User:Hudavendigar/Feigl

Erich Feigl (1931-2007) was an Austrian documentary film producer and author.

He was born in Vienna, Austria. He began writing while still a student, but soon switched over to documentary film-making, continuing his career at Austrian State Television (ORF). He toured Middle and Near East and Western Asia extensively and produced many documentaries about these places and their cultures and religions ("Journey to the Early Christian World", "Men and Myths"). He became interested in Turkic cultures and history especially ("Kanuni Sultan"). He worked with Dalai Lama on various projects ("Bardo", "Rebirth"). He also wrote about history of Habsburgs ("Kaiser Karl", "Kaiserin Zita" ). "Prof." title was conferred on him in 1984 in recognition of his scholarly work.

His work had already brought him close to the tragic events of 1915 in Anatolia where he had investigated the ancient civilizations of Asia Minor. The murder of the Turkish labor attaché, Erdogan Özen, who was a close personal friend of the author, by Armenian terrorists in Vienna on June 20, 1984, led Feigl to produce an extensive film about Armenian terrorist activities with an accompanying book, dedicated to Özen.

He then focused his attention on Kurdish issues and the PKK guerrilla organization, which resulted in his book published under the title Die Kurden in 1995. He was one of the first authors and commentators to investigate this topic in a contemprary context.

He produced close to 60 documentaries, mostly for the ORF, but some for BR (Bavarian), ZDF (German) and TRT (Turkish Radio Television) in co-production.

Among the medals and recongintions Erich Feigl is the Medal for the Progress of the Repulic of Azerbeidjan. He was also a Chevalier of the Lazarus Order and the Konstantin Order.

Feigl was a long-time monarchist activist and in 2006 was awarded honorary membership of the Schwarz-Gelbe Allianz, which favors the return of the House of Habsburg to power. Described by Der Spiegel as a "fervent admirer" of Empress Zita, he was part of the monarchist committee which organized her funeral in 1989.