/15/99)
1979 The UN opened a major
branch in Vienna, Austria, as a third world center. It was promoted
by Chancellor Bruno Kreisky. The complex cost Austria $880 mil. and
was rented to the UN for a nominal annual rent of one dime.
(SFC, 2/17/96, p.A14)
1981 Aug 14, Karl Bohm
(b.1894), Austrian conductor and early Nazi sympathizer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_B%C3%B6hm)
1981 Friedrich Karl Flick
(1927-2006), Austrian billionaire industrialist, became embroiled in
a major postwar political party financing scandal (the Flick Affair)
when it surfaced that some of his managers had given millions of
German marks to German political parties. Flick sold his company to
Deutsche Bank in 1985.
(AP, 10/6/06)
1983 May 24, Fred Sinowatz
(1929-2008) became Austrian Chancellor and continued for 3
years.
(AP,
8/12/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Sinowatz)
1984 Oct 23, Oskar Werner
(b.1922), Austrian actor (Fahrenheit 451), died of a heart attack.
(www.filmbug.com/db/330521)
1985 Dec 27, Palestinian
guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; a total
of twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who
were slain by police and security personnel. Abu Nidal was
considered responsible. President Reagan blamed Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi.
(AP, 12/27/97)(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A6)(NYT, 10/8/04,
p.A12)
1985 Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007),
former sec-gen. of the UN, authored his autobiography: “In the Eye
of the Storm,” as he prepared to run for the presidency of Austria.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.97)
1986 Jun 8, Kurt Waldheim, an
alleged Nazi, was elected president of Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Waldheim)
1986 Jul 8, Kurt Waldheim was
inaugurated as president of Austria despite controversy over his
alleged ties to Nazi war crimes. He was barred from entering the US
due to his services as an officer in a German army unit implicated
in war crimes in the Balkans. He served to 1992.
(SFC, 2/17/96, p.A14)(AP, 7/8/97)
1987 Apr 27, The US Justice
Department barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the
US, saying he aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of
Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
(AP, 4/27/97)
1987 Jun 25, Pope John Paul II
received Austrian President Kurt Waldheim at the Vatican, a meeting
fraught with controversy because of allegations that Waldheim had
hidden a Nazi past.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1987 Kurt Waldheim, Austrian
president and former U.N. secretary general, was barred from
entering the U.S. for his past involvement in Nazi war crimes.
(HNQ, 10/22/99)
1988 Feb 15, Austrian President
Kurt Waldheim vowed in a televised address not to "retreat in the
face of slanders" concerning his service for the German Army during
World War II.
(AP, 2/15/98)
1988 Feb 29, A Nazi document
was discovered that implicated participation of Austrian president
and former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in WWII
deportations.
(HN, 2/29/00)
1988 Mar 10, Prior to the 50th
anniversary of the Anschluss, Austrian President Kurt Waldheim
apologized on his country's behalf for atrocities committed by
Austrian Nazis.
(AP, 3/10/08)
1988 Jun 23, Pope John Paul II
began his second papal visit to Austria, where he met with President
Kurt Waldheim, despite controversy over Waldheim's alleged
involvement in Nazi war crimes.
(AP, 6/23/98)
1988 Jun 24, Pope John Paul II,
on a visit to Austria, condemned Nazism during a stopover at the
Mauthausen death camp.
(AP, 6/24/98)
1989 Feb 12, Thomas Bernhard
(b.1931), Austrian novelist and playwright, died. He hated petty and
conservative Austrian qualities and was known as a teller of
difficult truths. His 1963 novel “Frost” was published in the US in
2006.
(SSFC, 10/22/06,
p.M4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bernhard)
1989 Feb 27, Konrad Lorenz
(b.1903), Austrian zoologist (Nobel 1973), died. He studied
instinctive behavior in animals, especially in grey geese and is
considered to be the founder of modern ethology. He discovered the
principle of imprinting in psychology. His books included “King
Solomon’s Ring” (1952).
(www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0830309.html)
1989 Jul 16, Conductor Herbert
von Karajan (b.1908) died near Salzburg, Austria.
(AP, 7/16/99)
1989 Jul 17, Austria formally
applies to join the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1989/index_en.htm)
1989 Aug 19, The "Pan-European
Picnic" helped precipitate the fall nearly three months later of the
Berlin Wall. Members of Hungary's budding opposition organized a
picnic at the border with Austria to press for greater political
freedom and promote friendship with their Western neighbors. Some
600 East Germans got word of the event and turned up among the
estimated 10,000 participants. They took advantage of the excursion
to escape to Austria.
(AP, 8/19/09)
1989 Zita, the last Hapsburg
empress died.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)
1990 Mar 13, Bruno Bettelheim
(86), Austrian-US psychoanalyst, committed suicide. His books
included "The Empty Fortress" (1967), on infantile autism and "the
Use of Enchantment" (1976), a study of fairy tales. In 1996 Richard
Pollak wrote: "The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno
Bettelheim." In 2002 Theron Raines authored "Rising to the Light: A
Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim."
(SFC, 12/29/96, BR p.1)(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.M4)(MC,
3/13/02)
1990 Jul 29, Bruno Kreisky,
Austria’s longest-serving chancellor and an architect of its policy
of neutrality, died at age 79.
(AP, 7/29/00)
1991 Apr 21, Willi Boskovsky
(81), Vienna Philharmonic conductor (New Year's concerts), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Boskovsky)
1991 Jun 9, Pianist Claudio
Arrau died in Austria at age 88.
(AP, 6/9/01)
1991 Chancellor Franz Vranitzky
admitted Austrian complicity in the Holocaust.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A13)(SFC, 4/24/00, p.A12)
1991 Joerg Haider resigned as
governor of Carinthia after praising Nazi Germany for having a
"proper employment policy." By 1996 he led the Freedom Party,
Europe’s strongest nationalist party.
(SFC, 10/25/96, p.A16)
1992 Mar 29, Paul [G J von]
Henreid (84), Austrian actor (Laszlo-Casablanca), died.
(www.pgtw.bc.ca/histor3.htm)
1992 Nov 27, In Austria part of
the Vienna Hofburg (Imperial Palace) was destroyed by fire.
(http://tinyurl.com/93qvm)
1992 Thomas Klestil (1933-2004)
became president of Austria.
(WSJ, 7/7/04, p.A1)
1993 Dec, Vienna Mayor Helmut
Zilk (1927-2008), lost part of his hand to a letter bomb.
Authorities later tried and convicted right-wing extremist Franz
Fuchs of sending pipe and letter bombs targeting refugees and
minorities, and officials like Zilk who supported them. Fuchs,
dubbed "the Austrian Unabomber," after the American mail-bomber
Theodore Kaczynksi, hanged himself in his prison cell in 2000 while
serving a life sentence for the string of attacks.
(AP, 10/24/08)
1993 A new Univ. building was
constructed for the Univ. of Music and Drama in Graz in the shape
reminiscent of a grand piano.
(StuAus, April '95, p.62)
1993 A new Jewish Museum opened
in Vienna.
(USAT, 9/24/04, p.3D)
1993 The Bajuvarian Liberation
Army began aiming letter bombs against foreigners and figures linked
to immigrant or refugee issues.
(SFC, 10/3/96, p.A14)
1994 Oct 9, In the Austrian
parliamentary election 22.6% voted extreme-right. The ruling
coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the People’s Party
retained a legislative majority but lost 23 seats.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-768.html)
1994 Oct, Kim Jong Ryul, a
North Korean colonel who spent two decades going on European
shopping sprees for his country's rulers, faked his death at the end
of one of his trips and started a new, secret life in Austria in the
hope that the oppressive regime would crumble within years. He left
behind a wife and two children. In 2010 Austrian journalists Ingrid
Steiner-Gashi and Dardan Gashi authored an account of Ryul’s work
for Kim Jong Il.
(AP, 3/5/10)
1995 Jan 1, Austria, Finland
and Sweden joined the European Union. Sweden held their elections to
the parliament later that year on 17 September. Austria held its
elections on 13 October, 1996 and Finland on 20 October, 1996.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union)(Econ,
5/1/04, p.26)
1995 Austria established a fund
to compensate Holocaust victims with payments limited to $7,000.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A13)
1995 Johan Eliasch (33),
Swedish-born English business executive, acquired the financially
ailing Head NV from the Austrian government for $1 million plus the
assumption of more than $300 million in debt.
