Rudolf Kirchschläger

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Rudolf Kirchschläger

| honorific_suffix = R.E. GColIH

| image = Rudolf Kirchschläger 1983.jpg

| office = President of Austria

| term_start = 8 July 1974

| term_end = 8 July 1986

| chancellor = Bruno Kreisky
Fred Sinowatz
Franz Vranitzky

| predecessor = Franz Jonas

| successor = Kurt Waldheim

| office2 = Minister of Foreign Affairs

| term_start2 = 21 April 1970

| term_end2 = 24 June 1974

| chancellor2 = Bruno Kreisky

| predecessor2 = Kurt Waldheim

| successor2 = Erich Bielka

| birth_date = 20 March 1915

| birth_place = Niederkappel, Upper Austria, Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2000|3|30|1915|3|20}}

| death_place = Vienna, Austria

| party =

| profession = {{hlist|Diplomat|politician|judge}}

| spouse = Herma Kirchschläger (1940–2000)

| children = 2

| signature = Rudolf Kirchschläger Signatur 1976.jpg

| alma_mater = University of Vienna (Dr. iur.)

| caption = Kirchschläger in 1983

}}

Rudolf Kirchschläger, GColIH ({{IPA|de|ˈʁuːdɔlf ˈkɪʁçˌʃlɛːɡɐ|lang|De-at Rudolf Kirchschläger.ogg}}; 20 March 1915 – 30 March 2000) was an Austrian diplomat, politician and judge. From 1974 to 1986, he served as the president of Austria.

Early life and education

Born in Niederkappel, Upper Austria, Kirschläger was orphaned at the age of 11. He graduated from high school in Horn in 1935 with distinction and started to study law at the University of Vienna. However, after the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, he had to give up his studies. Upon refusing to join the NSDAP, his scholarship was revoked and Kirchschläger could not finance his studies any longer. Kirchschläger worked as a bank clerk in 1938 until he was drafted to service in the infantry of the Wehrmacht in the summer of 1939. Kirchschläger fought as a soldier from the very beginning of the war, first during the invasion of Poland, later on the Western Front, and after 1941 against Russia on the Eastern Front.

In late 1940, in order to get out of the military, he used a two-month front-leave to prepare for the final exam (Staatsexamen) of his law studies. Subsequently, he passed the exams and graduated to Doctor iuris.

However, he was sent back to the Eastern Front, where he was wounded in 1942. Towards the end of war, he was captain and training officer at the military academy at Wiener Neustadt in the Vienna region. In early April 1945, commanding a company of cadets fighting approaching Soviet troops, he was badly wounded on his leg, an injury from which he never fully recovered.

Post-World War II

After the war, Kirchschläger worked as a district judge until 1954 in Langenlois and later Vienna. In 1954, he got the chance to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although he did not speak any foreign languages. In order to take part in the negotiations on the Austrian State Treaty, he taught himself English in only a few months. From 1967 until 1970, he was ambassador in Prague. Despite orders not to do so, he issued exit visas to Czechoslovak citizens who tried to flee from the Communists during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.{{citation needed|date=May 2009}} From 1970 to 1974 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Presidency

File:Dr. Rudolf Kirchschläger in Romania.jpg, 1978]]

Kirchschläger was elected President of Austria in 1974. In a programmatic lecture at Innsbruck University in February 1971 he outlined his understanding of an "ethical foreign policy". In 1974, he issued a pardon to convicted Austrian Nazi war criminal Franz Novak, who had coordinated the railroad deportation of European Jews to concentration and extermination camps.{{cite web |title=Holocaust und Kriegsverbrechen vor Gericht: Der Fall Österreich|url=http://buecher.hagalil.com/studienverlag/kriegsverbrechen.htm|publisher=Studienverlag|access-date=21 July 2015}}

