Fritz Csoklich was born in 1929 in Vienna and studied German Studies and History there. Influenced through his experinces in the Catholic Youth in the NS period, Csoklich involved himself during his studies with the Catholic Youth party. He also later stayed closely and constantly connected to the Catholic Action group, the largest Catholic church lay-organization in Austria to which he had an honorary leading position.

After completing his doctorate in 1953, Csoklich started his career as a journalist at the “Kleinen Zeitung” editorial offices in Graz. Karl Maria Stepan had brought him to Graz, so it was on his request that Csoklich absolved publishing “years of learning and travelling” at many German newspapers, such as the “Rheinischen Post” in Düsseldorf, the “Westfälischen Nachrichten” in Münster and by the “Kölnischen Rundschau”.

On his return to Graz, he worked at first in the department for foreign politics then in the local section. In 1959 he was entrusted with the temporary leadership of the editorial offices and promoted to Editor-in-Chief in 1960, where he stayed for nearly three and a half decades until 1994. Under his leadership in the seventies, the “Kleinen Zeitung” became the third largest daily newspaper in Austria and became a highly-circulated newspaper in the Austrian states.

“Take freedom literally” – that is probably the leitmotiv from Csoklichs journalist work, which decisively influenced the internal development of the “Kleinen Zeitung”. With an unmistakable instinct of a media man with a vocation, the publicist and management personality Fritz Csoklich successfully developed the “Kleine Zeitung”, amidst the balance of volume and quality, widespread impact and depth, to a distinctive format. Fritz Csoklich died on October 22th 2009 in Graz.