(WSJ, 4/7/07, p.A5)
1996 Jan 20, US Ambassador
Swanee Hunt gave the Austrian government a list of sites where
weapons were stockpiled by the US in the 1950s as a precaution
against a Soviet takeover.
(FB, 9/12/96, p.A9)
1996 Jun 9, The latest
unemployment rate was 4.9%.
(SFC, 6/9/96, Parade, p.9)
1996 Jun 13, About $150 billion
was deposited in 26 million numbered accounts in Austria, a country
of 7.5 million people. Many of the accounts were attributed to new
Russian immigrants and gangs. The state prosecutor, Wolfgang Mekis,
was put behind bars for trying to extort $600,000 from Valentina
Hummelbrunner, the onetime receptionist of former Soviet Foreign
Minister Andrei Gromyko.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C2)
1996 Jul 7, The average cost of
a Big Mac in Austria was $3.40.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Parade, p.17)
1996 Aug 31, The country’s
first gay wedding took place in the Evangelical Church in Vienna’s
Simmering district.
(SFC, 9/1/96, p.A4)
1996 Sep 13, Pres. Thomas
Klestil was admitted to Vienna Gen’l. Hospital for pneumonia.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 24, Chancellor Franz
Vranitzky began as acting head of state.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Oct 2, The Bajuvarian
Liberation Army targeted 8 prominent people including Chancellor
Frank Vranitzky.
(SFC, 10/3/96, p.A14)
1996 Oct 13, In Austria the
far-right Freedom party of Joerg Haider received 27.6% of the vote.
The Conservative People’s Party led by Foreign Minister Wolfgang
Schuessel won with 29.6%, while the Social Democrats got 29.1%.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.A12)
1997 Jan 19, Chancellor Franz
Vranitzky announced his resignation after 10 years in office.
(SFC, 1/20/96, p.A13)
1997 Mar 1, It was announced
that the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra would allow Ann Lelkes, a
harpist who had played with the orchestra for 26 years, to become an
official member. There still existed an unofficial but firm policy
against admitting members of racial or ethnic minorities.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.E1)
1997 Jul 22, A campaign was
started to rename all public places named after poet Ottokar
Kernstock, the man who wrote the words of the "Swastika Song," the
election theme of Adolph Hitler’s Nazis.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A11)
1997 Sep 2, Viktor E. Frankl
(b. 1905), psychotherapist, died in Vienna at age 92. He was the
author in the 1960s of "Man’s Search for Meaning." He developed
logotherapy, a theory whose primary belief is that man’s primary
motivational force is his search for meaning. His teachings are
called the 3rd Vienna School of Psychotherapy after Freud and Adler.
He held that one can discover the meaning of life in 3 different
ways: "by creating a work or doing a deed; by experiencing something
or encountering someone; and by the attitude we take toward
unavoidable suffering." Frankl's autobiography, "Reflections," was
translated by Joseph Fabry (d.1999 at 89) and his wife.
(WSJ, 9/4/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/4/97, p.C4)(SFC,
5/12/99, p.C6)
1997 Dec 11, From Austria
scientists reported in Nature that they had demonstrated a form of
tele-transportation. They teleported the physical condition of a
photon using a phenomenon called entanglement.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.A4)
1997 Gordon Brook-Shepherd
published "The Austrians."
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A16)
1997 The Austrian film "Tempo"
was a first film by Stefan Ruzowitzky and followed the misadventures
of a bike messenger in Vienna.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.D6)
1997 The Austrian film "The
Unfish" was directed by Robert Dornhelm. It was about a woman who
sleeps with strangers in the belly of a stuffed whale that was her
dead uncle’s circus prop.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.D6)
1998 Feb 7, Falco (40),
Austrian born pop singer, died while on vacation in an auto crash in
the Dominican Republic. His hits included "Der Kommissar," "Rock Me
Amadeus," and "Vienna Calling."
(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.D8)
1998 Mar 2, Natascha Kampusch
(10) vanished in Vienna, Austria, on her way to school, triggering a
massive search that extended into neighboring Hungary. In 2006
Kampusch, who had been held captive in a cellar, managed to escape.
Wolfgang Priklopil (44), her alleged abductor, committed suicide by
jumping in front of a train. In 2007 Natascha’s mother, Brigitta
Sirny authored: "Desperate Years: My life Without Natascha." In 2008
Herwig Haidinger, the former head of Austria's Federal Criminal
Investigations Bureau, accused authorities of ignoring a tip in
April 1998 from a local policeman that pointed to Priklopil. He also
alleged that Interior Ministry officials refused to look into that
accusation once Kampusch reappeared, so to avoid a scandal before
parliamentary elections that fall.
(AP, 8/24/06)(AP, 8/8/07)(AP, 2/11/08)
1998 Mar 27, Ferdinand Porsche
Jr., creator of the Porsche sports car, died at age 88 in Zell am
See, Austria. He was born in Wiener-Neustadt and moved to Germany
with his family after WW I where his father became chief engineer of
Daimler-Benz, the manufacturer of the Mercedes Benz cars. He wrote
an autobiography titled "Cars Are My Life."
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.B12)(AP, 3/27/99)
1998 Apr 19, Thomas Klestil
(66) was re-elected president, a largely ceremonial post, with 63%
of the vote. In Dec he planned to marry a former aide, Margot
Loeffler, 22 years his junior.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C3)
1998 Apr, Pope John Paul II
forced Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, accused of sexually molesting
young boys, to relinquish all duties.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)
1998 Jun 19, Pope John Paul II
visited Austria for 3 days.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)
1998 Jul 3-5, 1998 Vienna
celebrated the 400th anniversary of opera.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T3)
1998 Aug 3, In Austria Hermann
Nitsch (b.1938) ignored animal rights protestors and began a 6-day
festival during which he planned to kill pigs and bulls and paint
pictures with their blood. This was his 100th such performance
(named the 6-Day Play after its length) and it took place at his
castle, Schloss Prinzendorf.
(SFC, 8/4/98,
p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Nitsch)
1998 Oct, Austria’s BAWAG bank
lost some $600 million following a disastrous bet on the yen. Losses
were covered by taking money from the strike fund of OGB, the
federation of trade unions that owned the bank. In 2007 Helmut
Elsner, head of BAWAG, went on trial along with 8 others including
Walter Flottl, the former head of BAWAG, and Flottl’s son, and
independent banker who arranged the yen trades.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.73)
1998 The Austrian film "The
Inheritors" was directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky. It was about a group
of peasants who inherit a farm after their employer is murdered.
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.E1)
1998 In Austria the Vienna
based Four Paws animal rights group opened a bear sanctuary for
dancing bears and unwanted pet bears.
(SFC, 7/8/02, p.A3)
1999 Jan 1, The Maastricht
Treaty specified that a monetary union will be established by this
date, and laid down several criteria that EU nations must fulfill in
order to join. Some of the criteria included: maximum budget
deficits of 3% of GDP, a cap on government debt of 60% of GDP. The
European economic and monetary union (EMU) was scheduled to start
with a new "Euro" currency. Austria, Belgium, Finland, France,
Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and
Spain made the transition. Public use was set for Jan 1, 2002. [see
Jan 4]
(WSJ, 9/25/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 12/5/95, p.A-14)(SFC,
11/16/96, p.A1)(SFC, 1/1/99, p.A8)
1999 Jan 4, The euro, the new
money of 11 European nations, got off to a strong start on its first
trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets and
closed in New York at $1.181. A founding principal of the euro area
held that national central banks be independent of their
governments.
(SFC, 1/5/99, p.C2)(AP, 1/4/00)(HN, 1/4/01)(Econ,
2/25/06, p.77)
1999 Feb, 22, It was reported
that McDonald's had opened new experimental sites dubbed McCafe to
compete with the local coffeehouses.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 23, Heavy rain and
snow in the Alps left 5 people dead and 13 missing in Austria,
Switzerland, France and Germany. An avalanche in the Austrian Alps
at Galtuer killed 9 people and at least 30 were missing. The death
toll in Austria rose to 33 by Feb 25.
