Hans Janitschek
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Hans Janitschek (6 November 1934 – 21 February 2008) was an Austrian writer, a former Secretary General of the
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...
, and the U.S. correspondent for the Austrian newspaper, the
Kronen Zeitung The ''Kronen Zeitung'' (), commonly known as the ''Krone'', is Austria's largest newspaper. It is known for being Eurosceptic. History The first issue of the ''Kronen Zeitung'' appeared on 2 January 1900. Gustav Davis, a former army officer, ...
.


Early life

Born on 6 November 1934, in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, Hans Janitschek first came to the United States in 1953 as a
Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
scholar at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. On his return to Austria he became Staff Correspondent of
United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...
and in 1957 he joined
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as Senior Editor. In 1959 he became Foreign Editor of Austria’s largest daily newspaper,
Kurier ''Kurier'' is a German-language daily newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. History and profile ''Kurier'' was founded as ''Wiener Kurier'' by the United States Forces in Austria (USFA) in 1945, during the Allied occupation after World War II. ...
. He joined the Austrian Foreign Service in 1964 and returned to the U.S. to serve as Director of the Austrian Information Service in New York for two years. In 1966 he was appointed Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Austrian Socialist Party,
Bruno Kreisky Bruno Kreisky (; 22 January 1911 – 29 July 1990) was an Austrian social democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldes ...
.


Secretary General of the Socialist International

In 1969, Hans Janitschek was elected Secretary General of the Socialist International, based in London. In this role he made his mark on the international political scene as a champion of the independence movement in
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and as an outspoken supporter of President
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
’s Popular Unity government in Chile. He was actively involved in the return to democracy of Greece, Portugal and Spain. He strongly opposed Indira Gandhi’s emergency rule in India and played a significant role in the release from prison of opposition leader
George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the 22nd Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. He was a member of Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting f ...
. He supported B.P. Koirala’s freedom fight in Nepal and was instrumental in his return from exile.


At the United Nations

In 1977, at the invitation of the Secretary-General, Janitschek became a Consultant to the United Nations where he served in the fields of public information, the peaceful uses of outer space, Palestine, human rights and population. During his time at the United Nations, he became involved in the Bulgarian artist Mihail Simeonov’s "Cast the Sleeping Elephant Project" for which he gained the full support of the United Nations as well as the governments of Namibia, Nepal and Kenya. He also served as president of the United Nations Society of Writers for many years, where he created the Award of Excellence, which was presented to many outstanding international public figures. One of his proudest accomplishments was to persuade the Secretary General to appoint Muhammad Ali Peace Ambassador to the UN. Janitschek gave Ali his own office and had his name plate on the door replaced with that of Ali. He was president of the Earth Society and served as trustee of Friends World College, New York, he presented the Martin Luther King Jr. International Peace Award, to President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Bruno Kreisky, Oscar Arias and
Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
among others. On his retirement from the United Nations, Janitschek returned to his journalistic roots as the US correspondent for the ''Kronen Zeitung'', where in addition to reporting on current political affairs, he wrote a weekly column entitled "New York New York". He also contributed frequent news reports for Austrian radio station "Krone Hit". Most recently he joined iCastNews.com as news anchor and host of a daily news program broadcast over the internet from the United Nations.


Author

Janitschek is the author of several political biographies including those of
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, president of Portugal, Oscar Arias president of Costa Rica and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as a biography of the publisher of the ''Kronenzeitung'', Hans Dichand. He co-authored the autobiography of
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for t ...
, former Secretary General of the United Nations and former president of Austria. He was also the publisher of more than a dozen books ranging from volumes of poetry, to political treatises and an autobiography of his good friend, property developer Guntram Weissenberger. His last project was a book by Mihail Simeonov depicting the story of the "Cast the Sleeping Elephant" project. As president of the "Austrians Abroad Committee" he played a fundamental role in gaining Austrians living abroad the right to vote. On 21 February 2008 Janitschek died suddenly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.


Awards

On 1 June 2005 Hans Janitschek was awarded the ''Decoration of Honour in Gold'' for Services to the Republic of Austria.


Books

* Nur ein Journalist. Hans Dichand. Ein Mann und drei Zeitungen, Wien, München und Zürich 1993 () * Arnold von Kalifornien. Der steile Weg des Steirerbuben Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wien 2003 ()


Further reading


Obituary Hans Janitschek: An Austrian Idealist and Journalist in New York



References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janitschek, Hans 1934 births 2008 deaths Austrian socialists Writers from Vienna Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria 20th-century Austrian journalists