The project aims to present and analyse the significance of the farmers’ politician Johann Haider.
Funding
Sozialversicherungsanstalt der Bauern (from 2020 on: Sozialversicherungsanstalt der Selbständigen), Dachverband der Sozialversicherungsträger, Stadtgemeinde Groß Gerungs, Herz-Kreislauf-Zentrum Groß Gerungs GmbH. & Co KG, Österreichische Gesundheitskasse
Duration
March 2020 – June 2021
Principal Investigators and Researchers
Hon.-Prof. Dr. Josef Kandlhofer and Dr. Guenther Steiner
Description
This project aims to reconstruct the biography of Johann Haider (1921–1997), one of the most influential figures in the field of agrarian social policy in Austria during the second half of the 20th century. He was the founding chairman of the Farmers’ Health Insurance Institution (Bauernkrankenkasse) and the first chairman of Farmers’ Social Security Agency (Sozialversicherungsanstalt der Bauern) in Austria. In addition Haider was member of the Austrian parliament (ÖVP – Austrian People’s Party, 1962–1983) and state secretary in the Austrian Ministry of the Interior from 1966 to 1968. As mayor of the municipality of Groß Gerungs in Lower Austria Haider had a major impact on the founding of the Herz-Kreislauf-Zentrum Groß Gerungs (rehabilitation centre for cardiovascular diseases). This projects sheds light on the socio-political aspects of the fundamental socio-economic changes in agriculture and forestry during this period.
Photography of Johann Haider, Source: Archiv der SVS