(WSJ, 2/23/99, p.A1)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A8)(WSJ,
2/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 26, In Landeck,
Austria, the death toll from recent avalanches reached 37.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A16)
1999 Mar 7, In Austrian state
elections the anti-immigration Freedom Party of Joerg Haider won
42.1% of the vote in Carinthia.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 8, In Carinthia
far-right leader Joerg Haider was elected governor.
(WSJ, 4/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 15, Austria began
accepting refugees from Kosovo. The Austrian Army and Red Cross
built a camp for 5,000 refugees in Shkoder, Albania.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A8)
1999 May 29, A multiple vehicle
collision set off a 15-hour fire in the Tauern Tunnel and at least
12 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 16, Austria reported
that it found animal feed contaminated with Dioxin.
(WSJ, 6/17/99, p.A18)
1999 Jun 25-27, The Danube
Island Festival was billed as Europe's largest youth party.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.T3)
1999 Jul 16-18, In Wiener
Neustadt the Woodstock '99 "One World" experienced music festival
was projected to have an audience of 250,000.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D9)
1999 Oct 3, The far-right
Freedom Party (the Blues) led by Joerg Haider (49) won 2nd place
behind the Social Democrats, who won with 33% of the vote. The
conservative People’s Party (the Blacks) fell to 3rd place with 27%.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A12)(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A12)(Econ,
11/24/07, SR p.6)
1999 Oct 12, The 3rd place
Austrian People's Party refused to revive a coalition with the
Social Democrats.
(WSJ, 10/13/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/14/99, p.A14)
1999 Oct 29, In Upper Austria
police arrested 8 unidentified ringleaders of a neo-Nazi group that
planned a political coup.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A13)
1999 Dec 2, An explosion
leveled a 3-story apartment building in Wilhelmsberg and 9 people
were killed.
(SFC, 12/3/99, p.D5)(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.A1)(SFC,
12/4/99, p.A14)
1999 Dec 4, In Austria 5 people
died and 25 injured when a barrier gave way in a stampede at
snow-boarding event in Bergisel Stadium in Innsbruck.
(SFEC, 12/5/99, p.A26)
1999 Dec 29, In Austria an
avalanche killed 9 German tourists hiking near Galtuer. 13 people
were buried but 4 survived.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.A20)
2000 Jan 6, Two Austrian banks,
Bank Austria and Creditanstalt, agreed to a $40 million settlement
with an estimated 1,000 Holocaust victims or their heirs for having
confiscated their assets.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D2)
2000 Jan 19, In Austria the
union-backed Social Democrats and the pro-business Austrian People's
Party formed a coalition (the Reds and Blacks) to keep the
right-wing Freedom Party of Joerg Haider out of the government.
(SFC, 1/21/00, p.D2)
2000 Jan 21, In Austria the
2-day old ruling coalition collapsed.
(SFC, 1/22/00, p.A11)
2000 Jan 31, The European Union
warned Austria that its 14 members would diplomatically isolate
Austria if the Freedom Party of Joerg Haider entered into a
coalition government.
(SFC, 2/1/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 1, Wolfgang Schuessel,
head of the Austrian People's Party, outlined a plan to Pres. Thomas
Klestil to incorporate the Freedom Party.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.A18)
2000 Feb 3, In Austria Pres.
Thomas Klestil swore in members of the Freedom Party after Joerg
Haider signed a declaration accepting Austria's responsibility for
Nazi crimes during WW II.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 4, In Austria the new
governing coalition took power and triggered diplomatic sanctions
and protests.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 28, In Austria Joerg
Haider, governor of Carinthia, resigned as head of the Freedom
Party. His official resignation took place May 1.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A10)(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 28, In Niedersill,
Austria, a massive avalanche killed 11 people.
(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A15)
2000 May, The Iranian embassy
in Vienna granted refuge to Holocaust denier Wolfgang Frohlich.
(www.adl.org/presrele/holocaustdenial_83/3756_83.asp)
2000 Jul 7, The parliament
approved a $415 million fund to compensate Nazi-era victims of
forced labor.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.C14)
2000 Sep 12, The EU lifted
diplomatic sanctions against Austria.
(SFC, 9/13/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 8, It was reported
that Austria had agreed to pay $400 million to slave and forced
laborers sent there by Hitler during WW II.
(SFEC, 10/8/00, p.A28)
2000 Nov 11, In Austria a fire
consumed a cable car crammed with skiers and snowboarders in an
Alpine tunnel at Kitzsteinhorn mountain near Kaprun. 155 people,
mostly children and teenagers, were killed. In 2008 a settlement
provided relatives of the people who died a share of euro13.9
million (US$21.5 million) in compensation,
(WSJ, 11/15/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/16/00, p.A1)(AP,
11/11/05)(AP, 6/17/08)
2000 Nov 19, 4 skiers died in
avalanches in the Tyrol.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A10)
2000 Nov 28, Liane Haid, film
star, died at age 105. She had starred in 90 films between 1915 and
1942.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.C8)
2000 Dec 16, Joerg Haidar, a
far-right Austrian leader, visited Pope John Paul II along with a
250 person delegation to present a Christmas tree from Carinthia.
This provoked heavy clashes between protesters and police.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D1)
2001 Mar 25, Elections for
Vienna’s City Hall showed Socialists poised to win a controlling
majority.
(SFC, 3/26/01, p.A8)
2002 Jan 1, In Europe 50
billion new euro coins and 14 billion new euro notes began
circulating in 12 participating countries in the most ambitious
currency changeover in history: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Spain, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands
and Portugal.
(SFC, 1/2/02, p.A8)(AP, 1/1/03)
2002 Feb 26, A train wreck in
Wampersdorf left 7 people dead.
(SFC, 2/27/02, p.A7)
2002 Jul 27, In Austria a hand
grenade exploded in the X-Large Disco makeshift discotheque in Linz,
frequented by young Serbian and Croatian immigrants, wounding 27
teenage revelers.
(AP, 7/27/02)
2002 Sep, In Austria the Ars
Electronica Center in Linz held its annual 6-day festival with
prizes, installations, lectures, seminars and concerts featuring the
latest in digital and electronic media.
(WSJ, 9/25/02, p.D8)
2002 Nov 24, In Austria
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's conservative party made large gains
to dominate parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/24/02)
2003 Feb 28, In Austria
a conservative-led coalition assumed governing power in Austria
backed by Joerg Haider’s anti-immigrant party.
(AP, 2/28/03)
2003 Apr 4, In Algeria 8
Austrian tourists were reported missing. Searchers using camels and
helicopters equipped with heat-seeking sensors were already scouring
the Sahara Desert for 21 tourists, mostly Germans, who vanished in
Algeria over the past six weeks.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A8)
2003 May, Heineken paid $2.2
billion for BBAG, Austria's leading beer maker.
(Econ, 6/28/03, p.63)
2003 May, A 16th century
gold-plated "Saliera," or salt cellar, by Florentine master
Benvenuto Cellini, valued at $69.3 million, was stolen from Vienna's
Art History Museum by a single thief when guards ignored a burglar
alarm. The figurine is later recovered.
(AP, 2/11/08)
2003 Jul 19, The first Human
Tongue Transplant took place in Vienna, Austria. Tongue transplants
had been performed for years on animals, but this was the first
attempt at transplanting a human tongue. It was carried out at
Memorial University Hospital in Vienna, Austria during a 14-hour
operation by Dr. Rolf Ewers and eight surgeons. It was performed on
an unidentified 42-year-old patient who was suffering from a
malignant tumor affecting his tongue and jaw. Doctors believed he
would ultimately be able to talk, have feeling and limited movement,
but probably won’t regain the sensation of taste.
(http://tinyurl.com/5ehhps)(http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3964)
2003 Dec 23, Hans Koller (82),
Austrian jazz saxophonist, died. In 1946 he founded the Hot Club
Vienna and later launched an international career.
(SFC, 12/24/03, p.A16)
2003 The first Homeless World
Cup tournament was held in Austria with just five countries
competing. The project aimed at helping homeless people turn their
lives around.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2004 Mar 7, In Austria Joerg
Haider Haider's Freedom Party won 42.4 percent of the vote, compared
to just over 38 percent for the rival Socialists in Carinthia
province.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Apr 25, In Austria Heinz
Fischer, the candidate of the opposition Social Democrats, defeated
Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a conservative rival backed
by right-wing populist Joerg Haider in a presidential election.
