Christian Michelides (born July 19, 1957) is an Austrian

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

. He is the director of

Lighthouse Wien Lighthouse Wien is a Vienna, Austria-based non-profit homeless shelter and housing project for homeless persons with substance dependency, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and/or psychiatric disorders. The project is not subsidiary, subsidized. It was founded ...

Life and career

Michelides was born in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. In 1973, he started to work as an opera critic of a provincial newspaper called ''Südost Tagespost''. After serving as an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

for plays of

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

and

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...

in 1975 at Austria's National Theater, the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

, he achieved his high school diploma in 1978. Thereafter he studied

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

history of theatre The history of theatre charts the development of theatre over the past 2,500 years. While performative elements are present in every society, it is customary to acknowledge a distinction between theatre as an art form and entertainment and ''the ...

, as well as directing in Milan, Vienna and New York, while still publishing articles in Austrian and Italian journals. In the 1980s, Michelides was a collaborator for the newly founded magazine ''WIENER''; he then joined the ad agency ''GGK Wien'' and the marketing team of the Swiss watch

Swatch Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which i ...

Biel , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) B ...

. At the same time, he organized a series of exhibitions in Vienna and published some catalogues. He presented five young American photographic artists ( John Dugdale,

Marcus Leatherdale Marcus Leatherdale (18 September 1952 – 22 April 2022 in Montreal) was a Canadian portrait photographer. Biography Early life and education Marcus Andrew Leatherdale was born on 18 September 1952, in Montreal, Canada, to Jack Leatherdale ...

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

, Todd Watts and

Joel-Peter Witkin Joel-Peter Witkin (born September 13, 1939) is an American photographer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work often deals with themes such as death, corpses (and sometimes dismembered portions thereof), often featuring ornately decorated ...

) for the first time in Europe. In the early 1990s, he served as an

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

for the magazine ''

FORVM ''FORVM'' was an Austrian monthly cultural and political magazine, published in Vienna from 1954 to 1995, founded by Friedrich Hansen-Loeve, Felix Hubalek, Alexander Lernet-Holenia and Friedrich Torberg with the financial and logistical support ...

'' and other publications in Austria and Germany. Michelides disclosed the membership of

in a conservative party organization called the ''Bauernbund''; he also revealed that

Rudolf Augstein Rudolf Karl Augstein (5 November 1923 – 7 November 2002) was a German journalist, editor, publicist, and politician. He was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of ''Der Spiegel'' magazine. As a politician, he ...

had published in the Nazi paper ''

Völkischer Beobachter The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...

''. Finally he exposed

Gertrud Fussenegger Gertrud Fussenegger (8 May 1912 – 19 March 2009) was an Austrian writer and a prolific author, especially of historical novels. Many commentators felt that her reputation never entirely escaped from the shadow cast by her enthusiasm, as a youn ...

, Austria's then most prominent female author, as a former avid Hitler worshipper. Michelides also discovered that the Austrian Academy of Sciences had secretly stopped awarding the

Franz-Grillparzer-Preis The Franz Grillparzer Prize was a literary award, named after the writer Franz Grillparzer. It was established in 1872, shortly after his death, by his lover, Katharina Fröhlich. After her death in 1879, the award was continued by a donation to th ...

, a prize for dramatists left in trust for that purpose by Austrian national poet

Franz Grillparzer Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer (15 January 1791 – 21 January 1872) was an Austrian writer who was considered to be the leading Austrian dramatist of the 19th century. His plays were and are frequently performed at the famous Burgtheater in Vien ...

. Furthermore, he researched and documented the expansionistic endeavours of '' großdeutsch''-orientated

Alfred Toepfer Alfred Carl Toepfer (13 July 1894 in Hamburg – 8 October 1993 in Hamburg) was a German entrepreneur, owner of the company Toepfer International and founder of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation. He helped to shape the original internal markets of the ...

and his close ties to

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

. As of 1994, Michelides changed his focus to human rights activism and the defence of minorities. In June 1995 he founded the first

International Human Rights Tribunal The International Human Rights Tribunal (IHRT) was a symbolic tribunal which took place in Vienna, Austria, in June 1995. It was chaired by environmental and human rights activist Freda Meissner-Blau and Gerhard Oberschlick, editor of ''FORVM'', ...

in Vienna. The tribunal was chaired by human rights activists

Freda Meissner-Blau Freda Meissner-Blau (11 March 1927 – 22 December 2015) was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party. Early li ...

and Gerhard Oberschlick; in this tribunal, Michelides acted as the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. The theme of the tribunal was the discrimination and persecution of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender-persons in Austria during the period from 1945 to 1995. Michelides was the founder of the initiative "Häfn human" that counselled and visited prison inmates; he fought against

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

of people with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

and participated in grassroots organisations such as Club Plus, Selfhelp Vienna and Social Work from Underneath. From 1995 to 1997, Michelides chaired the Austrian Lesbian and Gay Forum (ÖLSF) and instigated Austria's first

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

parade, called (rainbow parade). ainbow Parade/ref> In 1998 he started his social work for the

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. In 2000, Michelides founded

, a shelter for homeless drug addicts with severe

trauma Trauma most often refers to: * Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source * Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic i ...

s, many of them

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

. In 2002, he graduated as a

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...

and

mental health counselor A mental health counselor (MHC), or counselor (counsellor in British English), is a person who works with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health. Such persons may help individuals deal with issues associated with ad ...

. Since 2009 Michelides has conducted a psychoanalytic men's group. He now also works as a

group analyst Group analysis (or group analytic psychotherapy) is a method of group psychotherapy originated by S. H. Foulkes in the 1940s. Group psychotherapy was pioneered by S. H. Foulkes with his psychoanalytic patients and later with soldiers in the Nort ...

in private practice.

Publications

* (ed.) ''Wiener Blut '83: Eine Gesellschaftskomödie mit Paten und Kindern.'' Vienna 1983. * (ed.) ''Marcus Leatherdale.'' With texts by

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trau ...

and ''Christian Michelides''. Molotov, Vienna 1983. * (ed.) ''Fotografie '83.'' Austria's first photography art fair. Vienna 1983. * (ed.) Lothar Rübelt: ''Das Geheimnis des Moments.'' he Secret of the Moment exhibition at

Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

, Vienna 1985 * (ed.) ''Memorandum über die Stiftungen des Alfred C. Toepfer und deren Zusammenarbeit mit der Universität Wien.'' Vienna 1991, 3rd edition

References

External links

*
Publications in the Austrian National Library

Praxis Löwengasse
website of the institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Michelides, Christian 1957 births Living people People from Graz in health professions 20th-century Austrian people 21st-century Austrian people Austrian political activists Austrian human rights activists Austrian people of Greek descent Psychotherapists