CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 04/2019

SAVOIR VIVRE THE LAST INTERVIEW
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FACTS &
FIGURES
Ein engagiertes langes Leben
A long and dedicated life
18. September 2019: Lotte Tobischs allerletzter öffentlicher Auftritt fand bei CD-Autor Arian Hamidi-Faal,
mit dem sie in 25-jähriger Freundschaft verbunden war, in der Militärakademie in Wiener Neustadt statt.
18 September 2019: Lotte Tobisch‘s very last public appearance took place with CD‘s author Arian Hamidi-Faal,
with whom she was connected with in 25 years of friendship, at the Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt.
presents
Lotte Tobisch-Labotýn, geboren 1926 in Wien,
absolvierte zunächst eine Schauspielausbildung
am Franz-Schubert-Konservatorium. Ab 1943
nahm sie am Konservatorium Horak und bei
Raoul Aslan Schauspielunterricht. Nach einer Ad
hoc-Übernahme der Titelrolle in „Das Mädel aus
der Vorstadt“ von Nestroy bekam sie einen
Vertrag am Burgtheater. Zwischen 1948 und
1960 folgten Engagements am Volkstheater, am
Theater in der Josefstadt, an der Volksoper, dem
Theater der Courage und in der Schweiz. Sie
wirkte zudem in mehreren TV-Filmen mit.
Ab 1962 wurde sie auch Mitglied des
künstlerischen Betriebsrates des
Burgtheaters. Von 1981 bis 1996 leitete sie mit
großem Erfolg den Wiener Opernball und machte
ihn zu einer der berühmtesten Fest- und
Tanzveranstaltungen der Welt.
Sie engagierte sich viele Jahre mit großer
Freude als Ehrenpräsidentin der Österreichischen
Alzheimer-Gesellschaft und war seit 1995
mit großem Einsatz Präsidentin des Vereins
„Künstler helfen Künstlern“, der in Baden bei
Wien eine Seniorenresidenz betreibt. Dort ist sie
am 19. Oktober 2019 verstorben.
Lotte Tobisch-Labotýn, born in Vienna in 1926,
first completed her acting training at the
Franz-Schubert-Conservatory. From 1943, she
took acting lessons at the Konservatorium
Horak with Raoul Aslan. After an ad hoc
assumption of the title role in “Das Mädel aus
der Vorstadt” (“The Girl from the Suburb”) by
Johann Nestroy, she was contracted by the
Burgtheater. Between 1948 and 1960, she made
various appearances at the Volkstheater, the
Theater in der Josefstadt, the Vienna Volksoper,
Theater der Courage and in Switzerland. In
addition, she also appeared in several television
films.
From 1962, she also became a member of the
artistic works council of the Burgtheater. From
1981 to 1996, she successfully led the Vienna
Opera Ball and made it one of the most famous
dance events in the world. She was an active
honorary president of the Austrian Alzheimer’s
Association and, since 1995, was also the
president of the “Künstler helfen Künstlern”
(“Artists Helping Artists”) association, which
operates a retirement home in Baden near
Vienna. There she passed away on 19 October
2019.
on, I’m terribly interested in everything
that is happening. And I also see a lot of
great things when I look at the younger generation.
There just happens to be a shortage
of good role models in politics right
now. How can you, when looking at the
behaviour of some politicians, expect
young people to treat each other well?
Some of the things happening there could
really make you throw up.
Are you referring to the Ibiza affair and the other
scandals in our domestic political arena?
It is not just Ibiza – incidentally, quite
terrible what happened there. It’s also the
party platforms, the daily interactions and
the way in which politics is practiced right
now. Platforms are focused entirely on how
to destroy one’s political opponent – they
are platforms of destruction.
Let’s take, for example, the Social Democratic
Party of Austria (SPÖ). When it
comes to them, I hear two basic points:
“How are we going to destroy Kurz” and
the second is “How can we, internally, destroy
Rendi-Wagner?”.
The actual purpose of party programmes
is something entirely different. These
programmes are supposed to be constructive
suggestions to solve the nation’s problems,
problems other than one’s political
opponents, followed by sitting down together
and building bridges and finding a
common path.
This is the purpose of politics. It is about
finding compromise in such a way that
both coalition partners make it through
alive in the end.
What will it take for trust in politics to be
restored again?
We need people willing to do something
for the state, for politics and for the people.
People who adopt serious responsibility
and not just politicians who are out to secure
a position for themselves from which
they can’t be fired. Another thing we surely
don’t need is people who constantly form
new networks for the purpose of advancing
their own careers. That is basically corruption.
I can already hear the outcry against
me over this, but I can endure it.
Let us finally take a look beyond Austria. Do the
current world crises, such as Iran, the Near-East
Conflict, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Syria,
Venezuela, North Korea, Brexit and many more,
make you worry about a possible third world war?
I have experienced the horrors of war
and know what this means. I never want to
go through that again. However, I must
also honestly tell you that you must always
expect the worst when people like Donald
Trump are in power, but hope dies last.
PHOTO: SERGE CLAUS/ WWW.CLAUS.AT
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90 Cercle Diplomatique 4/2019