(AP, 4/25/04)
2004 May 31, In Austria a
catamaran filled 27 people overturned on Hinterbruehl Grotto,
Europe's largest underground lake, drowning 5 people after the
boat's railings formed a cage 5 feet down on the lake floor.
(AP, 5/31/04)
2004 Jul 6, President Thomas
Klestil (71), who helped distance Austria from its Nazi past and
strengthened the country's ties with emerging Eastern European
democracies, died two days before he was to leave office.
(AP, 7/7/04)
2004 Aug 10, In Austria a bus
carrying mostly British tourists veered off a road in the province
of Salzburg and rolled down an embankment, killing at least five
people.
(AP, 8/10/04)
2004 Oct 7, Austria's Elfriede
Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature for novels and plays that
depict violence against women, explore sexuality and condemn
far-right politics in Europe. Her books included “The Piano Teacher”
(1988), which was adopted for a 2001 film.
(AP, 10/7/04)(SFC, 10/8/04, p.A4)
2005 Jan 1, Austria was
forecast for 2.4% GDP growth with a population at 8.2 million and
GDP per head at $39,130.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.87)
2005 Apr 26, Actress Maria
Schell died in Preitenegg, Austria, at age 79.
(AP, 4/26/06)
2005 May 11, Lawmakers in
Austria and neighboring Slovakia voted overwhelmingly to ratify the
new European constitution, giving much-needed support to the charter
intended to strengthen the 25-member European Union.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 12, Austrian
authorities reported the break up a major human trafficking ring led
by Romanian, Moldovan and Ukrainian criminals who smuggled more than
5,000 East Europeans to the West, many enduring horrific conditions
in tiny hiding spaces in cars, trucks and trailers.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 30, In Graz, Austria,
the body of a slain infant was found at an apartment complex. 3 more
soon discovered: 2 stuffed in a basement freezer, one entombed in a
paint bucket filled with concrete and one in a plastic bag beneath
debris in a garden shed.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 18, In Austria an
explosion ripped through a pizzeria in a town in the southeastern
province of Styria, killing 2 children and injuring 7, in a blast
that may have been the result of an attack.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2005 Jun 21, Austria’s Health
Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat announced a cow in an alpine farm
Austria has been found to be infected with mad cow disease.
(AP, 6/21/05)
2005 Jul 4, In Austria
IAEA representatives of more than 100 countries gathered at the UN
nuclear agency's Vienna headquarters to consider strengthening
international laws meant to safeguard nuclear materials from theft
and prevent terrorist attacks on atomic power plants.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jun 28, Austria launched
an energy exchange to trade carbon allowances in accord with the
Kyoto treaty to deal with greenhouse gases.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.64)
2005 Jul 8, In Austria an
89-nation UN conference approved broadening a treaty meant to keep
nuclear material from the hands of terrorists, opening the way for
states to ratify the agreement. The Convention of the Physical
Protection of Nuclear Material originally obligated the 112
countries that have accepted it to protect nuclear material during
international transport. The amended version expands such protection
to materials at nuclear facilities, in domestic storage and during
domestic transport or use.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Aug 11, In Vienna the
board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
unanimously approved a resolution demanding that Iran suspend all
nuclear activities it resumed earlier this week.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Sep 5, In the town of
Soelden, Austria, a 1,500-pound chunk of concrete being used for
construction at a ski resort fell from a helicopter and hit a
gondola cable, hurling dozens of passengers to the ground and
killing 9 Germans. In 2006 the helicopter pilot was convicted of
criminal negligence and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
(AP, 9/5/05)(AP, 6/23/06)
2005 Sep 20, Simon Wiesenthal
(96), the Holocaust survivor who helped track down Nazi war
criminals following World War II, then spent the later decades of
his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people,
died in Austria. In 2010 Tom Segev authored “Simon Wiesenthal: The
Life and Legends.”
(AP, 9/20/05)(Econ, 9/24/05, p.102)(SSFC,
10/3/10, p.F5)
2005 Sep 26, Archaeologists in
northern Austria reported finding the remains of two newborns dating
back 27,000 years while excavating a hillside near Krems. The
newborns were buried beneath mammoth bones and with a string of 31
beads, suggesting that the internment involved some sort of ritual.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Oct 17, Commodities
brokerage Refco Inc. said it had filed for bankruptcy protection as
it struck a deal to sell its core futures brokerage business to a
group of private equity investors for $768 million. BAWAG, Austria’s
4th largest bank, gave Refco a top-up loan of 350 million euros just
hours before the bankruptcy. In 2007 it was revealed that Wolfgang
Flottl, a hedge fund manager, had his investments sour in 1997
causing BAWAG to lose over $1 billion. The losses were hid from
auditors for 7 years. Helmut Elsner, former boss of BAWAG
(1995-2003), faced charges along with 8 others for the bank’s near
collapse.
(Reuters, 10/17/06)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.72)(WSJ,
1/25/06, p.A1)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.73)
2005 Nov 14, EU Council
decision Nr. 2005/815/EB officially gave Vilnius, Lithuania, and
Linz, Austria, status as a European Capital of Culture for the year
2009.
(www.culturelive.lt/en/european_capitals_of_culture)
2005 Nov 17, Austria’s Interior
Ministry said British historian David Irving has been arrested on a
warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. On Dec 20, 2006, a
court ruled to release Irving (68) and allow him to serve the rest
of his 3 year sentence on probation.
(AP, 11/17/05)(SFC, 12/21/06, p.A18)
2005 Dec 5, Austria officially
finished paying out nearly $350 million in restitution to former
slave and forced laborers compelled to work during WW II under Nazi
control.
(SFC, 12/6/05, p.A8)
2005 Dec 15, Dr. Heinrich Gross
(90), a psychiatrist who worked at a clinic where the Nazis killed
and conducted cruel experiments on thousands of children, died in
Vienna. Gross was a leading doctor in Vienna's infamous Am
Spiegelgrund clinic.
(AP, 12/22/05)(SFC, 12/23/05, p.B5)
2005 Dec 29, Hannah Lessing,
chief fund overseer, said about 3,000 people have been cleared to
receive the first payments from an Austrian fund to compensate
Holocaust survivors, and another 3,000 should be approved shortly.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2006 Jan 7, Heinrich Harrer
(93), an Austrian mountaineer and former Nazi who became a friend
and tutor of the young Dalai Lama, died. Actor Brad Pitt played
Harrer in the 1997 film "Seven Years in Tibet," which was based on
Harrer's 1953 memoir of his time in Tibet.
(AP, 1/7/06)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.83)
2006 Jan 17, Austria said it
will honor an arbitration court decision and give five precious
Gustav Klimt paintings to a California woman who says the Nazis
stole them from her Jewish family.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2006 Jan 24, Vienna's subway
tracks cracked, German authorities shut a key canal to ships after
it iced up, and a zoo moved its penguins indoors as a deadly deep
freeze tightened its arctic grip on much of Europe.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Jan 28, A 2-day European
conference on the future of the EU ended in Salzburg, Austria.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that Europe
must face globalization head-on and not shy away from the issue.
(AP, 1/28/06)
2006 Jan 30, The University of
Vienna announced that it plans to build a new Holocaust research
center in honor of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.
(AP, 1/30/06)
2006 Feb 20, In Austria
right-wing British historian David Irving (67) pleaded guilty to
charges of denying the Holocaust and conceded that he was wrong to
say there were no Nazi gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration
camp.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 20, UN mediated talks
on the future status of Kosovo opened in Vienna as Serbs and ethnic
Albanians staked out tough positions.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Mar 6, Austrian
authorities said several cats have tested positive for the deadly
strain of bird flu in their first reported case of the disease
spreading to an animal other than a bird.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 31, In Austria
Gertraud Arzberger (33), who stuffed the bodies of two of her four
newborn infants in a freezer and entombed two others in plastic
buckets filled with cement, was convicted of three counts of murder
and sentenced to life imprisonment. Her live-in companion, Johannes
Genser (39), was convicted as an accessory and was sentenced to 15
years.
