Years at the Top of the Federal Theaters: Georg Springer Dies at 79

The long-time managing director of the Bundestheater-Holding, Georg Springer, has died. He passed away unexpectedly on Thursday evening at the age of 79 in Vienna, as his family announced to the APA. The trained lawyer and cultural manager led the Bundestheater from 1991 to 2014. Amid the Burgtheater scandal involving slush funds, he resigned shortly before his retirement, but all investigations against him were subsequently dropped.

Springer had been an opera fan since his youth, the former fanatical standing-room visitor became president of the Association of Friends of the Vienna Opera in 1976 and was considered for leadership positions in the festival and opera sector for many years. As head of the Bundestheater, he was present at almost all premieres of the State and Volksoper, Burg- and Akademietheater, and moved confidently in Japanese-influenced fashion on the smooth society parquet for a long time. Ultimately, the affair over the opaque accounting of the Burg brought him to a stumble.

Early Retirement

With Springer, one of the most powerful figures in the domestic theater scene stepped down in the summer of 2014 - into early retirement. The Burgtheater scandal involving slush funds brought the career of the long-praised great tactician to an inglorious end. The anti-corruption prosecutor's office eventually dropped its investigations against Springer and the former Burgtheater director Matthias Hartmann, as no criminal misconduct could be proven against them. The former managing director of the Burgtheater, Silvia Stantejsky, was convicted. In 2020, she received a two-year suspended sentence for breach of trust and embezzlement.

However, at that time, the "Alchemist of Consensus" (as once described by "profil" in a portrait) could not counter the allegations related to the Burgtheater case with anything other than bringing forward his retirement from December 31 to June 30, 2014. A light version of a resignation, while Burgtheater director Hartmann was dismissed without notice by the then Minister of Culture Josef Ostermayer (SPÖ).

Yet, hard numbers were actually Springer's everyday life, since the culture enthusiast was appointed Secretary General of the Austrian Bundestheater Association in 1991 and became its managing director after its transformation into a holding. Thus, the first years after the outsourcing of the Bundestheater in 1999 were marked by extensive austerity measures and restructuring - while Springer repeatedly called for an increase in the federal base compensation to offset inflation and rising salaries. However, the gaps that appeared in the Burgtheater's balance sheet were too large even for Springer.

Career of Springer

Springer was born on August 20, 1946, in Vienna. After attending elementary school and secondary school (four years each at Kollegium Kalksburg and Bundesgymnasium Mödling), he graduated in 1964. In the fall of the same year, he began studying law at the University of Vienna, which he completed in 1973 with a doctorate, after interruptions including military service.

After working freelance at the Institute for Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Vienna, Springer finally became a university assistant at this institute in 1975. In 1978, he joined the Constitutional Service of the Federal Chancellery, and in 1984 he was appointed head of the department V/4 for "Media Affairs" there. Four years later, the then secretary of Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ) and later Minister of Education Rudolf Scholten (SPÖ) brought him into the Austrian Federal Theater Association as Deputy Secretary General, where he became Secretary General in 1991. Since his resignation, Springer largely withdrew from the public eye, only theater and opera fans could spot him at one or another performance. He remained loyal to "his" houses even without a function.

Babler: "Created an Exemplary Example"

"Georg Springer kept the companies consolidated in the Federal Theater Corporation together during his many years of management and was always committed to balancing interests within this structure," praised Minister of Culture and Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler (SPÖ) the deceased in a statement. "Externally, he always defended the stages and the numerous artists and employees in the workshops and uncompromisingly represented the cause of art to the public and politics. In doing so, he created an exemplary example for his successors."

The outgoing holding chief Christian Kircher also expressed his concern: "He bore responsibility for the house over many years and set central course directions that still have an effect today. He did this with great seriousness, legal precision, and a deep respect for artistic work. His work and attitude remain part of the history of the Austrian Federal Theaters."

(APA/Red)

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