Regarding the death of Georg Springer
The House |
Georg Springer's family informed Minister of Culture Andreas Babler and the Österreichische Bundestheater-Holding today that Georg Springer passed away unexpectedly yesterday, December 11, 2025, at the age of 79.
Georg Springer held leading positions at the Austrian Federal Theatres for more than two and a half decades and played a key role in shaping their institutional development. After studying law in Vienna and working as a researcher in the field of constitutional and administrative law, he worked in the Federal Chancellery for several years before moving to the Austrian Federal Theatres in 1988.
He initially worked there as Deputy Secretary General, from 1991 as Secretary General and from 1999 to June 2014 as Managing Director of Österreichische Bundestheater-Holding. In these roles, he was responsible for key reform and transformation processes, in particular the spin-off of the federal theaters from the federal administration and their structural and organizational realignment. Numerous legal and organizational foundations of today's federal theaters date back to this phase.
In the course of dealing with the financial and organizational problems at the Burgtheater, Georg Springer resigned from his position as managing director in 2014. The investigations against him were closed in 2018. In the years that followed, he deliberately lived a largely reclusive life and rarely appeared in public.
It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Georg Springer, who shaped the Austrian Federal Theatres in leading positions for decades. He was responsible for the company for many years and set the central course that still has an impact today. He did this with great seriousness, legal precision and a deep respect for artistic work. His work and his attitude will remain part of the history of the Austrian Federal Theatres. Our sympathy goes out to his family and all those who were associated with him.
In Georg Springer, the Austrian Federal Theatres have lost a personality who was driven by a great passion for the arts and for artists and who combined this with a high sense of personal responsibility. My sympathy goes out to his family - I wish them strength at this difficult time.