These famous Austrians have left us

18 december 2025 : Alexandra Krings (51, Snowboarder)

The winner of the snowboard world cup 1996 has died from a severe disease. In 108 worldcup races she won a total of 9 medals.

The sportswoman grew up in Obertauern in Salzburg, where her family is active in the hotel industry. The athletes Heidi Krings and Doresia Krings are relatives of her. Alexandra Krings is survived by her husband, the german Biathlon Olympia Winner Peter Angerer, and a son.  

17 July 2025 : Felix Baumgartner (56, Basejumper)

In 2012 Baumgartner became famous, when he realized a basejump from the stratosphere for Red Bull.

Felix Baumgartner died due to a flex wing accident in the italian town Porto Sant Elpidio, according to the austrian news station ORF.

A detailed article will be published here soon.

17 June 2025 : Alfred Brendel (94, Classical Pianist)

Czechia – Croatia – Austria – UK : the places where the internationally renowned musician lived.

Alfred Brendel was born in 1931 in Moravia (a region situated in the modern Czech Republic). He spent his childhood in Croatia. As a teenager he studied classical piano for a short time in Zagreb and Graz, then he settled in Vienna. Since 1971 his residence had been in London. 

Over the span of his career, which lasted from 1949 to 2008, he interpreted the œuvre of numerous classical composers. He had a particular passion for  Beethoven, but registered as well modern classical music from Schönberg. With the conductor Sir Simon Rattle he shared a long musical partnership.

Since the 1970ies, the « philosopher at the grand piano » with a strong interest in Dadaism authored as well essays about music and poetry, in which humour was an important element.

After the end of his active musical career a sudden hearing loss in 2012 reduced strongly Brendel’s acoustic perception. However, even during his last years he gave speeches and lectures.

The multiple honorary doctor got many awards and music prices. In 1989 he received the knighthood of the UK (an honorary title, as he did not hold the british citizenship). In 1999 Prince Charles awarded him the title doctor honoris causa of the Royal College of Music in London.

The famous concert pianist died peacefully in his home in London.

25 April 2025 : Peter Rapp (81, TV-Entertainer)

Peter Rapp, born in 1944, spent the biggest part of his professional life with the public austrian broadcasting station ORF. Between 1967 and 2018 he hosted countless radio and television shows there. They represented nearly all formats of TV entertainment of the respective decades: Pop music shows, Saturday evening entertainment, charity at christmas, casting shows for young artists, and much more.  

For his ORF-broadcasts about city festivals Peter Rapp has probably visited each austrian village at least once. Even at the age of over 70 the popular presenter appeared in a small weekly lottery show.

Gambling fascinated the Viennese in his personal life too. His casino visits, an expensive renovation of his estate and « generous bank credits » led to his insolvency in 1998. The debts back then were 55,55 mio Schilling (a little bit more than 4 mio EUR).

Peter Rapp, a father of three who was married three times, was entombed in a « grave of honor » (Ehrengrab) at the Central Cemetery of Vienna.

(The decision concerning the attribution of this type of tomb for personalities with merits is taken by the mayor of Vienna. In 2025 there are about 1020 of these tombs at the Central Cemetery of the austrian capital.)

17 January 2025 : Klemens Haselsteiner (44, Entrepreneur)

Suddenly and unexpectedly died at the age of only 44 years one of the richest Austrians : Klemens Haselsteiner, the chairman of the big austrian construction company STRABAG. The cause of death is – according to the austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung – an aneurysm.

Klemens Haselsteiner was one of four sons of the former CEO Hans Peter Haselsteiner (*1944). The father had been as well a member of parliament for the party Liberales Forum (the predecessor party of the current Neos party) in the 1990ies. The late businessman is survived by his wife and three children.  

The company STRABAG SE realized a turnover of 19 billion EUR in 2024. It has 86 000 employees worldwide. The austrian newspaper « Der Standard » informed that 32 % of the company shares belong to Raiffeisen/ Uniqa, 31% to the Haselsteiner family, and 24% to Rasperia, a company of the Russian Oleg Deripaska. In 2009, the fortune of the senior boss Hans Peter Haselsteiner was estimated at 750 Million EUR by the newspaper Oe24.

