Official Austria has reacted with deep mourning and shock to the announcement of the death of Simon Wiesenthal (96) in Vienna on 20 September 2005. Appreciation was expressed for his life-long commitment to truth, justice and reconciliation as well as his significance for Austria. His humanitarian achievements were commemorated with profound sympathy all over the world.
Simon Wiesenthal had dedicated himself to the persecution of NS crimes to the very last moment of his life. He had always displayed a keen sense of justice and appealed particularly to young people to never forget. The motto of his life’s mission was “justice, not vengeance“. With his work he helped bring more than 1,100 alleged Nazi war criminals to justice, among them Adolf Eichmann, who had organised the extermination of millions of people as Hitler’s bureaucratic “provider of final solutions“ in his office in Berlin.
With a simple funeral service at Vienna’s Central Cemetery on 21 September 2005, the Jewish Religious Community (IKG), political, economic and cultural leaders as well as the representatives of other religious communities bade Wiesenthal farewell.
On behalf of the federal government Federal Chancellor Schüssel stated that the death of Wiesenthal had made the world “truly poorer”. He had had the power to change things and “to make the world a bit fairer and juster. We will always hold him and his work in high esteem“. In a special session of the Austrian Parliament speakers of all political parties paid tribute to Wiesenthal's merits in confronting the Austrian past, his rejection of a collective guilt and commitment to persecuting NS criminals.
Wiesenthal was buried in Herzliya in Israel on 23 September 2005. Numerous international mourners participated in the ceremony. Official Austria was represented by Secretary of State Franz Morak.
Wiesenthal had earned numerous international awards and decorations. In Austria he had recently received the Great Golden Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service.
Simon Wiesenthal was born in Bučač (Galicia, then in the Austro-Hungarian empire, now in Ukraine) on 31 December 1908. He went to school and studied architecture in Lvov, Vienna and Prague. In 1941 he was arrested by the Germans. Surviving a total of twelve death camps, he was liberated from Mauthausen con-centration camp in 1945 by US troops. In 1961 Wiesenthal opened the Jewish Documentation Centre in Vienna. In 1977 the “Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Center“ was founded at the Jeshiva University in Los Angeles.

The key issues of this year’s closed meeting of the federal government in Innsbruck (13/14 September 2005) were the labour market, the new citizenship law and the Austrian EU Presidency in the first six months of 2006.
In view of the increasing oil and petrol prices, relief measures for car drivers were also high on the agenda. The lump-sum compensation for commuters will be increased from 15 to 26.5%, while the mileage allowance will rise from 36 to 38 cents. In this context, Chancellor Schüssel underlined that it was necessary to continue exerting pressure on international oil groups.
An employment and qualification package benefiting more than 60,000 persons has been presented. About 285 million euro have been earmarked for it. The main target groups are women and young people. Furthermore, immigration will be curbed. The respective resolution had been adopted in the Council of Ministers on 20 September 2005.
The federal government also passed a new citizenship law. Different early naturalisation periods will be harmonised (now: six years) – and thus become longer. The ten-year period will remain in force. Under the new, more stringent rules any type of confinement regardless of the duration will be a reason to deny citizenship.

With a ceremony in the former “Niederösterreichische Landhaus” (previous seat of Lower Austrian government) on 24 September 2005, Austria commemorated the 60th anniversary of the first Conference of the Länder. Festive speakers were President Fischer, Chancellor Schüssel and the Governors of the Länder.

At the Summit Meeting of the UN members held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the United Nations in New York, Austria was represented by Federal President Heinz Fischer and Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik. On 16 September 2005, after three days of deliberations, the heads of state and government approved inter alia additional funds for development aid of 50 billion US dollars (40.8 billion euro) and made a commitment to the common combat against poverty. They condemned “all acts of terrorism irrespective of their motivation, whenever and by whomsoever committed“.
After the official deliberations, Federal President Fischer and Foreign Minister Plassnik were received by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Fischer stressed that the summit had been a “success on the whole”. In spite of targets not met and diverging opinions, Annan had achieved the adoption of a joint final document. “Annan supports Austria, Austria supports Annan“, stated the Federal President.
In his statement to the UN General Assembly Fischer drummed up support for Austria’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the World Security Council (2009/10). He reminded of the fact that this year Austria celebrated its 50th anniversary of UN membership and felt very close to the international community with Vienna as a UN seat.
On the sidelines of the UN summit, Fischer and Plassnik conducted numerous bilateral talks, e.g. with their counterparts from Africa and Latin America, the latter being one of the priorities of the Austrian EU Presidency in the first six months of 2006. The official programme also included meetings with leading Israeli and Palestinian politicians in the framework of the EU Troika.