(AP, 3/31/06)
2006 Apr 7, In Austria a 2-day
meeting began in Vienna for European Imams aimed at creating a
distinct identity for European Muslims.
(SFC, 4/7/06, p.A16)
2006 Apr 9, In Austria a
gathering of Imams and Islamic leaders urged European governments to
launch affirmative action-style programs and streamline citizenship
paths to help ease integration for the continent's 33 million
Muslims.
(AP, 4/9/06)
2006 Apr 27, Austria, in its
role as current president of the EU, began a poster campaign called
"Temptress Europe" designed to reawaken Europeans to the continent's
"sensuous" side.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 May 11, The EU and Latin
America opened a three-day summit in Vienna with over 60 national
leaders attending, including Venezuela's fiery, often
anti-Washington President Hugo Chavez. Bolivian President Evo
Morales said that foreign oil companies would not be compensated for
oil and gas resources that have been nationalized, and European
Union president Austria called for explanations.
(AFP, 5/11/06)
2006 May, Austrian financial
institutions and the government stepped in to stem a run on BAWAG,
Austria’s 4th largest bank. Creditors alleged that BAWAG, owned by
the OGB trade union federation, was complicit in the October 2005
bankruptcy of Refco.
(Econ, 5/6/06, p.72)
2006 Jun 5, Austria’s Bawag PSK
bank agreed to pay at least $675 million to avoid prosecution and
settle bankruptcy claims for its role in the collapse of Refco Inc,
a US commodities brokerage firm.
(SFC, 6/6/06, p.C6)
2006 Jun 13, In Austria Western
countries at a 35-nation UN meeting pushed for consensus on the need
for Iran to freeze uranium enrichment, but diplomats said that most
nonaligned countries were preparing to endorse Tehran's right to
continue the work.
(AP, 6/13/06)
2006 Jun 21, Scores of students
chanting "Bush Go Home!" marched through Austria's capital to
protest a visit by President Bush for the annual US-EU summit. The
summit produced no breakthroughs but showed Bush moving toward
better cooperation with Europe on Iran, energy, climate change and
other fronts. Bush accused Iran of dragging its feet on a Western
incentive package aimed at getting Tehran to suspend uranium
enrichment activity.
(AP, 6/21/06)(WSJ, 6/22/06, p.A4)(AP, 6/21/07)
2006 Jun 25, It was reported
that Iran had purchased 800 high-caliber sniper rifles made by Steyr
Mannlicher, an Austrian firm.
(SSFC, 6/25/06, Par p.7)
2006 Jul 10, Fred Wander
(b.1917), writer and Holocaust survivor, died in Vienna. His 1970
novel, “The Seventh Well,” describes his survival. The German
edition was translated to English in 2007.
(SFC, 12/11/07,
p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Wander)
2006 Aug 3, Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf (90), German-born opera soprano, died in Schrums,
Austria.
(SFC, 8/4/06, p.B9)
2006 Aug 9, Roland Horngacher,
Vienna's top police commander, was suspended from duty on suspicion
of improperly accepting gifts, including travel vouchers from the
former head of an Austrian bank linked to the collapse of U.S.
commodities broker Refco Inc.
(AP, 8/10/06)
2006 Sep 17, In northern
Austria a Czech bus veered off a road and into a ditch, killing 4
people and injuring 38.
(AP, 9/17/06)
2006 Oct 1, Austrians began
voting in national elections that could swing the republic back to
the political center after more than six years of influence by the
extreme right. Without absentee ballots, the Social Democrats won
35.7%, giving it the largest proportion of parliamentary seats. The
People's Party, led by Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, came in second
with 34.2%, followed by the Freedom Party, which campaigned on an
anti-foreigner platform, with 11.2%. The Greens came in fourth with
10.5%.
(AP, 10/1/06)(AP, 10/2/06)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.60)
2006 Oct 3, Austria's
government resigned, two days after the center-right coalition lost
parliamentary elections. It will remain in office until a new
government is formed.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 5, Friedrich Karl
Flick (79), Austrian billionaire industrialist, died. His father was
convicted at Nuremburg in 1947 of using slave labor in Nazi Germany.
In 1981 Flick became embroiled in a major postwar political party
financing scandal when it surfaced that some of his managers had
given millions of German marks to German political parties. Flick
sold his company to Deutsche Bank in 1985.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct, Thousands of
centipedes again plagued the western Austrian village of Roens. For
the past 6 years the venomous arthropods have invaded the village in
the spring and autumn, and scientists have had no explanation.
(SFC, 10/14/06, p.C8)
2006 Nov 4, Swathes of Austria,
Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the
Netherlands and went dark for up to an hour in the late evening as
cold Germans rushing to switch on heaters sucked up electricity from
Europe's interconnected networks.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Austria 35
nations tried to find common ground in a fractious session focusing
on what to do about Iran's requests to the UN nuclear watchdog
agency for help on projects including building a plutonium-producing
reactor.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 21, In Austria
diplomats said most of the 35 nations at a key meeting of the UN
nuclear watchdog agency have agreed to deny Iran technical aid for a
plutonium-producing reactor.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2007 Jan 8, Austria's two main
political parties, the Social Democrats and the People's Party,
agreed to form a new coalition government.
(AP, 1/8/07)
2007 Jan 22, Scientists warned
that glaciers will all but disappear from the Alps by 2050, and that
most would be gone by 2037.
(SFC, 1/23/07, p.A4)
2007 Feb 7, Austrian
authorities said they have uncovered a major international child
pornography ring involving more than 2,360 suspects from 77
countries, including hundreds in the United States, who paid to view
videos of young children being sexually abused.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Mar 5, in Austria a
helicopter and a small plane collided in the air and crashed near a
ski slope, killing all eight people aboard the two aircraft.
(AP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Austria
delegates to a 35-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy
Agency approved the suspension of nearly two dozen nuclear technical
aid programs to Iran as part of UN sanctions imposed because its
nuclear defiance.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Apr 13, An Austrian bank
recently bought by a US-led consortium acknowledged it told a
Cuban-born client to take her business elsewhere and suggested that
Washington's ban on commerce with Cuba was behind the decision.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 21, Iran signed a
major gas development and production agreement with Austrian energy
group OMV.
(Reuters, 4/21/07)
2007 May 4, In Austria a
standoff pitting Iran against most others delegations at a
130-nation nuclear conference deepened, with organizers adjourning
the third straight session in as many days without breaking a
deadlock over the language of the meeting's agenda.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 7, In Austria a
130-nation nuclear meeting stalled for its sixth straight day after
Iran refused to commit itself to a compromise meant to break a
deadlock caused by Tehran's opposition to language of the
gathering's agenda.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, In Austria
officials said Vienna's City Hall has launched a "sex hotline" to
raise money for the capital's main public library. Callers paid 53
cents a minute to listen to an actress read breathless passages from
erotica dating to the Victorian era.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 11, Austrian
authorities said they have arrested 40 suspects and seized thousands
of videos, CDs and DVDs as part of a yearlong crackdown on child
pornography. Police in Italy made two arrests in connection with the
investigation, which was code-named Operation Max. The server was
located in St. Petersburg, Russia, and since has been shut down.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 Jun 1, Rakhat Aliyev, the
Kazakh ambassador to Austria until he was dismissed on May 26, was
arrested for alleged involvement in the suspected kidnapping of two
senior managers of a bank he controls. He appealed to Austrian
authorities not to extradite him to his homeland to face kidnapping
charges.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Austria Kurt
Waldheim (b.1918), former UN Secretary-General (1972-1982), died. He
was elected Austrian president in 1986 despite an international
scandal about his secretive World War II military service for the
Nazis.
(AP, 6/14/07)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.97)
2007 Jul 6, Austrian
authorities arrested Michael Berger (35), an investment banker
wanted by the FBI, who fled after being convicted of securities
fraud in NYC more than five years ago.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Aug 8, An Austrian federal
court rejected Kazakhstan's request to have its ex-ambassador to
Austria, a former son-in-law of the Central Asian nation's
autocratic president, extradited to face kidnapping charges in his
homeland.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 31, In Vienna,
Austria, negotiators from 158 countries reached basic agreement on
rough targets aimed at getting some of the world's biggest polluters
to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global
warming.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Sep 7, Pope Benedict XVI
paid tribute to Holocaust victims, extending his "sadness,
repentance and friendship" to the Jewish people as he began a 3-day
pilgrimage to Austria.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 8, In Austria Pope
Benedict XVI blasted Europeans for being selfish and not having
enough children, in a sermon at the 850-year-old pilgrimage site of
Mariazell.