17 January 2025 : Margarete Tröstl (113, oldest austrian)

1911 was not only the year of birth of Ronald Reagan and Jean Harlow, but as well of Margarete Ecker, whose family name changed to Tröstl after her marriage. Miss Tröstl was born in Gmünd, a city in Lower Austria that is situated right at the border to the Czech Republic.

The mother of a son worked in a furniture factory and for a detergent producer. After her retirement she moved back from Vienna to Gmünd, where she has demised now in a residential care home.

9 January 2025 : Otto Schenk (94, actor and stage director)

In its article about the death of this notable theatre expert, the New York Times writes a pertinent phrase :

« In Austria, Mr. Schenk’s renown as an actor, particularly as a comedic performer, arguably eclipsed his acclaim as a director. » (A. J. Goldmann, New York Times)

The american newspaper reminds in detail his important stagings of Richard Wagner operas at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. While many other directors chose a postmodern approach, Schenk’s style focused on history and tradition. The Austrian worked as well at the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan and at opera houses in Germany.

Otto Schenk was born in 1930 as the son of a father with a jewish background. His family was not exposed to the maximum level of persecution by the Nazis, but there was discrimination. Schenk became fascinated with judaism. After his graduation from the renowned theatre school Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna, he collaborated with the comedian Karl Farkas, who was famous as a master of jewish humour.

Schenk worked as an actor and stage director at the big theatres of Vienna – the Burgtheater, the Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt (of which he was as well the director from 1988 until 1997). Still in 2019 he had worked on stage.

His wife Renée Michaelis, with whom he was married during 66 years, died in 2022. The unique child of the couple, the conductor Konstantin Schenk, informed about the death of his father.

By this link you can order books and DVDs of Otto Schenk.

18 december 2024 : Hermes Phettberg (72, entertainer)

The « Viennese Cult Figure » had the real name Josef Fenz and was not born in Vienna, but in the Weinviertel region in Lower Austria. Josef Fenz was not in the middle class of society at first sight, but he could almost have been there when taking a closer look : at least he had worked in a regional government office, had been a theological assistant of the archdiocese Vienna, and he had a real TV career for about two years.

But his life was mainly tragic, with loneliness, heavy overweight and strokes.

In his short but intense period as talk show host in the 1990ies he welcomed many high profile guests of the time (Hermann Nitsch, Manfred Deix, Tobias Moretti etc). His style as show presenter was characterized by perspicaciousness, wordplay and true respect towards his guests.

Hermes Phettberg’s show had the title « Nette Leit Show » (Nice People Show in austrian german), a congenial allusion to the english term « Late Night Show ».

11 december 2024 : Hannes Androsch (86, former politician and entrepreneur)

The former austrian vice-chancellor died on 11th december 2024 in Vienna’s General Hospital (AKH), at the age of 86.

Androsch (born 1938 in Vienna) grew up in the working class district Floridsdorf, where he attended school together with the austrian actor Erika Pluhar, who is one year younger than he. After a diploma at the Hochschule für Welthandel Vienna (today: Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) he started to work as financial auditor and tax consultant, and built up simultaneously an impressive career in the social democrat party (SPÖ).

In 1967 Androsch became member of the national parliament. Under chancellor Bruno Kreisky he was from 1970 to 1981 Austria’s youngest minister for finance so far, and from 1976 to 1981 as well vice-chancellor. 

The politician – described as « right wing social democrat » by the journalist Clemens Fabry  – had a difficult relationship with his political mentor Kreisky, probably due to his strong personal ambitions. In the 1980ies, Androsch left politics and worked for the IMF, the World Bank, and as CEO of the bank CA.    

Scandals did not lack neither : irregularities of his tax consulting agency and alleged unreported incomes – already made public during his political phase – led to a condemnation for fiscal fraud. The scandal concerning the construction of the Viennese General Hospital AKH (where Androsch died now) brought sentences for 12 defendants, among them Androsch for false testimony.

Around 1990 Androsch started International Consulting and built an Industrial Holding Company. The participations concerned companies such as AT&S (a producer of printed circuit boards), or the betting provider bwin. The austrian journal Oe24 estimated his fortune at 300 to 400 Mio EUR in 2009.