After the UN Millennium Summit in New York, Federal President Heinz Fischer paid a three-day state visit to Brazil (18-20 September 2005). He was accompanied by his wife Margit and Minister of Defence Günther Platter as well as a trade delegation headed by President of the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKÖ) Christoph Leitl. The political talks with the Brazilian State President Luiz Inazio “Lula“ da Silva in the capital Brasilia focused on the preparations for the EU/Latin America summit under the Austrian EU Presidency in the first half of 2006 as well as bilateral economic issues. Fischer invited Lula to pay a return visit to Austria. A memorandum on bilateral cooperation in Africa and cooperation between the Diplomatic Academies was signed.
Furthermore, Fischer met with the presidents of both houses of congress and the supreme court. In the economic centre Sao Paulo, which is also the seat of the Austrian foreign trade agency, an Austrian-Brazilian economic forum was held with a view to intensifying the bilateral trade relations. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and Austria’s most important trade partner in Latin America. Austrian exports to this region have increased by as much as 51% this year. Intensive cooperation in the area of renewable energies has been agreed on.
In the framework of the state visit, Austrian Minister of Defence Platter held talks about regional security, UN peace-keeping missions and disaster aid by the military.

President of the Republic of Macedonia Branko Crvenkovski arrived in Vienna on 26 September 2005 for an official visit of one and a half days. Among the issues discussed with Federal President Heinz Fischer and Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel were the situation in the Western Balkans.

The experience gained by Luxembourg during its Council Presidency in the first half of 2005 was very valuable for preparing Austria’s EU Presidency next year, said Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik after meeting with Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn in Vienna on 22 September 2005. The politicians agreed that it was necessary to bring Europe again closer to its citizens.

Austria should review its Kyoto strategy to avoid a downward trend of jobs, warned Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel at the symposium “Energy 2010“ of the Verbund group in Fuschl (Salzburg) on 21 September 2005. Environmental targets should by no means be questioned but it did “not make sense” to force voestalpine, “one of the world’s cleanest steel producers“, to shut down its sites in Linz or Donawitz when steel was then produced with four to ten times higher carbon dioxide emissions in China, stated Schüssel.
The Federal Chancellor said it was necessary to muster courage to implement global environment strategies. The EU was challenged to come up with ideas for the production sector threatening to float off. In view of the increasing oil prices and Europe’s current “unacceptable” 70% dependence on fossil energy resources, the production of renewable energies like biomass should be promoted.
In this context Schüssel spotlighted Austria’s pioneering role in this area after introducing a “requirement to intermix biodiesel“ (2% from 1 October 2005 onwards, later up to 6%). The Federal Chancellor also pledged to promote hydroelectric power in Austria. Despite temporary problems, the Austrian energy sector was a future-oriented industry. With a planned investment volume of 10 billion euro, up to 15,000 new jobs in network rollout and the construction sector could be added to the current level of 20,000.

According to the World Bank’s recent study on the distribution of wealth, Austria is among the ten richest countries in the world. With a calculated wealth per capita of 493,080 US dollars (400,455 euro), Austria is placed seventh. The richest country is Switzerland (648,241 dollars), followed by Denmark and Sweden. The world’s poorhouse is Ethiopia with a wealth per capita of only 1,965 dollars, ranking last after Burundi, Niger and Nepal.
The USA are listed after Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden and before Germany and Japan. Austria is followed by Norway, France and Belgium as well as Luxembourg.

“After moving to Vienna 40 years ago, OPEC has become an integral part of this city and its development is closely linked to the history of Austria. This has become a success story for both sides“, explained Minister for Economic Affairs Martin Bartenstein in his festive speech at the gala dinner given to celebrate “40 years of OPEC in Vienna“ on 19 September 2005.
On this occasion, Bartenstein addressed the current oil price situation. OPEC had a world market share of about 35%. However, very often the impression was created that it was responsible for 100%. The remaining 65% were forgotten quite easily. OPEC (Orga¬nization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) had become an organisation of dialogue and cooperation between oil producers and oil consumers, praised Bartenstein. The ability to enter into dialogue and transparency have become the most important aspects of a secure energy supply. Especially in the last few months with crude oil prices surging in the wake of hurricane “Katrina“, OPEC had confirmed the confidence placed in it, said the Minister for Economic Affairs.
At their recent meeting in Vienna the OPEC ministers advocated an increase in production quotas to stabilise the markets. “Depending on the demand”, the last reserves of 2 million barrel oil (one barrel = 159 litres) per day should be put on the market at the beginning of winter.
Austria would also release part of its oil reserves in October. Bartenstein mentioned a total of 63.000 tons of crude oil and crude oil products – about 14,000 barrel per day.

