The Otto von Habsburg Foundation and the Collegium Hungaricum in Vienna recalled some important moments of Otto von Habsburg’s exceptional career with a conference and exhibition on 24 January 2023, paying special attention to the role of the former heir to the throne in the political transformations of Central Europe.
Among the speakers at the event was Helmut Wohnout, Director-General of the Austrian State Archives, who spoke about the long and turbulent period that ended with the political leadership of the Republic of Austria reaching a reconciliation with the head of the Habsburg family. However, the reconciliation was preceded by a long public debate. The Director-General described how Chancellor Kreisky had sought to resolve the political (and to some extent social) tensions that had arisen over the return of Otto von Habsburg and how he had finally successfully managed the state affair known as the “Causa Habsburg”, which had long been a source of coalition tensions. He stressed that the fact that he had been kept away from Austria for so long had done far more harm to the country than to Otto von Habsburg himself.
The photograph below shows the iconic 1972 handshake between Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Otto von Habsburg, a symbolic expression of this reconciliation.
The full lecture is available here:
Helmut Wohnout_ENG