(AP, 9/8/07)
2007 Sep 11, Keyboardist Joe
Zawinul (75), who played with Miles Davis and helped shape jazz
fusion with his band Weather Report, died in his native city of
Vienna.
(Reuters, 9/11/07)
2007 Oct 10, Austrian
authorities arrested a Turkish-born man (76) suspected of fatally
shooting a younger Turkish associate (58) and slicing off the
victim's penis in what investigators called an "honor killing."
(AP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 11, Werner von Trapp
(91), a member of the Austrian family made famous by the musical
"The Sound of Music," died in Waitsfield, Vt.
(AP, 10/11/08)
2007 In Austria Andreas K. from
Wiener Neustadt stumbled onto buried treasure while turning dirt in
his back yard. In 2011 Austria's department in charge of national
antiquities said the trove, dating back some 650 years, consists of
more than 200 rings, brooches, ornate belt buckles, gold-plated
silver plates and other pieces or fragments, many encrusted with
pearls, fossilized coral and other ornaments.
(AP, 4/22/11)
2007 Foreign nationals made up
nearly 10% of Austria’s population.
(Econ, 11/24/07, SR p.8)
2008 Jan 8, In Vienna, Austria,
a court convicted an accountant of embezzling $1.8 million from the
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights to support his mistress, a
crime that forced the respected group to fold. The 43-year-old
accountant to three years in jail, two of which were suspended. His
31-year-old girl friend was sentenced to two years, 16 months of
which could be served on parole.
(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Feb 2, An Iraqi government
official said Iraq has halted oil exports to Austria's OMV, the
leading oil and gas group in central Europe, to protest a deal with
the self-ruled Kurdish region.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 8, In western Austria
a fire engulfed a home for the elderly, killing at least 11 people.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 21, Hans Janitschek
(73), an Austrian journalist who spent years as a UN consultant and
also served as secretary general of the Socialist International
organization, died suddenly at UN headquarters. Janitschek wrote
several political biographies, co-authored Waldheim's autobiography
and published more than a dozen books.
(AP, 3/1/08)
2008 Feb 22, In Tunisia 2
Austrian tourists were kidnapped. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa
later claimed responsibility and warned western tourists to stay
away. The 2 tourists were released on October 31.
(AFP, 3/11/08)(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)(AP, 10/31/08)
2008 Mar 1, A violent storm
plagued parts of Europe and deaths rose to 10 after two people in
Poland were killed by falling objects because of hurricane-strength
winds. Germany reported 2 deaths, the Czech Rep. 2 deaths and 4 more
in Austria.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Mar 12, In Austria a
dispute began with the opening of "Religion, Flesh and Power," a
collection of about 50 paintings, drawings and sculptures, some with
homo-erotic themes, by Austrian artist Alfred Hrdlicka (80). Among
them is Hrdlicka's rendition of the Last Supper: a large, loosely
rendered black and white etching that shows Jesus and his disciples
engaging in sex acts on the table where they shared their final meal
before Christ's crucifixion.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Mar 25, In western Austria
some 70 vehicles were involved in a pileup on an autobahn killing
one person and injuring at least 37 others.
(AP, 3/25/08)
2008 Apr 19,
In Austria 3 men posing as policemen were shot along S1
highway, one fatally, when they tried to rob two men who turned out
to be real officers.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 26, In Austria police
found a woman (42), missing since 1984, in the town of Amstetten
following a tip. Elisabeth said her father, Josef Fritzl, had kept
her captive in a cellar for almost 24 years, that he had repeatedly
raped her, and that she gave birth to 7 children, one of whom later
died. In November Fritzl (73) was charged with murder as well as
rape, incest, false imprisonment and slavery. On March 18, 2009,
Fritzl pleaded guilty to all charges against him, including
homicide, after his daughter appeared unexpectedly in the courtroom.
On March 19 Fritzl was convicted of homicide and sentenced him to
life imprisonment in a secure psychiatric facility.
(AP, 4/27/08)(AP, 11/13/08)(AP, 3/18/09)(AP,
3/19/09)
2008 May 14, In Austria
investigators discovered the bodies of five people after a man
turned up at a Vienna police station saying he had killed his wife
and daughter.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 Jul 1, Josef Branis (66)
fatally shot four relatives in two houses in the Vienna suburb
of Strasshof after being evicted from his sister's Vienna
apartment. He was arrested in August after being on the run for
weeks. On Jan 27, 2009, Branis (67) was sentenced to 20 years in
prison after pleading guilty.
(AP, 1/27/09)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25495397/)
2008 Jul 4, In Austria 9
people, including a prominent executive who fled to France in an
attempt to elude justice, were convicted of criminal charges in a
major Austrian bank fraud case linked to the 2005 collapse of New
York-based commodities brokerage Refco Inc. Vienna Federal Court
Judge Claudia Bandion-Ortner found the defendants responsible for
euro1.4 billion (US$1.9 billion) in losses at BAWAG, Austria's No. 4
bank.
(AP, 7/4/08)
2008 Jul 7, Austria’s ruling
coalition crumbled and new elections were expected as early as
September. The left-right alliance broke up after 18 months in
office.
(WSJ, 7/8/08, p.A12)(Econ, 7/12/08, p.63)
2008 Jul 9, German
investigators carried out raids on 600 homes in Austria, Switzerland
and Germany seeking chemicals used to produce an illicit date-rape
drug.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2008 Aug 11, Fred Sinowatz (b.
1929) former Chancellor of Austria (1983 to 1986), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Sinowatz)
2008 Sep 3, Swiss prosecutors
said police have broken up an Internet child pornography ring
operating in at least four European countries where men exchanged
details about their contacts with young girls. In all investigators
said they had identified 600 people in Germany, 40 in Austria, 13 in
Switzerland and four in Liechtenstein using the forum.
(AP, 9/3/08)
2008 Sep 28, Austrians voted in
parliamentary elections that analysts say could bolster the standing
of the country's far-right and give the main ruling parties their
worst results in years. The rightist Freedom Party (18%) and the
Alliance for the Future of Austria (11%), capitalized on voter
discontent and got a combined 29%. The voting age had recently been
lowered to 16.
(AP, 9/28/08)(AP, 9/29/08)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.16,
56)
2008 Oct 11, Austrian
politician Joerg Haider (b.1950) died in a car accident while
speeding drunk. His far-right rhetoric at times sounded sympathetic
to the Nazis and contemptuous of Jews and led to months of
international isolation for the Alpine republic. At the time of his
death, Haider was governor of the province of Carinthia and leader
of the Alliance for the Future of Austria, a party he formed after
breaking away from the far right Freedom Party in 2005.
(AP, 10/11/08)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.99)
2008 Oct 17, The UN added
Japan, Austria, Turkey, Mexico and Uganda as members to the 10
non-permanent seats of the Security Council, replacing Belgium,
Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa.
(AP, 10/17/08)
2008 Nov 4, In Austria 2 men
and a woman were arrested in the raid in the southern town of
Villach. The raid on a suspected gang of international jewel thieves
recovered an uncut ruby known as the "Prince of Burma" worth 3.2
million euros ($4.1 million). The ruby along with diamonds and other
gems were stolen from a German jewelry dealer in Milan, Italy, in
August.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov, The coffin of
Austrian billionaire Friedrich Karl Flick (d.2006) was stolen from a
cemetery in Velden, southern Austria. Thieves demanded 6 million
euros ($9 million) for the coffin's return. It was found in Nov 2009
by private investigators in Budapest. A 41-year-old Hungarian
lawyer, identified only as Barnabas Sz., was suspected of
masterminding the crime and was in police custody. Four other
suspects were still at large.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Jan 11, Slovakia reopened
a nuclear power plant it was forced to shut down as part of its bid
to join the European Union, prompting condemnation from neighboring
Austria, which described the reactor at Bohunice as unsafe.
