Gerhard Oberschlick

Gerhard Fritz Oberschlick (born August 30, 1942 in Irschen) is an Austrian essayist. From 1985 to 1995 he was the editor of the political and cultural magazine FORVM. Today he serves as the literary executor of Günther Anders.

After high school in Klagenfurt, Oberschlick studied German literature, history of theatre and philosophy at the University Vienna. 1966/67 he edited the students paper en face and then served as an accounting clerk of three university institutes, as well as secretary of philosopher Erich Heintel. In 1969 he dissociated from the university because of Heintel's acceptance of the death penalty and the Vietnam war. He joined the publishing house of NEUES FORVM and organized a petition for a referendum to abolish the Austrian military, that had been initiated by Wilfried Daim and Günther Nenning. The referendum was never carried out, although it was registered in 1970 and Oberschlick had succeeded to procure the obligatory number of 30.000 supporters. The reasons for the withdrawal were that socialist Bruno Kreisky had caught the momentum and won the 1970 elections with the slogan "Six months of military service is enough!" and that Nenning and other supporters were in fear to lose the vote and embarrass the cause. Nevertheless the failed attempt caused major upheaval and a scandal in the conservative circles of Austria - and it is today recalled as the major achievement of the Movement of 1968 in Austria. At last the Anti-military referendum caused FORVM founder Friedrich Torberg to distance himself from the magazine with these words: The new FORVM is the magazine against which the old one was founded.

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