Gorbach, Alfons

(1898–1972)

   A jurist and Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) politician after 1945, Gorbach’s early career unfolded in Styria, where he was the provincial leader of the Fatherland Front. He spent the years 1938–1942 and 1944–1945 in Nazi concentration camps.

   As party leader from 1960 to 1963 and chancellor from 1961 to1964, Gorbach found it possible to cooperate closely with many politicians of his own generation. These included members of the Socialist Party of Austria, who had shared his experiences with the Nazis. Gorbach’s conciliatory approach also extended in a general way to Austria’s ex-Nazis, particularly when, in his view, the exploration of his country’s National Socialist years might give Communists and Marxists ideological ammunition. His methods fell out of favor with a younger cohort of men within his own party, led by Josef Klaus (1910–2001), who were eager to substitute a free market economy for the corporative policies that had come increasingly into favor in the ÖVP since 1945. Klaus replaced Gorbach as party leader in 1963 and as chancellor the following year.