According to an interim report of Austrian Business Agency (ABA), the federal government’s body responsible for promoting Austria as a business location, a 19% increase in industrial location projects was achieved in the first six months of 2005. A plus of 30% had been registered for the complete year 2004.

On 12 September 2005 Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Secretary of State for the Arts Franz Morak opened an exhibition of works by Stoimen Stoilov at Palais Porcia in Vienna. The painter, born in Bulagria in 1944, has been living in Austria for more than a decade. The works of the winner of the Gottfried von Herder Prize can for example be found in the Graphic Collection of Albertina in Vienna, the French National Library in Paris, the Pushkin Museum in Moscow as well as the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In his opening statement Chancellor Schüssel highlighted the significance of art as a medium of European understanding and unification. He also emphasised the importance of artists as the “avant-garde for the new Europe“. Secretary of State Morak stressed the intensive cultural contacts of Austria with the Eastern and South Eastern European countries in his speech. According to him, cultural exchange had helped to pave the way for European integration of these states: “Art has brought the peoples in Europe closer to one another“. The revenue from the sale of a painting by Stoimen Stoilov to mobilkom austria has been used to support the relief organisation “Doctors without Borders“ (Ärzte ohne Grenzen) in implementing various projects in Bulgaria.

The (ramified) Hans Koller Prize, a joint project of the Federal Chancellery, the City of Vienna, Bank Austria, Thomastik Infeld and the Austrian Music Office (AMO), was named after the legendary Viennese jazz composer and saxophonist Hans Koller (1921-2003). The European Jazz Prize 2005 is awarded to pianist Bojan Z (Bojan Zulfíkarpašić), who was born in Bosnia in 1968 and is living in France. In 2003 he had earned international renown with his album “Bojan Z Trio – Transpacifik“. The jury elected Austrian saxophonist Harry Sokal “Musician of the Year”. He had for example been a pillar of the “Vienna Art Orchestra“ and a previous long-term member of the band of flugelhorn player Art Farmer, who had popularised a new style and lived in Vienna (died in 1999). Pianist Martin Reiter became the “Newcomer of the Year”, while bassist Hans Strasser was named “Best Sideman”. “Confessions“ with Linda Sharrock was awarded the title “Album of the Year”. Bastian Stein and Christoph Auer share the New York scholarship granted in the framework of the Koller Prize. The award ceremony will be staged at the Vienna-based jazz club “Porgy & Bess“ on 9 December 2005, where Bojan Z will also give his prize-winner concert on 10 December 2005.
The Hans Koller Prize has been awarded by the Federal Chancellery since 1997. The Prize for the Musician of the Year has been granted as the Austrian State Prize for Improvised Music at four-year intervals since 2004. The first prize of this type went to composer and trumpeter Michael Mantler, who formed part of the New York avant-garde and founded the Jazz Composers’ Orchestra Association (JCOA) in 1968.

The International Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft (IGMG) was founded 50 years ago to promote the music of the controversial composer and conductor, e.g. by issuing a critical complete edition of his oeuvre. IGMG – today the world’s leading research society for Mahler’s life and work – saved three houses at At¬tersee, Wörthersee and in South Tyrol, where Mahler used to compose, and made them accessible as memorial places. Now IGMG conceived an exhibition titled “Mahleriana – The Making of an Icon“ for the Jewish Museum in Vienna. It traces the key moments in Mahler’s life on the basis of selected documents, most of which have not been displayed before. Audio guides permit the visitors to listen to Mahler’s music as well as to the voices of family members, friends and musicians.

The fourth Graphic Art Biennial in Novosibirsk (ending on 15 November 2005) for the first time features a curated Austrian contribution. Curator Hans Knoll selected Alexander Brener & Barbara Schurz, Ivica Capan, Adriana Czernin, Franz Graf, Sofia Goscinski, Barbara Husar, Andreas Leikauf, Lukas Pusch and Otto Zitko. According to Galerie Knoll, the works selected represent “two poles in the current artistic creation on paper in Austria: (linear) abstraction and (figural) realism“. Jointly with Erzsébet Pilinger, Hans Knoll this year also curates the Hungarian contributions to the Novosibirsk Biennial. The Federal Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry have subsidised the Austrian contribution to the Graphic Art Biennial.