Dr. Androsch (who earned a PhD in economy in 1968, and who became honorary doctor of the universities Salzburg, Leoben, Bratislava and New Orleans) was active until the end, participated in TV-Interviews, and gave critical comments concerning the current political situation.

After Austria’s parliamentary election of 2024 Androsch recommended to the SPÖ to negotiate with the FPÖ party in order to form a government coalition. He criticized the FPÖ for its program, but was against a discrimination of this party and its voters.

The official homepage of Hannes Androsch – reachable by clicking at the previous link – proposes a big number of interesting documents about his life (speeches in parliament, published books, photos etc).

The books written by Hannes Androsch can be ordered by this link.

12 august 2024 : Richard Lugner (91, entrepreneur and society star)

The viennese self-made millionaire began in the construction business in postwar Austria.

He had some very interesting projects, such as the construction of the mosque and islamic centre in the 21 st district of Vienna, financed by the king of Saudi Arabia, or the renovation of the temple of the jewish community in Vienna.

In 1988 Lugner started to run a shopping mall that he called « Lugner City » in the midst of Vienna, close to the train station Westbahnhof and the  event venue Stadthalle. This mall has a surface of 25 000 square metres, it counts about 100 shops, and has as well a cinema (Lugner Kino City) attached.

Lugner combined his appetite for being a society star with clever marketing ideas. Since 1992, the Viennese Opera Ball – a big event for boulevard journalists – became one of his commercial dray horses. The businessman invited each year an international star to his private lounge in the opera house to attract media attention. His guests included Harry Belafonte, Sophia Loren, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Pamela Anderson, Ornella Muti and Priscilla Presley (his last guest in 2024). The stars had to escort Mister Lugner for the evening event and give an autograph session in his shopping mall.

Lugner was married six times, with a preference for younger ladies for hist last relationships. He enjoyed appearing in boulevard TV formates, demonstrating a good portion of self-mockery.

Politics was another interesting field for the entrepreneur. With his own party « Die Unabhängigen (The Independent) » he only got 1,02 % at the national parliament elections of 1999. Two times he ran as candidate for the presidential elections too.

Lugner, whose fortune was estimated at 80 million Euro by Forbes in 2024, was remarkably fit until the last weeks of his long life (1932 – 2024). After his death, a memorial service was held in Vienna’s most famous cathedral, the Stephansdom. Lugner is survived by his last wife Simone Lugner (42) and 4 children.

16 march 2024 : Thaddäus Podgorski (88, media manager)

The story of « Teddy Podgorski « (*1935) is closely linked to the development of the national radio and television channel ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk). The ORF, which existed since 1945, started its first TV projects in 1955 – the same year that Podgorski joined the company.

The young man got the opportunity to live out his creativity and to make a very successful career. He worked as reporter and TV moderator, and invented several formats and names of broadcasts (i.e. Zeit Im Bild) that still exist today. From 1986 until 1990 he was the general director of the ORF.

Podgorski was close to the businessman Udo Proksch, who ran the « Club 45 » during the 1970ies, a private club for influential austrian people (among them many high profile SPÖ politicians such as Helmut Zilk, Hannes Androsch, Franz Vranitzky), and who was later sentenced for murder.

The media manager did as well some theatre work as a stage director and actor.

10 february 2024 : Günter Brus (85, Performance Artist)

Günter Brus (*1938) belongs to the Viennese Actionism movement of the 1960ies, together with Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch, Peter Weibel and Oswald Wiener.

He practiced a radical form of Body-Art (german : Körperkunst), that included the use of body fluids and even deliberate self-harm.

In 1968 Brus participated in a famous happening at the university of Vienna : Standing naked on stage he covered his body with his excrements and sang the austrian national anthem. Then he cut his skin with a razor blade and drank his own urine.

This event, which was called « Uni-Ferkelei » (university dirtiness),  brought Brus a condemnation for vilifcation of state symbols. To avoid a prison stay, the artist emigrated to West Berlin, where he staid during the next decade.

In later years, Brus go the recognition of state authorities. In 1996 he was given the Austrian State Award for Visual Arts, in 2003 he got the Oskar Kokoschka Award.

The work of Günter Brus, who was as well an author and stage designer, can be seen in a special museum (the « Bruseum ») in Graz.

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