(AP, 1/11/09)
2009 Jan 12, In Nigeria Susanne
Wenger (93), Austrian-born sculptress, died. She had been initiated
as a Yoruba traditional priestess and was responsible for towering
works of art in one of Nigeria's two World Heritage sites.
(AFP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 13, In Austria Umar
Israilov (27), a Chechen refugee, was shot dead on a Vienna street.
Officials said they had no proof the killing was political, but
human rights activists said his death was linked to his opposition
to Chechnya's pro-Moscow president. On Jan 28 Austrian authorities
arrested seven suspects, all Chechens, in the killing. On February
19 Polish police arrested Turpal Ali J. (31), a man suspected of
killing Israilov. In 2010 Austrian investigators concluded that
Chechnya Pres. Ramzan Kadyrov ordered the kidnapping of one of his
critics and former bodyguards and that Israilov was shot to death
when the abduction went awry. In 2011 an Austrian prosecutor
sought life sentences for three Russian men on charges they carried
out the murder of the Israilov.
(AP, 1/28/09)(AP, 2/22/09)(AP, 4/27/10)(AP,
6/1/11)
2009 Jan 21, Germany banned the
production, sale or possession of a synthetic marijuana-like drug
known as "Spice," effective as of Jan 22, becoming the 4th nation to
ban the substance, marketed as an herbal room-freshener, after
Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
(AP, 1/21/09)
2009 Jan 31, The Vatican
announced that the Pope has tapped the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner
(54) to be auxiliary bishop in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria
province. Wagner caused a stir in 2005 when he was quoted as saying
that he was convinced that the death and destruction of Hurricane
Katrina earlier that year was "divine retribution" for tolerance of
homosexuals and laid-back sexual attitudes in New Orleans.
(AP, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 11, In Austria Mike
Brennan, a teacher and former football player from Jacksonville,
Florida, working in Vienna, was attacked by two undercover police
officers at a subway station. The police did not identify themselves
and left Brennan lying on the platform. In 2010 prosecutors charged
an undercover policemen with badly beating the black American
teacher after mistaking him for a drug dealer. On Jan 11, 2011, a
judge convicted an undercover Austrian police officer of attacking
Brennan after mistaking him for an African drug dealer and ordered
him to pay a euro2,800 ($3,620) fine.
(AP, 4/27/10)(AP, 1/11/11)
2009 Mar 19, Josias Kumpf (83),
a former Nazi concentration-camp guard, was deported from Wisconsin
to Austria, despite objections from his lawyer that the guard was
simply present at the Trawniki Labor Camp in Poland but committed no
acts of persecution [see Nov 3, 1943].
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar, The Vienna initiative
was drawn up to halt the financial contagion spreading through
central and eastern Europe. The IMF and EBRD got the main foreign
banks to come together in Vienna and reach a gentleman’s agreement
between them and with the international financial institutions.
(www.ebrd.com/english/pages/news/press/2010/100226a.shtml)
2009 Apr 1, In Austria Julius
Meinl V (49), chairman of the Meinl Bank, was arrested in a
potential $4 billion fraud case involving a real estate fund created
by the bank.
(WSJ, 4/3/09, p.C1)
2009 Apr 9, Amnesty
International said immigrants and ethnic minorities living in
Austria are more likely to be suspected of crimes than whites and
are regularly denied their right to equal treatment by the country's
police and judicial system.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 29, The WHO raised its
alert for swine flu from level 4 to level 5, its 2nd highest alert
level. Austria and Germany confirmed cases of swine flu, becoming
the third and fourth European countries hit by the disease. US
health officials reported that a 23-month-old child in Texas has
died from the disease. The World Health Organization called an
emergency meeting to consider its pandemic alert level.
(AP, 4/29/09)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A8)
2009 May 2, In Austria an
avalanche killed 6 hikers not far from the popular Soelden ski
resort in the alpine province of Tyrol.
(AP, 5/3/09)
2009 May 24, In Austria groups
of rival worshippers at a Sikh temple in Vienna pulled knives and at
least one handgun in a mass fight. 16 people were wounded and one
preacher died the next day. The Vienna temple attended by
lower-caste Sikhs was attacked by Sikhs from a higher caste who
accused preachers of being disrespectful of the religion's Holy
Book.
(AP, 5/24/09)(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 Jun 8, Final results
showed a British far-right party won its first-ever parliamentary
seats in EU elections. The British National Party, which does not
accept nonwhite members and calls for the "voluntary repatriation"
of immigrants, won two of Britain's 72 seats in the European
Parliament. Austria's Freedom Party, which also campaigned on an
anti-Islam platform, more than doubled its share of the vote to
13.1%. Hungary's Jobbik party, which describes itself as
Euro-skeptic and anti-immigration and wants police to crack down on
what it calls "Gypsy crime," won three of the country's 22 seats and
almost 15% of the vote. The Greater Romania Party, which is, among
other things, pro-religion, anti-gay and anti-Hungarian, made
surprise gains, winning almost 9% of the vote and taking two of
Romania's 33 seats. A bloc of center-right parties remained the
largest group.
(AP, 6/8/09)
2009 Jul 13, Turkey and four EU
countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary) formally agreed
to route the Nabucco natural gas pipeline across their territories,
pushing ahead with a US- and EU-backed attempt to make Europe less
dependent on Russian gas.
(AP, 7/13/09)(Econ, 7/18/09, p.47)
2009 Aug 2, In Austria
researchers unveiled two piano pieces recently identified as
childhood creations by the revered composer.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Apr 2, Austrian
authorities arrested British-born Julius Meinl V (b.1959), head of
Meinl Bank, for suspected breach of trust and deception of investors
in a potential $4 billion fraud case involving a real estate fund
created by the bank. He had spun much of his family’s property
portfolio into Meinl European Land (MEL). By 2007 MEL had lost €1.8
billion in an attempt to support its share price. He was released
after posting a €100 million bail.
(Econ, 8/1/09, p.60)(WSJ, 4/3/09, p.C1)
2009 Sep 18, In Vienna,
Austria, a 150-nation IAEA nuclear conference passed a resolution
directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program for the first
time in 18 years. Iran hailed the vote as a "glorious moment." 49
voted for the resolution. 45 were against and 16 abstained from
endorsing or rejecting he document.
(AP, 9/18/09)
2009 Oct 20, Talks in Vienna
meant to persuade Iran to send most of its enriched uranium abroad,
and thus delay its potential to make a nuclear weapon, bogged down
over fierce Iranian resistance to French participation.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Nov 17, California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger visited his native Austria.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Vienna Japanese
diplomat Yukiya Amano took the helm of the UN atomic watchdog
(IAEA), pledging a steady hand to steer the agency through the storm
surrounding Iran's nuclear drive. Mohamed ElBaradei (67), the
outgoing Egyptian chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), handed over his leadership to Yukiya Amano.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 5, Austrian artist
Alfred Hrdlicka (81) died. His controversial works in metal, paint
and pencil alienated as much as attracted the public.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 10, Austria’s
parliament passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to enter
into civil unions. The bill was slated to become law on Jan 1.
(SFC, 12/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 14, Austria’s Finance
Minister Josef Proell said Austria will nationalize the Hypo Group
Alpe-Adria to prevent its collapse. The bank with assets across the
Balkans went on to lose $634 million in the first half of 2010.
(Econ, 9/11/10, p.63)
2009 Dec, Police in Uruguay
seized a large amount of cocaine from an anchored yacht as part of
an operation dubbed “Balkan Warrior.” 2.7 tons were seized in the
operation. In 2010 Serbia indicted Darko Saric, a Serb citizen from
Montenegro, and 19 associates of smuggling drugs from South America
to Europe. Saric disappeared but financial documents linked him to
companies registered in the Marshall Islands and Delaware via the
Bank of Cyprus and an Austrian bank in Montenegro, a branch of Hypo
Group Alpe-Adria.
(Econ, 5/8/10, p.56)(Econ, 9/11/10, p.63)
2010 Jan 14, Austrian
scientists stopped a 2-week old avalanche experiment that involved
burying pigs in snow and monitoring their deaths, following vehement
protests by animal rights activists.
