Bruno Kreisky(1911 — 1990)
Bruno Kreisky
Autriche, Cisleithanie
5 min read
Austrian social-democratic statesman, Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1970 to 1983. A major figure of European social democracy, he profoundly modernized Austrian society and played an active role on the international stage, particularly in the Middle East.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1911 in Vienna into a Jewish family, he fled Austria after the Anschluss of 1938 and went into exile in Sweden
- Foreign Minister of Austria from 1959 to 1966
- Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1970 to 1983, leading the country's first majority social-democratic government
- Carried out major social reforms: reduction of working hours, expansion of education, reform of family law
- Played an active diplomatic role in the Middle East and was a leading figure of the Socialist International; died in 1990
Works & Achievements
Expansion of the welfare state: shorter working hours, longer paid holidays and strengthened social protection.
Abolition of tuition fees and free provision of textbooks, opening up university to children from working-class backgrounds.
Establishment of legal equality between spouses and modernization of family law, breaking with an old patriarchal order.
Austria abolished capital punishment in all circumstances, a step forward that Kreisky firmly supported.
Pioneering dialogue with the PLO and mediation for the recognition of Palestinian rights, making Austria a diplomatic player.
An autobiographical account in which Kreisky retraces his journey from exile to the chancellery and sets out his vision of social democracy.
Anecdotes
Born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Bruno Kreisky was arrested several times for his socialist activism before the war. After the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in 1938, he was forced to flee and found refuge in Sweden, where he lived in exile alongside other European social democrats such as Willy Brandt.
Chancellor from 1970 to 1983, Kreisky was so popular that this period was nicknamed the “Kreisky-Ära” (the Kreisky era). He won three consecutive elections with an absolute majority, a rare feat in a parliamentary democracy, and Austrians familiarly called him “Kaiser Bruno” (Emperor Bruno).
A Jew himself, Kreisky took a highly critical stance toward Israeli policy and was one of the first Western leaders to engage in dialogue with Yasser Arafat and the PLO. This led to heated verbal clashes with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and the Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.
In 1975, terrorists took hostage the ministers gathered for an OPEC conference in Vienna. To save the hostages' lives, Kreisky agreed to negotiate and to let the hostage-takers leave by plane, a pragmatic and much-debated decision that illustrated his governing style.
Kreisky profoundly modernized Austria: under his governments, working hours were reduced, higher education became free, family law was reformed in favor of equality between spouses, and the death penalty was definitively abolished.
Primary Sources
We want to democratize Austrian society in all its spheres, so that every citizen can take part in the decisions that affect them.
Exile in Sweden was for me a school of social democracy; there I learned what a state in the service of all its citizens could be.
You do not make peace with your friends, you make it with your adversaries; that is why we must talk with the Palestinians.
Key Places
Kreisky's birthplace and the capital where he held power; he also died here. Under his chancellorship, Vienna became a hub of international diplomacy.
Kreisky's place of exile after the 1938 Anschluss; here he discovered the Scandinavian social-democratic model that inspired his reforms.
Seat of the Austrian government where Kreisky led the country from 1970 to 1983.
Site of the 1975 hostage crisis, where Kreisky negotiated the release of the ministers held by an armed commando.
Resting place of Bruno Kreisky, among Austria's great figures.
