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OBITUARY: Otto von Habsburg, prince-turned-politician, dies at 98
By Ivonne Marschall and Albert Otti Jul 4, 2011, 7:03 GMT
Vienna - Otto von Habsburg, who died early Monday at the age of 98, never assumed the Austrian throne. But he became a politician who was involved in the opening of the Iron Curtain and the reunification of a part of Europe once held together by his dynasty.
When von Habsburg was born on November 20, 1912, the Austro-Hungarian empire ruled by his family was a decaying giant in the heart of Europe.
The Austrian monarchy was abolished six years later, and his father Karl I relinquished the throne, meaning that young crown prince Otto would never inherit the empire.
In the years after the family was forced into exile in 1918, the prince lived in several European countries and during World War II, in the United States.
Still a fervent Austrian patriot, he became a staunch opponent of the National Socialists and of Adolf Hitler, who annexed Austria in 1938.
'If you had read 'Mein Kampf,' you could have no doubt that this man would lead us into a war,' he said about Hitler's programmatic book.
Despite his tireless support of Austria, reconciliation with his former home country occurred only when he finally renounced his claim to the throne in 1961. He was prevented by Austrian law to use his noble titles, and was known there simply as Otto Habsburg.
The dynasty's downfall did not prevent his political career, during which he served as a member of the European Parliament for the conservative German Christian Social Union for 20 years.
Von Habsburg said that the 'brightest moment' in his life was on August 19, 1989 when hundreds of East Germans used a protest event in Hungary to cross the Iron Curtain and flee to Austria, a country which was politically neutral in Europe's post-war framework.
As the leader of the International Paneuropean Union, he was among the political backers of the so-called 'Pan-European Picnic' along the Austrian-Hungarian border, where thousands protested the fortified line that had divided Europe for four decades.
The Hungarian government opened the border for thousands of East Germans three weeks later.
The picnic 'dealt a blow to Communism,' von Habsburg's daughter Walburga Habsburg Douglas told the German Press Agency dpa.
Until late in life, her father remained an active and controversial observer of the political scene.
The German, Austrian, Croatian and Hungarian citizen spoke out in favour of the eastward enlargement of the European Union, but said Turkey should not be included.
When he was invited to speak for the first time in Austria's parliament in March 2008, he said that Austria had more right than every other country to consider itself a victim of Hitler.
Despite the historical fact that at the time many Austrians supported Hitler - who was Austrian by birth - von Habsburg stood by his view in later interviews.
When the former crown prince was asked by the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung if he had ever wanted to be emperor, he answered, 'No. Why? It is a horrible job. ... A monarch always has to be polite, if he wants to or not.'
Von Habsburg and his late wife Regina lived on Lake Starnberg in southern Germany.
They had seven children, including his oldest son Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, who took over as head of the House of Habsburg in 2007.
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