(SFC, 1/15/10, p.A2)
2010 Feb 16, In Austria 14
countries and the European Commission adopted the Danube River Basin
Management Plan, a cleanup plan for the Danube River and its
tributaries. Participating countries included Austria, Bosnia,
Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro,
Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
(AP, 2/16/10)
2010 Mar 12, Austrian
government officials said they have identified at least two mass
graves of some 70 Nazi victims on property used by the army. The
victims were concentration camp inmates and others, all killed by
the SS to eliminate witnesses to Nazi atrocities shortly before
Soviet troops arrived.
(AP, 3/12/10)
2010 Mar 23, Austria’s
Graz-Seckau diocese said a priest has resigned after admitting he
abused a 17-year-old boy. The priest reportedly stepped down of his
own accord for the abuse that happened more than 20 years ago on a
vacation. 2 other priests have also been suspended as a
precautionary measure because one was convicted of committing a
homosexual act with a 17-year-old and the other was convicted of
exhibitionism in cases dating back about 15 and 20 years.
(AP, 3/23/10)
2010 Apr 25, Austria's
president easily secured a second term, deflecting a challenge by a
far-right politician who had criticized the country's anti-Nazi law.
Incumbent Heinz Fischer, a Social Democrat, won 78.9 percent of the
vote, trouncing his main rival, Barbara Rosenkranz of the
anti-foreigner and anti-European Union Freedom Party, who netted
15.6 percent.
(AP, 4/25/10)
2010 Jun 25, In Austria the
world's largest gold coin has been sold at auction for euro3.27
million ($4 million). The 2007 maple leaf coin with a face value of
1 million Canadian dollars ($960,000) weighed 220 pounds (100 kg)
with a diameter of 21 inches (53 cm).
(AP, 6/26/10)
2010
Jun 27, It was reported that Vienna residents have become victims of
burglary in recent weeks. The Austrian interior ministry suspected
that many of the burglars were from the Republic of Georgia and were
supported by the Georgian Mafia. The alleged local head, a
restaurant owner in Vienna, has been arrested. Police suspected the
burglaries were part of plan to finance a coup against Georgian
Pres. Saakashvili.
(SSFC, 6/27/10, p.A4)
2010 Jun 29, Rudolf Leopold
(85), renowned Austrian museum director and art collector, died. He
is credited with assembling the country's largest and most important
private art collection.
(AP, 6/29/10)
2010 Oct 10, In Austria the
far-right anti-immigration Freedom party drew 27% of the vote in
local elections in Vienna giving them 28 seats in the regional
parliament.
(SFC, 10/11/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 19, In Austria tens of
thousands of students, backed by university staff, marched to demand
more money for higher education.
(SFC, 10/20/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 21, In Austria
Christian Kandlbauer (22), man who was able to drive because of an
innovative high-tech artificial arm, died. He had been in intensive
care since Oct 19 after his vehicle veered off the road and into a
tree. It was unclear whether the crash was caused by problems with
Kandlbauer's artificial arms.
(AP, 10/22/10)
2010 Nov 10, In an extensive
interview with the Die Presse daily, Ambassador Kadri Ecved Tezcan
said Austria was pushing people of Turkish origin to the fringes of
society instead of learning to live with them and benefiting from
their skills.
(AP, 11/10/10)
2010 Dec 3, In Vienna, Austria,
the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency
approved an IAEA-run repository for nuclear fuel, in a move meant to
limit proliferation by making domestic uranium enrichment programs
superfluous.
(AP, 12/4/10)
2010 Dec 10, Police in Croatia
issued an international arrest warrant overnight for former PM Ivo
Sanader, who left the country just as it became clear that
prosecutors wanted him investigated and detained on corruption
charges. Sanader was arrested on an international warrant in
Austria.
(AP, 12/10/10)(AP, 12/11/10)
2011 Feb 10, Austrian police
said vandals have destroyed a 500-year-old grapevine in the village
of St. Georgen that was believed to have been a direct ancestor of
the popular gruner veltliner wine, known as gru-vee in the US.
(SFC, 2/11/11, p.A2)
2011 Mar 3, Austria detained
Serbian colonel Jovan Divjak (73) on a Serbian warrant. He had
defected to Bosnia's army at the start of the conflict between the
two sides. Divjak awaited a hearing on whether he should be
extradited on suspicion of war crimes.
(AP, 3/4/11)
2011 May 9, An Austrian court
approved the extradition of former Croatian PM Ivo Sanader to his
homeland where he is suspected of corruption while in office.
(AP, 5/9/11)
2011 May 25, Austrian
authorities filed incitement charges against a right-wing politician
for commissioning a video game that required players to target and
stop mosques, minarets and muezzins as they pop up on a screen.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May, In Austria a
26-year-old, identified only as Yusuf O., was detained on a German
arrest warrant. The German national of Turkish descent was suspected
of involvement with the German Taliban Mujahideen, a fundamentalist
group that prosecutors say seeks to carry out attacks in Afghanistan
and Pakistan and found a "religious fundamentalist society" there.
(AP, 6/18/11)
2011 Jun 16, Austrian police
said they have arrested four men suspected of involvement in a
terrorist organization that is committed to founding a "religious
fundamentalist society" in Afghanistan and responsible for attacks
there.
(AP, 6/16/11)
2011 Jun 20, Austrian police
said they have arrested a 25-year-old terrorist suspect identified
only as Thomas al-J. in Vienna last week. He allegedly supports the
radical Islamist German Taliban Movement and considered a Sept.
11-style attack that would involve flying a plane into the
Reichstag, Germany's parliament in Berlin.
(AP, 6/20/11)
2011 Jul 8, A 225-page
international review showing wide variances of Internet freedom gave
Finland the best marks for making citizens' access to a broadband
connection a legal right. The report was presented at OSCE
headquarters in Vienna.
(AP, 7/8/11)
2011 Jul 29, An Austrian court
rejected an extradition request from Serbia for Jovan Divjak, a
former general in the Bosniak army, ruling that his right to a fair
trial on suspicion of war crimes would be in doubt.
(AP, 7/29/11)
2011 Aug 25, Austrian officials
said they are investigating allegations that a man locked up his two
mentally disabled daughters in a small room in their home, sexually
abused them for 41 years. The women have accused the 80-year-old of
repeatedly raping them between 1970 and May 2011. The alleged
victims are now 53 and 45 years old. The Austrian man, held for
around two weeks on suspicion that he regularly raped his daughters
for 41 years, was freed on Sep 9 after the two women changed their
story.
(AP, 8/25/11)(AP, 9/9/11)
2011 Sep 13, In Austria a
35-nation meeting of the UN nuclear agency adopted a post-Fukushima
nuclear safety plan, despite gripes by influential member nations
that it to too timid for making compliance voluntary.
(AP, 9/13/11)
2011 Sep 23, Islamic nations at
a 151-nation IAEA conference in Vienna demanded that Israel open its
nuclear program to international purview, asserting that its
undeclared atomic arms program is a threat to Mideast peace.
(AP, 9/23/11)
2011 Oct 13, In Austria a
Saudi-backed interfaith center, the "King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz
International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue,"
was inaugurated in Vienna, igniting debate over the subject of
religious tolerance.
(AP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 14, An Austrian court
found right-wing politician Gerhard Kurzmann not guilty of charges
of incitement for posting a video game called "Moschee Baba," that
required players to target and stop mosques, minarets and muezzins
as they appear on a screen.
(AP, 10/14/11)
2011 Oct 17, Austrian officials
said an investigation will be launched into claims by 2 women that
they and 18 other girls at the Schloss Wilhelminenberg foster home,
run by the city of Vienna, were raped in the 1970s. The sisters, now
47 and 49, alleged the abuse began when they were 6 and 8, and ended
in their early teens. 343 former foster children who were wards of
the city have turned to Weisser Ring, non-governmental victims'
organization, with reports of being abused at the Schloss
Wilhelminenberg alone since investigations began last year.
(AP, 10/17/11)(AP, 10/18/11)
2011 Nov 18, In Austria the US
and its Western allies bluntly accused Iran of deceiving the world
and declared it could no longer dismiss evidence it is working
secretly on making nuclear arms.
(AP, 11/18/11)
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Subject = Austria
End of file.