Kreisky, Bruno (1911-1990)

Austrian Social Democrat politician and diplomat, chancellor of Austria 1970-83. He headed Austria's first Socialist government since the war, and consolidated his position when the 1975 general election gave his party an absolute majority. He stepped down after being defeated in elections in 1983.

A lawyer by training, Kreisky joined the Social Democratic Party and was imprisoned 1935-37. He fled abroad when Hitler incorporated Austria into the Nazi Third Reich (the Anschluss), and lived in Sweden 1938-45. He worked as a diplomat at the Austrian embassy in Stockholm 1946-51. In 1959 he was appointed foreign minister, and negotiated Austria's entry into the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Though himself of Jewish extraction, Kreisky took a pro-Arab line on Middle Eastern affairs, and received both PLO leader Yassir Arafat and the Libyan leader Colonel Khaddhafi on state visits.