“Time for the truth” was the motto of this year’s national day (“Heimattag”) of the Sudeten Germans celebrated in Vienna and Klosterneuburg. The highlight of the gathering organised by the Association of Sudeten Germans (Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft Österreich/SLÖ) on 17 and 18 September 2005 was a rally at Babenberg Hall in Klosterneuburg, where Secretary of State Franz Morak delivered a festive speech. He reminded of the killing and expulsion of the Sudenten Germans from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia sixty years ago as well as of the fact that they “were collectively blamed for the crimes of the Nazi regime”. Although the Sudeten Germans had been done wrong in many ways they had renounced vengeance and pledged their commitment to European integration in the Charter of Ethnic German Expellees. Morak stressed the contribution of the Sudeten Germans to the reconstruction of Austria as well as their creative power, for which he named representatives of the arts, science, politics and economy as examples, e.g. Adalbert Stifter, Gustav Mahler, Karl Renner, Adolf Schärf and Gregor Mendel. The intellectual life in Austria drew on this heritage. Now the aim was to strengthen an identity founded on its regional culture. Morak emphasised that the Austrian foreign policy had advocated – more strongly than Germany – legal representation of the Sudeten Germans. The gesture of the Czech government to pay tribute to those Sudenten Germans actively opposing Hitler was a positive signal and should mark the beginning of an explicit recognition of the fate of the Sudeten Germans. After EU accession of the Czech Republic, a new level of discussions had become possible. Measures were being taken to improve the relations. Heinz Brandl (born in Znojmo), professor at Vienna Technical University and winner of the Great Sudeten German Cultural Prize 2005 awarded by Bavaria, said in his statement that he rejected the vision of financial restitution. The main concern – also laid down in the catalogue of demands of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft – should be to counteract the trend of displacing the culture and history of the Sudeten Germans from the Czech Republic, covering issues like German place names and decaying cultural assets, whose restoration could benefit tourism as well.

“The government’s proposal for a law on agencies exploiting third-party rights laid an important new legal foundation for the activity of artists“, said Secretary of State for the Arts Franz Morak on 14 September 2005 after the new law was adopted in a closed meeting of the federal government. In this context Morak stressed that – in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Chancellery – all parties concerned had been brought to the negotiating table and that the amendment adopted by involving those affected was a success. The supervisory functions previously performed by twelve government commissioners and their deputies will now be assumed by a small supervisory body acting as an independent unit within KommAustria. It will exclusively deal with copyright issues. The supervisory body will be financed from contributions of the agencies exploiting third-party rights, the users and the federal government. A central element of the new law is the complete restructuring of the dispute settlement system. In Austria there is a total of twelve agencies exploiting third-party rights. They are responsible for ensuring that copyright fees are paid and the revenue is “distributed” to the copyright owners. The spectrum ranges from AKM (public presentation of music), Austro-Mechana (rights of use of mechanical reproduction and dissemination) and LSG (sound carrier industry) to visual arts. The negotiating partners of the agencies are the industry associations of the Economic Chamber (WKO), electronic media, concert organisers but also the catering industry.

Biologist and environmentalist Rupert Riedl died aged 80 in Vienna in the early morning of 19 September 2005. Starting his research career as a marine biologist, he later became a full professor and research professor of marine sciences at the University of North Carolina (USA). In 1971 he returned to Vienna University as an ordinary professor at the Institute for Zoology and founded the Departments for Marine Biology, Ultrastructure Research and Theoretical Biology. He became increasingly active in environmental protection and joined the grassroots movement preventing the construction of a power plant in the Hainburg wetlands in 1983. After the death of Konrad Lorenz, Riedl founded in 1990 the Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research named after the Nobel Prize Laureate accommodated in the latter’s villa in Altenberg (Lower Austria). Based on the evolution theory co-developed by Lorenz, the Institute is dedicated to behavioural and cognition theories. In 1996 Riedl founded together with colleagues the Club of Vienna (inspired in the Club of Rome). This trans-disciplinary platform concentrates on the adverse effects of global capitalism. Riedl became popular with his books and TV documentaries like “Die Gärten des Poseidon“ highlighting the beauty but also the negative transformation of Europe’s Mediterranean Sea.

This year’s “Erhard Busek SEEMO Prize promoting understanding in South Eastern Europe” goes to journalist Brankica Petkovic from Ljubljana. She is head of the Media Policy Unit of the Ljubljana Peace Centre and editor-in-chief of “Media Watch“. She analysed the problems of minorities in a series of articles in the “Media Watch Journal“ and held special courses for Roma journalists. The prize will be presented to her in Vienna on 21 October 2005.

