Anton Emmerich Zischka von Trochnov (born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

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, September 14, 1904-died in

Pollença Pollença () is a town and municipality in the northern part of the island of Mallorca, near Cap de Formentor and Alcúdia. It lies inland, about west of its port, Port de Pollença. History The origin of the name "Pollença" can be traced ba ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, May 31, 1997) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n journalist and one of the most successful

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

writers in the 20th century. He also wrote under the

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

of Rupert Donkan, Thomas Daring, Darius Plecha and Antal Sorba. He published 40 books, mostly covering non-fictional economic and technical topics, and have been translated into 18 languages.

Life

Zischka studied at

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

at a young age. The multilingual Zischka was working for the '' Neue Freien Presse'' from 1924 to 1929 and from 1930 in Paris as a correspondent for different European and American newspapers. His success in being a journalist allowed him to purchase and use a private airplane, allowing him to report internationally. His writings on the China flood disaster of 1931 were covered by nearly all European newspapers. Zischka worked as a freelance author since the success of his first book ''Le Monde en Folie'' 1933 and stayed with his Dutch wife from 1935 till his death 1997 in their own

finca ''Finca'' () is a Spanish term for estate. In English usage, it refers to a piece of rural or agricultural land, typically with a cottage, farmhouse or estate building present, and often adjacent to a woodland or plantation. Overview Especial ...

in San Vicente, Majorca. Parts of Zischka's private archive are now in

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...

Munich.

Describing travels and industry experience

Start of the 1930s, Zischka reports about foreign countries and global industries (Zischka worked under cover in Belgian coal mines and Romanian oil fields) promoted connoisseurship and authenticity. He found a broad audience in Nazi Germany but as well abroad. The growth and success of the Goldmann publishing house in Leipzig was mainly based on the success of Zischka's bestsellers which are different from, for instance, :de:Karl Aloys Schenzinger, a more fictional ''Raw Material'' bestseller written during the Third Reich. Zischka remained in Spain (and staunchly adhered to non-fiction) and found international praise as well. Zischka finally found (after some vain efforts) a sponsor within the Nazi elite,

Fritz Todt Fritz Todt (; 4 September 1891 – 8 February 1942) was a German construction engineer and senior figure of the Nazi Party. He was the founder of '' Organisation Todt'' (OT), a military-engineering organisation that supplied German industry w ...

. The latter introduced ''Wissenschaft bricht Monopole'' (1936) as text book in secondary schools and made Zischka a household name within the regime. The book was translated in 18 languages and sold worldwide.

Serving the Third Reich propaganda effort

Similar to "Ölkrieg", Zischka explained the background of war and armed conflict as simple struggles for land and raw materials. Zischka presented German technical developments as Coal fluidization or the

Haber process The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the ammonia production, production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using finely di ...

as being able to guarantee peace. He juxtaposed the greedy capitalism of British or American monopolies against the German orderly working, organic "Volksgemeinschaft" willing to share its technology. Against an Anglo-Saxon democratic public, a

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

dominated by

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

and party politics Zischka put his (very German) ideal of an organic synthesis, a common

Gemeinschaft ''Gemeinschaft'' () and ''Gesellschaft'' (), generally translated as "community and society", are categories which were used by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies in order to categorize social relationships into two types. The Gesellscha ...

based on a broad mass movement led by

technocrats Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...

deciding on efficiency criteria. Zischka served widespread then German credentials. Zischka avoided blunt antisemitism and outspoken chauvinism, which allowed him to draw a peaceful and "modern" picture of the Third Reich, serving exactly the latter's prewar propaganda aims. That eased as well Zischka's postwar stance as a nonapolitical, peaceful technocrat. However, Zischka joined the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

in 1940 and was a member of

Deutsche Arbeitsfront The German Labour Front (, ; DAF) was the national labour organization of the Nazi Party, which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during the process of ''Gleichschaltung'' or Nazification. History As early as March 1933, ...

. He also trained and instructed

Legion Condor The Condor Legion () was a unit of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War. The legion developed methods of strategic bombing that were ...

forces and provided dossiers about the Spanish political situation to Nazi government authorities.

Impact on public debate in the Third Reich

Zischka's publications enhanced a public debate about measurements to increase energy autarky and lead to the construction (against the will of the German petrochemical industry) of several coal fluidization plants in Germany. In real life, those plants served not for global peace but provided gasoline for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

Blitzkriegs.

Restart and further success after 1945

An allied order for repatriation lead to Zischka's internment after 1945. Zischka managed to get back to writing activities with

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

(using a pseudonym first) and reestablished again a legal foothold in Spain within 1948. Further bestsellers followed, Zischka went famous as well through public lectures in Germany. His main topics stayed energy and industry, but he wrote as well about the role of the dollar in the global economy. The latter topic Zischka presented as a controversy between annotated Anglo-Saxon profiteering and war mongering against a peace power of (not longer German) but European origin.

