Thomas Klestil
Thomas Klestil | |
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President of Austria | |
In office 8 July 1992 – 6 July 2004 | |
Chancellor | Franz Vranitzky Viktor Klima Wolfgang Schüssel |
Vice-Chancellor | Erhard Busek Wolfgang Schüssel Susanne Riess-Passer Herbert Haupt Hubert Gorbach |
Preceded by | Kurt Waldheim |
Succeeded by | Heinz Fischer |
Personal details | |
Born | Vienna, Austria | 4 November 1932
Died | 6 July 2004 Vienna, Austria | (aged 71)
Cause of death | Multiple organ failure complicated by lung disease-related heart attack |
Political party | People's Party |
Spouse(s) | |
Signature | ![]() |
Thomas Klestil (German pronunciation: [ˈtoːmas ˈklɛstɪl] (listen); 4 November 1932 – 6 July 2004) was an Austrian diplomat and politician. He served as President of Austria from 1992 to his death in 2004. He was elected in 1992 and re-elected into office in 1998.
Biography until 1992[]
Born in Vienna to a working class family — his father was a tramway employee — Klestil went to school in Landstraße where he made friends with Joe Zawinul. He studied at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and received his doctorate in 1957.[1] After entering the civil service he worked in Austria as well as abroad, e.g. for OECD. In 1969, he established the Austrian consulate-general in Los Angeles, where he befriended Arnold Schwarzenegger.[1] Fluent in English, Klestil was the Austrian ambassador to the United Nations (1978–1982) and Ambassador to the United States (1982–1987) prior to his election as president.[2]
Presidency[]
After being nominated by the conservative Austrian People's Party to run for Federal President, he succeeded Kurt Waldheim on 8 July 1992. However, in the course of his two terms of office, Klestil's alienation from his own party became increasingly obvious, so much so that there was open antagonism between Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Klestil when, in 2000, the latter had to swear in the newly formed coalition government with Jörg Haider's Austrian Freedom Party.[1] Klestil, who during his election campaign had vowed to be an "active" president, repeatedly criticized the Austrian government and, in an interview with a Swiss daily given in 2003, stated that, theoretically speaking, it was in his power to dismiss the government any time he found it necessary to do so.[citation needed] As a matter of fact, the Austrian constitution gives far-reaching powers to the federal president, but these had never been exercised by any of Klestil's predecessors.
Support of Kiryat Mattersdorf[]
Klestil gave his support to the development of Kiryat Mattersdorf, a Haredi Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem founded by the Mattersdorfer Rav, Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld, in 1959 in memory of the Siebengemeinden (Seven Communities) of Burgenland that were destroyed in the Holocaust, Mattersdorf being one of them.[3] Ehrenfeld's son, Rabbi Akiva Ehrenfeld, who served as president of the neighborhood, established close ties with the Austrian government to obtain funding for several institutions, including a kindergarten and the Neveh Simcha nursing home. Following Klestil's official state visit to Israel in 1994, which included a side tour of Kiryat Mattersdorf, Klestil hosted Ehrenfeld at an official reception at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna on 24 January 1995.[4][5]
Personal[]
Klestil met his future wife Edith Wielander (1932-2011) at the age of 17 in 1949. The marriage took place in 1957 and until the election as Austrian president in 1992, the couple had three children together. The couple separated in 1994, when Klestil made public that he had a love affair with diplomat Margot Löffler.[6] The couple divorced in September 1998, and Klestil married Löffler three months later.[7] When Klestil died in 2004, Edith attended the funeral service.
Klestil suffered from health issues related to his lungs, including a serious illness in 1996.
Death and burial[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Flaggen_halbmast_Wien.jpg/250px-Flaggen_halbmast_Wien.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Coat_of_Arms_of_Thomas_Klestil_%28Order_of_the_Seraphim%29.svg/220px-Coat_of_Arms_of_Thomas_Klestil_%28Order_of_the_Seraphim%29.svg.png)
On 5 July 2004, three days before he was to leave office, he suffered a heart attack or heart failure, probably caused by his long-term lung problems, and was left in critical condition. He died on 6 July at 23:33 local time at the AKH (Allgemeines Krankenhaus – General Hospital) in Vienna from multiple organ failure.[1]
On 10 July 2004, the funeral service was held in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, and he was interred in the presidential crypt at Vienna's Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof). Among the notable dignitaries who attended his funeral were Russian president Vladimir Putin, former Austrian president and UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim, and Austrian-born governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.[8] Klestil was the fifth president of Austria to die in office since 1950.
Honours and awards[]
Austria : Great Star of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (20 December 1992)
Italy : Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (27 January 1993)
Netherlands : Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (22 February 1994)
United Kingdom : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George
Norway : Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (8 April 1996)
Sweden : Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (5 February 1997)
Spain : Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (8 July 1997)[9]
France : Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (21 August 1998)
Poland : Order of the White Eagle (23 September 1998)
Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (1 November 1998)[10]
Romania : Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania (22 January 1999)
Croatia : Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav ("For outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and development co-operation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Austria." – 2 March 2001)
- Grand Gold Medal with Star for services to the city of Vienna (3 October 2002)
Algeria : Order of the Athir (13 March 2003)
Notes and references[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Thomas Klestil, 71, Austrian Who Redeemed the Presidency". The New York Times. 2004-07-07. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
- ^ "Diplomatic Representation for Republic of Austria". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ "Destroyed Jewish Community: Mattersdorf (Part 1)". Scholem and Friends. 20 February 2011. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
- ^ Engel, Reinhard (5 February 1995). "Jerusalem rabbi visits Austria 'to create a bridge' to Vienna". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012. (subscription required)
- ^ Klestil, Thomas (2005). Thomas Klestil—der Verantwortung verpflichtet: Ansprachen und Vorträge 1992–2004 [Thomas Klestil Undertakes the Responsibility: Speeches and lectures, 1992–2004] (in German). Verlag Österreich. p. 315. ISBN 3-7046-4757-8.
- ^ Ottaway, David B. (1994-02-02). "Blues on the Danube: A Modern Austrian Operetta in Three-Part Disharmony". The Washington Post. p. a.13. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
- ^ Staff writers (2011-04-04). "Ex-First Lady dies of cancer". Austrian Times. Archived from the original on 2011-04-05. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ "Funeral held for Austrian leader". BBC News. 10 July 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ BOE-A-1995-16657
- ^ Slovak republic website, State honours Archived 2016-04-13 at the Wayback Machine : 1st Class received in 1998 (click on "Holders of the Order of the 1st Class White Double Cross" to see the holders' table)
External links[]
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- 1932 births
- 2004 deaths
- 20th-century Austrian people
- Presidents of Austria
- Austrian diplomats
- Ambassadors of Austria to the United States
- Vienna University of Economics and Business alumni
- Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery
- Permanent Representatives of Austria to the United Nations
- Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
- Collars of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
- Knights Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
- First Class of the Order of the Star of Romania
- Austrian people of Slavic descent
- People from Landstraße
- Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)