“Beautiful Children“ is the title of a comprehensive exhibition starring the 57-year-old Viennese painter Gottfried Helnwein, who has lived in Ireland since the 1990s and has a studio also in Los Angeles. Helnwein’s style can be described as over-accurate photorealism lending a hallucinatory-transcendental effect to his paintings. The artist has explored the subject “child” since the beginning of his career. Often the child is presented mutilated, the breeding ground is the lacking confrontation with the NS past. And there is something more sinister looming beneath the surface of his seemingly “beautiful” paintings (landscapes, portraits).

At the Architectural Biennial in Sao Paulo (Brazil) the architect’s studio Splitterwerk will show an installation titled “Whoop to the Duck” as the Austrian contribution in the joint pavilion by Oscar Niemayer. Moreover, an exhibition will be dedicated to the oeuvre of Clemens Holz-meister (1886-1983). The contribution has been curated by Georg Loewit. The Sao Paulo Biennial (22 October to 11 December 2005) focuses on the subject “Living in the City. Reality – Architecture – Utopia” and addresses questions of present and future forms of living, especially in large cities.

“Hilfe direkt“ (“Direct Help”) is the name of an association founded by the retired Austrian joiner Franz Grandits in 1996 to help Burkina Faso (Africa). For this charity numerous paintings of eminent artists were recently sold in an auction in Vienna, e.g. by Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer, Wolfgang Hutter, Alfred Hrdlicka. Medical institutions, wells and a church have been erected with the funds of the association.

A new Internet platform with more than 1,100 contributions by culture experts on projects and events in more than 40 countries went online. The portal was established by the Institute for the Research and Promotion of Austrian and International Literature Processes (Inst.). The platform offers more than 120,000 pages in German, English, French and is available free of charge.

Austrian sport was presented already for the fifth time at Vienna’s Heldenplatz. This event as well as the “Open House” at the President’s Office and the “Länder Party” at Minoritenplatz attracted 250,000 visitors this year. On this special day with wonderful weather more than 120 sports associations and organisations presented themselves to best advantage offering a comprehensive sport programme to young and old visitors. Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Secretary of State Schweitzer paid homage to 260 top athletes for their outstanding achievements. Like in the years before, a parade of stars from all over Austria was staged. Schweitzer also took advantage of the opportunity to present himself as the shining example of a sporty person. Joined by the athletes, he visited the numerous “exercise stops”. “Austria’s sport has shown once more its wide spectrum. I am highly pleased about the fun children and their parents have in doing physical exercise“, said Schweitzer. “This year we also commemorate the 60th anniversary of sport in Austria, which was celebrated today together with all sports associations and federations as well as our visitors”, emphasised Schweitzer. Huge posters provided information about the athletic achievements of the past six decades allowing the visitors to go on a voyage through the history of sport. “Besides unforgettable highlights and achievements, we also have to be aware of the socio-political obligations and responsibilities for the future of the Austrian sport”, stated Schweitzer. He considered sport-oriented programmes a great opportunity to reach “problematic” young people. “Sport has to fulfil an important educational task. We need the daily exercise units at our schools!“, underlined Schweitzer.

Schweitzer summarised the favourable results of the third quarterly meeting of Top Sport Austria: “I am pleased that so many subsidy applications filed by the federal specialised sports associations could be approved. With additional funds amounting to 199,000 euro we want to create a solid foundation for Austrian top sports, the promotion of young hopefuls and future success.“ Eligible for financial aid are projects concerning sport-scientific, sport-medical as well as regenerative measures, training courses and the participation in competitions in the framework of the programmes “Top Sport”, “Olympia“ and “Hope“.

At the meeting of EU Sport Ministers in Liverpool Schweitzer outlined the plans of the Austrian Presidency in 2006 for sport, highlighting the meeting of EU Sport Directors at Vienna’s conference centre Hofburg scheduled for 29/30 March 2006. The subject “Sport and Economy“ met with the lively interest of the EU Sport Ministers, notably the aspect “sport as a job creator” under the motto “new jobs for Europe through sport”. “It should be our common goal to make the contribution of sport and physical exercise to the reduction of sickness-related costs more transparent and to fully realise this potential“, stressed Schweitzer, who had commissioned the Institute of Advanced Studies (IHS) with a pertinent study. The first findings of the study should become available before the meeting of EU Sport Directors, explained Schweitzer. The conference of Sport Ministers agreed to set up a permanent working party for “Sport and Health“. It was to prepare proposals for further EU-wide procedures under the lead of Austria in the framework of the forthcoming EU Presidency. Schweitzer showed himself highly pleased about the current developments and referred to a “commitment at European level“.