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Seit 15 Jahren ist der Zukunftsfonds der Republik Österreich im Auftrag des'Niemals wieder!'zum Gedenken an die Opfer des NS-Regimes, zur Bekämpfung jeder Form von Antisemitismus und Rassismus sowie vor allem zur Wahrung von Demokratie und Menschenrechten und zur Förderung von Toleranz und internationaler Verständigung tätig. Im Dezember 2005 per Bundesgesetz errichtet, leistet der ÖZF seitdem einen unverzichtbaren Beitrag zur Förderung einer nachhaltigen und zukunftsorientierten Erinnerungskultur. Nicht nur das Engagement der Zukunftsfonds-Gremien, sondern gerade auch die geförderten Projekte haben zu einem mittlerweile offeneren Umgang mit belasteten Themen in der österreichischen Öffentlichkeit geführt: Von wissenschaftlicher Forschung bis hin zu zivilgesellschaftlichen Initiativen auch auf dem Kunst- und Kultursektor werden diese Projekte bis Ende des Jahres 2020 rund 3000 Mal zur Bewusstseinsbildung beigetragen haben. Das Buch präsentiert die wichtigsten Etappen der Entstehung und Tätigkeit des Zukunftsfonds. Neben einer Dokumentation seiner Wirkungsweisen analysiert es die Bedeutung des Fonds für Forschung und Gesellschaft. Exemplarisch dargestellte Projekte geben zudem einen Einblick in die Vielfalt seiner Fördertätigkeit.

Österreichische Einwanderung in die USA Die vorliegende Publikation beleuchtet das Thema der Migration von Österreichern in die USA genauer, das bis heute ein immer noch sehr unerforschtes Gebiet ist. Seit kurzer Zeit erlebt die Forschung allerdings einen neuen Aufschwung, es herrscht großes Interesse vor allem in der Biografieforschung. Die vorliegenden Beiträge basieren auf einer Tagung, die im Juni 2015 in Wien zum gleichnamigen Thema stattgefunden hat. Es handelt sich hauptsächlich um Fallstudien über emigrierte Österreicher, die ihre Heimat aus wirtschaftlichen, politischen oder karrieretechnischen Gründen verlassen haben. Alle mussten sich mit einer schwierigen Einwanderungspolitik der USA auseinandersetzen, trotzdem ist den meisten von ihnen eine erfolgreiche Integration in die amerikanische Gesellschaft gelungen. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The essays in this book argue that the United States served as a great attraction for economic betterment to Austrian migrants before and World War I; yet a third of these migrants actually remigrated. Remigration was less likely after World War I as the economic situation deteriorated in Europe and the political situation landscape became desperate for Jews and the opponents of the Hitler regime. Most of the Austrians migrating to the U.S. in the World War II era stayed. For the roughly 30,000 Jews who had been brutally kicked out of their homes after the'Anschluss'and managed to snag immigration papers to the U.S., returning to desperately poor and still anti-Semitic Austria was not an option. These case studies show that integrating and assimilating into the American mainstream often was a difficult process that might take two generations. Many of the intellectuals and academics never fully felt at home in the U.S. as they viewed American culture shallow and American values too materialistic.

Im Zentrum dieses Buches stehen Geschichte, Materialität, Mikrolandschaften und Atmosphären der Partnerstädte Innsbruck und New Orleans. Dabei stützen sich die Autorinnen und Autoren auf das Konzept der'multiplen Landschaften'.

At the beginning of June 1961, the tensions of the Cold War were supposed to abate as both sides sought a resolution. The two most important men in the world, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, met for a summit in Vienna. Yet the high hopes were disappointed. Within months the Cold War had become very hot: Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall and a year later he sent missiles to Cuba to threaten the United States directly. Despite the fact that the Vienna Summit yielded barely any tangible results, it did lead to some very important developments. The superpowers came to see for the first time that there was only one way to escape from the atomic hell of their respective arsenals: dialogue. The'peace through fear'and the'hotline'between Washington and Moscow prevented an atomic confrontation. Austria successfully demonstrated its new role as neutral state and host when Vienna became a meeting place in the Cold War. In The Vienna Summit and Its Importance in International History international experts use new Russian and Western sources to analyze what really happened during this critical time and why the parties had a close shave with catastrophe.

After the breakup of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian-American relationship was characterized by a dwarf confronting a giant. America continued to be a heaven for a better life for many Austrian emigrants. For the growing American preponderant position in the world after World War I, the small Austrian Republic was insignificant. And yet there were times when Austria mattered geopolitically. During the post-World War II occupation of Austria, the U.S. helped reconstruct Austria economically and was the biggest champion of its independence. During the Cold War, the U.S. frequently used Austria as a mediator site of summit meetings. American mass production models, consumerism, and popular culture were adopted by Austrian youth. Americanization and American preponderance also produced anti-Americanism. With the end of the Cold War and Austria's accession to the European Union it once again lost significance for Washington's geopolitics.

On August 20, 1968, tens of thousands of Soviet and East European ground and air forces moved into Czechoslovakia and occupied the country in an attempt to end the'Prague Spring'reforms and restore an orthodox Communist regime. The leader of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, was initially reluctant to use military force and tried to pressure his counterpart in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, to crack down. But during the summer of 1968, after several months of careful deliberations, the Soviet Politburo finally decide that military force was the only option left. A large invading force of Soviet, Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops received final orders to move into Czechoslovakia; within 24 hours they had established complete military control of Czechoslovakia, bringing an end to hopes for'socialism with a human face.'Dubcek and most of the other Czechoslovak reformers were temporarily restored to power, but their role from late August 1968 through April 1969 was to reverse many of the reforms that had been adopted. In April 1969, Dubchek was forced to step down for good, bringing a final end to the Prague Spring. Soviet leaders justified the invasion of Czechoslovakia by claiming that'the fate of any socialist country is the common affair of all socialist countries'and that the Soviet Union had both a'right'and a'sacred duty'to'defend socialism'in Czechoslovakia. The invasion caused some divisions within the Communist world, but overall the use of large-scale force proved remarkably successful in achieving Soviet goals. The United States and its NATO allies protested but refrained from direct military action and covert operations to counter the Soviet-led incursion into Czechoslovakia. The essays of a dozen leading European and American Cold War historians analyze this turning point in the Cold War in light of new documentary evidence from the archives of two dozen countries and explain what happened behind the scenes. They also reassess the weak response of the United States and consider whether Washington might have given a'green light,'if only inadvertently, to the Soviet Union prior to the invasion.