Politician, Chancellor of Austria (1970-1983)
Bruno Kreisky Kreisky was born in Vienna in 1911. His father was a large clothing industrialist. Kreisky studied law and was political active since the age of 15, while joining the youth movement of the Social Democratic Party. During the Dollfuss reign, he was arrested for two years. After the Anschluss (1938), he immigrated to Sweden, where he stayed until after the war (1945). He returned to Vienna in 1946 and for ten years was nominated to several positions, including Member of the Austrian mission to Sweden, Assistant Chief of Staff, Undersecretary in the Foreign Affairs Department in the Office of the Chancellor. Kreisky was elected to Parliament as a Socialist (1956), and after 1959 served as Foreign Minister in the coalition government of Julius Raab. In that capacity he was very active in founding the European Free Trade Association, and together with Italy in solving the South Tyroll problem. After seven years, in 1966, Kreisky left office, as the Christian Conservatives won an absolute majority in the Parliament. Kreisky was elected Chairman of the Socialist party in 1967 and in the elections of 1970, the Socialists won the elections, but not an absolute majority. Bruno Kreisky became the first Jewish Chancellor of Austria for the next thirteen years, while he won the elections of 1971, 1975 and 1979.
As Chancellor Kreisky’s policy was of a social and liberal character. He changed family laws and prison laws, and the legal attitude toward homosexuality and abortion. He reduced the length of military service, and tried to bridge the gap between the Catholic Church and the Socialist Party. He cut the work hours to 40, increased salaries of employees, pursued laws for gender equality, and tried to develop nuclear power after the oil shock of 1974. He was very active in international affairs and and thought of Austria as a link between East and West.
Bruno Kreisky was an anti-zionist Jew. As a leader of European politics he tried to mediate between Israel and the Arab countries, but with little result. In Israel many Jews did not accept his attitude. Kreisky’s attitude toward the Jewish world was ambigous: on one side four of his 1970 cabinet ministers had ”Nazi- backgrounds” (according Simon Wiesenthal), and on the other side he opened Vienna as a transit point for Jews leaving the Soviet Union for Israel or western countries.
Kreisky founded the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights (1976) which marked his 65th birthday. Every two years a prize is awarded in that area. Bruno Kreisky was an outstanding orator, and he won all the TV debates before elections. His intensive dealing with international affairs was not liked by the voters of the 1983 election and Kreisky lost his parliamentary majority. He did not want to form a minority cabinet and resigned from his office and was made honorary chairman.
Kreisky was a controversy statesman. His supporters considered him as the last Socialist, who helped to rise the standard of life for the people of Austria. His opponents saw him as a state budget expender, and blamed him for the difficulties of the Austrian economy in the 1980s.