In 1980, he was elected for a second term with an approval rate of 80%, the highest rate ever obtained in any presidential elections. In February 1984, he paid the first state visit of an Austrian president to the United States.{{cite web |title=Visits to the U.S. by Foreign Heads of State and Government—1984|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/15745.htm|access-date=14 March 2009|publisher=Bureau of Public Affairs}}{{cite web|title=Remarks of President Reagan and President Rudolf Kirchschläger of Austria at the State Dinner|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/22884c.htm|access-date=14 March 2009|publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Library|date=28 February 1984|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085317/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/22884c.htm|url-status=dead}}

Personal life and death

File:Herma Kirchschläger.jpg

He was married to Herma Sorger (1916–2009) from 17 August 1940{{cite web |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Herma+Kirchschläger+17.+August+1940,+heirateten&tbm=bks |title=Search results |website=www.google.com}} {{Better source needed|date=August 2022}} until his death; they had two children: Christa (born 1944) and Walter (born 1947).Senta Ziegler: Österreichs First Ladies. Wien. Ueberreuter 1999{{cite news |url=http://diepresse.com/home/politik/innenpolitik/483458/index.do|title=Herma Kirchschläger ist tot|publisher=DiePresse.com|date=30 May 2009|access-date=30 May 2009|language=de}}Senta Ziegler. "Österreichs First Ladies". Wien. Ueberreuter 1999

Kirchschläger died of a heart attack on 30 March 2000 near Vienna, aged 85.{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E4DA123CF932A05750C0A9669C8B63|title=Rudolf Kirchschlager, 85, Judge Who Became Austria's President|newspaper=The New York Times|date= 31 March 2000|access-date=14 March 2009|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon}}

Honours

= Austrian honours =

60x60px Grand-Cross Order of Merit of the Austrian Republic, Austria (1974)

= Foreign honours =

60x60px Grand-Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Italy (1971){{Cite web |url=https://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/insigniti/34576|title=Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana|website=quirinale.it|access-date=27 August 2019}}
60x60px Knight of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau,Jean Schoos: Die Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Großherzogtums Luxemburg und des ehemaligen Herzogtums Nassau in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Verlag der Sankt-Paulus Druckerei AG. Luxemburg 1990. {{ISBN|2-87963-048-7}}. S. 344. House of Nassau (1975)
60x60px Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Spain (1978)[https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1978-7636 Boletín Oficial del Estado]
60x60px Knight of the Order of the Elephant, Denmark (1979)
60x60px Knight of the Collar of the Order of Charles III, Spain (1979)[https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-1979-24283 Boletín Oficial del Estado]
60x60px Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (1984){{cite web |title=Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas|url=http://www.ordens.presidencia.pt/?idc=154|website=Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas|access-date=4 August 2017}}
60x60px Grand-Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX,AAS 82 (1990), Heft 12, S. 1463. Holy See (1990)
60x60px First Class of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Czech Republic (1996)
60x60px Knight Grand Cross with Collar of Order of Pope Pius IX, Holy See (2000)AAS 93 (2001), Heft 8, S. 563.

Literature

Rudolf Kirchschläger, Der Friede beginnt im eigenen Haus. Gedanken über Österreich. Vienna: Molden (1980); {{ISBN|3-217-01070-1}}
Rudolf Kirchschläger, Ethik und Außenpolitik Hans Köchler (ed.), Philosophie und Politik. Dokumentation eines interdisziplinären Seminars. Innsbruck: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wissenschaft und Politik, pp. 69–74 (1973)
Alois Mock, Herbert Schambeck (Hrsg.): Verantwortung in unserer Zeit. Festschrift für Rudolf Kirchschläger. Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, 1990.
Rabl, Erich: Rudolf Kirchschläger (1915-2000), Jurist, Diplomat, Außenminister und Bundespräsident. In: Harald Hitz, Franz Pötscher, Erich Rabl, Thomas Winkelbauer (Hg.): Waldviertler Biographien, Bd. 3, Horn (Waldviertler Heimatbund) 2010, S. 399–428. {{ISBN|3-900708-26-6}}.
Schenz, Marco: Bundespräsident Rudolf Kirchschläger. Böhlau-Verlag, Wien 1984.