Zischka as source of ideas for globalization critics

Zischka's success was not only due to his excellent writing style, but also his personal commitment, ambition and well-researched facts. Zischka excelled in choosing topics of upcoming broad interest (as energy supply) and describing them with a provocative and interest catching prose. Writers and journalists such as

Günter Wallraff Günter Wallraff (born 1 October 1942) is a German writer and undercover journalist. Life Günther Wallraff was born in Burscheid as the son of a Ford worker and a factory owner's daughter. After attending high school, he trained as bookselle ...

and

Peter Scholl-Latour Peter Roman Scholl-Latour (9 March 1924 – 16 August 2014) was a French-German journalist, author and reporter. Scholl-Latour was regarded as one of Europe's most important journalists, akin to what Walter Cronkite was in the US. For over six d ...

have incorporated Zischka's journalistic methods, with his points and argumentations still being found and in different parts of the German political spectrum and in debate. As an example, Zischka's paradigm of dollar-

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

and war about oil are to be found with nowadays German non-fiction authors of different origins: . * F. William Engdahl, a Büso related journalist and author of "Mit der Ölwaffe zur Weltmacht" ("The oil weapon leading to global power") * Hans Kronberger, former Member of the European Parliament for Austrian right wing

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five par ...

party, author of "Blut für Öl" (Blood for oil), the preface of the book written by

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

-Solar Guru

Hermann Scheer Hermann Scheer (29 April 1944 – 14 October 2010) was a Social Democrat member of the German Bundestag (parliament), President of Eurosolar (European Association for Renewable Energy) and General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable E ...

* Franz Alt, former member of CDU, forerunner of the

Peace Movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

and author of "Krieg um Öl oder Frieden durch die Sonne" ("War about oil or solar peace") A similarity to Zischka is the lineup of an alleged oil greedy Jewish-American

plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...

and war-mongering

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

against a future peaceful European technocracy. Instead of Zischka's zest for coal fluidisation, nowadays authors promote switching to solar energy supply and

hydrogen economy The hydrogen economy is an umbrella term for the roles hydrogen can play alongside low-carbon electricity to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The aim is to reduce emissions where cheaper and more energy-efficient clean solutions are not ava ...

as technocratic deus-ex-machina leading to global peace.
Common reference of Zischka/Kronberger/Engdahl/Alt A somewhat more sophisticated reasoning about deeper causes of armed conflicts - as e.g. local social struggles, cultural and religious unrest and differences are completely neglected. Instead, Zischka and his followers set up a popular and easy digestible amalgam of pauschalities and combined

anti-Americanism Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...

anti-Globalization The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist ...

with a radiating technocratic vision. It does neither fit into classical left - right political schemes nor does it help to solve any real existing conflict (compare

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

Selected bibliographies

* Anton Zischka: ''Der Kampf um die Weltmacht Öl'', Goldmann, Leipzig 1934 * Anton Zischka: ''Der Kampf um die Weltmacht Baumwolle'', Goldmann, Leipzig 1935 * Anton Zischka: '' Abessinien, "das letzte ungelöste Problem Afrikas".'' Goldmann, Bern, Leipzig 1935 * Anton Zischka: ''Japan in der Welt'', 1936 * Anton Zischka: ''Wissenschaft bricht Monopole. Der Forscherkampf um neue Rohstoffe und neuen

Lebensraum (, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...

.'' Goldmann, Leipzig 1936 * Anton Zischka: ''Brot für 2 Milliarden Menschen - Der Kampf um die Nahrung der Welt'', Goldmann Verlag, Leipzig 1938 * Anton Zischka: ''Ölkrieg'', Goldmann Verlag, Leipzig 1939 * Anton Zischka: ''Englands Bündnisse'', Goldmann Verlag, Leipzig 1940 * Anton Zischka: ''Sieg der Arbeit - Geschichte des fünftausendjährigen Kampfes gegen Unwissenheit und Sklaverei'', Goldmann, Leipzig 1941 * Anton Zischka: ''Die Auferstehung Arabiens'', 1942 * Anton Zischka: ''Die Welt bleibt reich'', 1952 * Anton Zischka: ''Kohle im Atomzeitalter'', Bertelsmann, 1961 * Anton Zischka: ''Das Ende des amerikanischen Jahrhunderts'', 1972; Stalling, Oldenburg 1985, * Anton Zischka: ''Kampf ums Überleben. Das Menschenrecht auf Energie'', Econ, München 1979, * Antal Sorba: ''Die große Schröpfung. 5000 Jahre Wirtschaft trotz Finanzamt'', Econ, München 1985, * Anton Zischka: ''Der Dollar, Glanz und Elend der Weltwährung'', Langen Müller/Herbig, 1986; Akt. Neuausgabe 1995, * Anton Zischka: ''Tschernobyl - kein Zufall. Sowjetwirtschaft und die Fehler des Westens'', Universitas, München 1987, * Anton Zischka: ''Die alles treibende Kraft. Weltgeschichte der Energie'', 1988,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zischka, Anton 1904 births 1997 deaths Austrian male writers Austrian Nazis Austrian people of the Spanish Civil War Writers from Vienna Condor Legion personnel 20th-century Austrian journalists Nazi Party members Austrian Nazi propagandists