Thomas Bernhard Private Foundation

The Thomas Bernhard Private Foundation was founded on July 15th 1998 by Bernhard's half-brother and sole heir Dr. Peter Fabjan. The main task of this private and independent institution is to represent the author in both Austria and abroad.

Thomas Bernhard reading a newspaper
Foto: Nachlassverwaltung

In doing so it complies with Bernhard's will, which forbade "every attempt by the Austrian state to associate itself with me or my work". At the same time - ten years after Bernhard's death and so paying responsible respect to his legacy - the author's testamentary ban on the staging, public reading or printing of his work in Austria was lifted. This decision was made jointly by the heir, Bernhard's publishers, who had received the rights to his works from the author himself, and the members of the international advisory board.

Further aims of the institution are to ensure that all of the author's other testamentary wishes are adhered to, to guarantee research into the estates of both Thomas Bernhard and his grandfather Johannes Freumbichler, and to promote Bernhard's work in non-German speaking countries.

This takes place through the regional private archive, which was established by the Foundation. Supported by the province of Upper Austria, the archive found its home in the former Stonborough-Wittgenstein villa in Gmunden and was opened on November 17th 2001. Research is led by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler and Dr. Martin Huber, supported by the Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture. The collected edition of all Bernhard's works published during his lifetime (5 books of poetry, 27 prose works and 18 plays) is being published in 22 volumes (between 2003 and 2009) by Suhrkamp publishing house, Frankfurt (edited by Prof. Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler and Dr. Martin Huber).

In order to help promote both the author and his work both nationally and in non-German speaking countries through as many friends as possible, the Foundation also established the International Thomas Bernhard Society, which acts as a forum of information for all its members.

The Thomas Bernhard Foundation's activities all take place in co-operation with national, regional and foreign partner institutions: Amongst others, the Austrian Literature Archive, the Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, the Upper Austrian Institute for Cultural Promotion, the city government of Vienna, the town council of Gmunden, the Austrian Foreign Office, the French Ministry of Culture, the Goethe Institute in both Madrid and Zagreb, the German Literature Archive in Marbach, the University Library in Strasbourg, the Universities of Antwerp, Namur, Udine, Moscow, Beijing, Saarbrücken.

Executive board:
Vera Sturm, Berlin
Dr. Peter Fabjan, Gmunden
Prof. Dr. Karl Wagner, Zürich

Advisory board:
Lajos Adamik (Budapest), Louis Begley (New York), Hermann Beil (Berliner Ensemble, Berlin), Alexandr W. Belobratow (St. Petersburg), Piers Burton-Page (London), José Palma Caetano (Lissabon), Raimund Fellinger (Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin), Luigi Forte (Turin), Krystian Lupa (Krakau), Blandine Masson (Paris), Zdenek Pecka (Universität Ceske Budejovice), Wentao Ma (Beijing)

General secretary:
Marie-Christine Baratta-Dragono

Thomas-Bernhard-Privatstiftung
Blutgasse 3/2
A-1010 Vienna
Tel. & Fax +43-1-513 05 22
Email: stiftung@thomasbernhard.at
http://stiftung.thomasbernhard.at