His life has been characterised by the ‘Presse’, as he in turn has characterised the development of this newspaper. Otto Schulmeister, after his release from British war captivity in1946, began working as an employee for the initially weekly published ‘Die Presse’ which had been re-founded by Ernst Molden, before he advanced in Autumn 1948, following the papers conversion to a daily newspaper, to become their Foreign-Policy Editor. Born in 1916 in Vienna, he had already written for the newspapers ‘Südost-Echo’ and ‘Europa-Kabel’ during the war and gathered first experiences in journalism.

In 1953 Otto Schulmeister was promoted to deputy editor-in-chief and in 1961 he finally became editor-in-chief of the “Presse”, a position he held until 1976. As a publisher he was still loyal to “his” paper until 1989.

The family father of six and a qualified economist (PhD in political science and national economics) also contributed substantially to numerous further publications: He was amongst others co-editor and until 1968 also editor-in-chief of the intellectual journal “Wort und Wahrheit” (Word and Truth) as well as co-editor of the historical- sociological compilation “Spectrum Austriae”. He made himself a name as book author and collaborator on numerous foreign newspapers and magazines.

Otto Schulmeister is justifiably seen as one of the most significant commentators in Austrian history, who has not only experienced history but also recorded it. On the evening of 10th August 2001 Otto Schulmeister died.