Founded in 1926, the Austrian League for Human Rights (ÖLfM) is Austria’s oldest human rights organisation. Qwien has long maintained a close collaboration with the League. Dissolved in 1938 in the wake of the “Anschluss”, the association was re-established in 1945/46. Building on an FWF project (P-20475), a research team led by Wolfgang Schmale and Christopher Treiblmayr at the Department of History, University of Vienna, is investigating the history of the League and of its numerous international sister organisations, founded since the late 19th century. Through research in Austrian, German, French, Russian, Swiss and US archives, the team has also been able to largely reconstruct the ÖLfM’s pre-war archive, which had been believed lost since 1938.

Project lead: Christopher Treiblmayr
Lead archivist: Thomas Tretzmüller

In 2017 the ÖLfM handed over the archive it had kept since 1945 to Qwien on permanent loan. Between 2018 and 2020, with funding from the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria (P17-3022) and the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna, it was processed, inventoried and made accessible to the public. In the course of this work, the collection was expanded to include the pre-war materials gathered at the University of Vienna as well as recent material that the League and individual members continue to hand over. Information on the collection and how to use it can be found here.

Qwien is an ideal home for the archive, as the League had already been campaigning for the decriminalisation and destigmatisation of homosexuality since the 1930s. Insights into this commitment – one of its more controversial fields of activity – and into Qwien’s engagement with the League, which goes back to Qwien’s founding years, are offered in an article by Treiblmayr on the so-called “Ekstein Petition” of 1930/31, available here.

Project lead: Christopher Treiblmayr
Coordination: Angelika Watzl, Barbara Helige
Academic advisor: Wolfgang Schmale
Research assistance: Moritz Boesser
Archival supervision: Thomas Tretzmüller
Lead curator (exhibition): Hannes Sulzenbacher
Curatorial assistant: Flora Gürth
Exhibition design: Max Sohm

In 2026 the ÖLfM celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. Together with Qwien and the Department of History at the University of Vienna, it is taking this occasion to further explore its history and to systematically close the gaps in the association’s archive that became apparent in the archival work to date. In the project “100 Years of the Austrian League for Human Rights”, funded by the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria (P25-6161) and the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, research, targeted expansion of the archive and public outreach go hand in hand. In autumn 2026 Qwien will present an exhibition in its Forum on the history of the ÖLfM and its historical archive. It builds on previous findings, incorporates the project’s new results and presents both in a visually accessible format aimed at a broad audience.