We mourn the passing of our dear colleague, Anton Pelinka, professor of Nationalism Studies and Political Science at CEU between 2006 and 2018. He was a gentleman and a scholar, a mentor and a friend, a critical thinker and a moral authority.
The breadth and depth of his scholarship was truly remarkable, and his dozens of books could have served as the sole reading material for a semester-long course in Political Science. On the occasion of his retirement from CEU, Anton’s close friend, Andrei Markovits, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Politics and German Studies at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, designed precisely such a course. It covered comparative politics, nationalism studies, political parties, political ideologies, social movements, interest groups, federalism, supranational governance, as well as anti-Americanism and antisemitism. It drew on case studies from Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, India, Poland, the United States, Canada, Israel, the Soviet Union and Russia.
Few, if any, mastered such depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise as Anton. Pelinka’s twelve years at CEU were the capstone of an illustrious academic career, including thirty years at the University of Innsbruck, where he founded the Department of Political Science and twenty-two years as director of the Institute for Conflict Research (IFK). He was founding director of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, a testament to his deep, personal involvement in Austria’s efforts to struggle with its National Socialist past. Anton served as a representative on the EU Commission against Racism and Xenophobia, and he taught as a visiting professor at universities in India, Israel, Belgium and throughout the United States.
Anton was enfant terrible and eminence grise in Austria. “He always stood by his opinion, even under pressure (of Haider and Haider’s minister of justice),” said Ruth Wodak, Professor of Discourse Studies at Lancaster University and the University of Vienna and a recurrent visiting professor in CEU’s Nationalism Studies Program. “Anton was a true democrat and public intellectual.”
Anton remained active almost to his dying day. His last book, a comparative study of fascism and its varied expressions and formations, bespoke Anton’s continued curiosity and acuity of mind and intellectual engagement. He was also a true friend, and he will be sorely missed. We extend our condolences to his widow Marta, his brother Peter, and his children Barbara, Teresa and Mischa.
CEU Nationalism Studies Program