In this captivating narrative podcast episode, we embark on a journey through the remarkable life of Austrian-American historian Günter Bischof.

Raised in the alpine village of Mellau, Austria, Bischof's path to becoming a renowned historian is a tale of transcontinental exploration. We follow him from his academic origins in Europe, where he earned his master's degree at the University of Innsbruck, to his transformative move to the United States, where he became a naturalized American citizen, earned his PhD at Harvard University, and later settled down in the bayous of Louisiana. As a professor at the University of New Orleans, Bischof played a pivotal role in expanding the university's history program and fostering cultural exchange between Austria and the U.S. His research delves deep into the intricate web of transatlantic relations and diplomacy, particularly during the 20th century. Along the way, Bischof's passion for history, his work as an author, and his role as a cultural ambassador come to life, leaving a lasting imprint on both academia and the ties between Austria and the United States.

Join us as we unravel the compelling chapters of Günter Bischof's life, a journey that echoes the intertwined history of two continents.

Find more from Günter Bischof, below:

Relationships/Beziehungsgeschichten: Austria and the United States in the Twentieth Century (2015)

Towards the American Century: Austrians in the United States

Visual Histories of Austria (2021)

When Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl and Empress Zita embarked on their exile from Austria in 1919, it marked the conclusion of the Habsburg family's rule over Europe after several hundred years. In this episode, historian and author Larry Wolff joins Luke Morgante of the Botstiber Institute to underline the significance of this transition, and how Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss' fictitious opera, Die Frau Ohne Schatten (1919), reflected the sociopolitical changes that were rapidly reshaping Europe.

In Wolff's new book, The Shadow of the Empress: Fairy-Tale Opera and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy (Stanford, 2023), he tactfully explains the importance of this period, highlighting the similarities of Hofmannsthal and Strauss's fictional empress with the final Habsburg Empress Zita. An emphasis is placed on the conceptual change of monarchs from political leaders, to figures more closely associated with fairy-tales and cultural symbolism.

Larry Wolff is the Julius Silver Professor of European History at New York University, the executive director of the NYU Remarque Institute, and the co-director of NYU Florence at Villa La Pietra. His books include Disunion within the Union: The Uniate Church and the Partitions of Poland (HURI, 2019), Woodrow Wilson and the Reimagining of Eastern Europe (Stanford, 2019), The Idea of Galicia: History and Fantasy in Habsburg Political Culture (Stanford, 2010), and Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment (Stanford, 1994). He is the longtime book review editor for Harvard Ukrainian Studies, and he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A professor of modern European history and the Habsburg monarchy at the University of Chicago, Tara Zahra joins this episode of The Botstiber Podcast to discuss the concepts of globalism and anti-globalism, as they evolved throughout the early 20th century.

Important figures and norm-shattering events of the era helped shape international sentiment in a rapidly globalizing world. Listen in to learn more about them and how they may inform us of similar issues, today.

Intro/Outro Song: "Rosen aus dem Süden, Op. 338 (1880)" by Johann Strauss II (Link)

Originally Recorded: 2021

Special guest host Jacqueline Vansant, professor emerita of German at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, discusses different research perspectives examining Austrian-Jewish Child Migration during WWII. In "Epistolary Rescue in Austrian Children and Youth Fleeing Nazi Austria" with Kirsten Krick-Aigner, adolescent agency is featured as well as the diversity of archival resources available in the record of Marianne Winter and her family's migration.

Originally Recorded: 2021

Guest host Jacqueline Vansant sits down with Tim Corbett to discuss his research into the history of Jewish Cemeteries throughout Austria.

Originally Recorded: 2021

Special guest host Jacqueline Vansant, professor emerita of German at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, discusses different research perspectives examining Austrian-Jewish Child Migration during WWII. In Early Refugee Studies in Austrian Children and Youth Fleeing Nazi Austria with Swen Steinberg, the conversation features the research questionnaires from Ernst Papanek's graduate work. Papanek rescued almost 300 children during WWII, and he further sought to understand their experiences in a manner unmitigated by adult intervention, time, and experience.

Originally Recorded: 2021

In this podcast, Thomas Antonic discusses the life and work of Austrian-American Beat poet ruth weiss. His film about weiss, "One More Step West Is the Sea," won New York Independent Cinema's 2021 Best International Documentary Feature Award.

Originally Recorded: 2021

Lilly Maier is the author of Ernst Papanek biography, "Auf Wiedersehen, Kinder!: Ernst Papanek. Revolutionär, Reformpädagoge und Retter jüdischer Kinder." In this podcast, she discusses the remarkable life of the Viennese-born socialist and educator who saved the lives of almost 300 children from the Nazis.

Originally Recorded: 2021

Prof. Alison J. Clarke discusses her book, "Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World," a biography of social design's Austrian-American trailblazer. Victor Papanek wrote "Design for the Real World," a book that augured the ascent of socially and ecologically sustainable design movements many years later. Published in 1971, the impact and relevance of his book persists globally. Prof. Clarke argues that Papanek's Austrian and émigré experiences are significant for understanding the designer and his theories.

Originally Recorded: 2021

Dr. Christiane Tewinkel discusses her musicology research as related to Theodor Leschetizky and his American students. Born in Galicia in 1830, Theodor Leschetizky, a pianist and composer himself, became internationally famous as a piano teacher with over 1,000 students. Of these, 350-400 were American.

Although Leschetizky had enormous influence during his time, his personal records had never been studied. That is, until now. Christiane Tewinkel traveled to the Leschetizky Association in New York to see their special collection for herself. Her findings are fascinating, revealing so much about a man, his "Method," students, transatlantic relations, musicology, and more.