Gerald Stourzh, born in Vienna in 1929, was the only child of Herbert and Helene Stourzh (née Anderle). His parents were both University graduates (the father Lutheran, the mother Catholic). Gerald himself is Lutheran. As R.G. Plaschka wrote about him in an
encomium in 1991, "there is something of his Lutheran ancestors, of his Lutheran heritage in him, when, confronted by a question of principle, he indicates, shrugging: Here I stand." His mother, a practising gynecologist, had obtained her doctorate in 1915 when this was still quite unusual for a woman. His father had studied philosophy and made his living employed by the government of Lower Austria, but his real calling was that of a philosophical and political writer. As early as 1934, he wrote warningly about "National Bestialism", as he called
National Socialism. After the
Anschluss in 1940, the
Gestapo started to investigate Herbert Stourzh, but his early death due to cancer in 1941 probably saved him from greater problems. As Gerald Stourzh wrote in 2009, he owed two precious things to his parents: firstly the unconditional respect for scientific, mental pursuit in intellectual honesty, and secondly the unconditional respect for the human person, for the primacy of the single person versus super-individual entities: be it nation, or social position, or class, or people, or race. Stourzh obtained his
Matura at a Vienna
Gymnasium in 1947. He then studied history for eight semesters, partly at the
University of Vienna, partly at the
University of Clermont-Ferrand in France and at the
University of Birmingham in England. He was impressed by some of his teachers like Heinrich Benedikt or Hugo Hantsch, but influenced more by books (e.g., the books by
Friedrich Meinecke and Josef Redlich). He obtained his degree
Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Vienna in 1951 with a thesis in the field of the history of constitutions and of law, a field which remained his lifelong interest. The most important result of his Chicago years was the book
Benjamin Franklin and American Foreign Policy, that was published by the University of Chicago Press in the spring of 1954, before the author's 25th birthday. By the time Stourzh returned to Vienna in June, 1958, he had finished the first version of a book on
Alexander Hamilton which was, however, not accepted for publication by the editor due to conflicting reviews. and secondly, the genesis of the
Austrian State Treaty and of Austrian
neutrality, and the end of allied occupation of Austria. The main result was a history of the Austrian State Treaty, that has been growing from 1975 to 2005 in altogether five editions with different titles (see Publications). Since the Nineties, continuing earlier studies, Stourzh has been studying the
history of human rights in the
western world. In 1967/68, he was a member of the
Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton. Since a research stay in 1976, he has been Overseas Fellow of the
Churchill College at the
University of Cambridge. In 1962, Stourzh married Christiane Klingsland, Doctor of Law, in Vienna. She was a
feminist and struggled for women's rights all her life. Three daughters came from this marriage: Verena, Theresa and Katharina. Christiane died in 2004. Since 2011, he has been married to Prof. Marie-Luise Deskovic (*8.8.1937 - †10.1.2016). Gerald Stourzh is also an artist: his love of theater - that dates from his youth - brought him back on stage again: after 50 years, the same persons played the same piece (
Der Zerrissene by
Johann Nestroy) again, everyone acting the same part as before - this time for a caritative purpose. In his youth, as a cellist, he played chamber music with friends, and he also wrote an interpretation of the story
La chute by
Albert Camus. ==Selected publications==