Austrian Red Cross

Austrian Red Cross
Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz
Formation	March 14, 1880; 144 years ago
Purpose	Humanitarian Aid
Headquarters	Vienna, Austria
Region	Austria
President	Gerald Schöpfer
Main organ	General Assembly
Parent organization	International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Website	https://www.roteskreuz.at/

The Austrian Red Cross (German: Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz, ÖRK) is the national Red Cross Organization in Austria and is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It was established on March 14, 1880 by Doctor Adam Lichtenheld of the Vienna General Hospital and is the biggest aid agency in the country.

Duties

Its duties contain:

Emergency medical services and transport services, apart from other NPOs (such as the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund)
Blood-donation-service - 95% of the donated blood is provided by the Red Cross
Social- and healthcare programs
Development Cooperation, Rehabilitation and Emergency Aid
Educational service (first aid courses)
International Tracing Service - After World War II, and nowadays after big disasters.
Supervision of international humanitarian law

Most employees are volunteers. In the year 2004, 45.000 employees were counted.

Presidents of the ÖRK

Karl Baron of Tinti (1880–1884)
Franz Earl Falkenhayn (1885–1898)
Prince Alois von Schönburg-Hartenstein (1899–1913)
Rudolf Earl of Abensperg-Traun (1913–1919)
Dr. Max Vladimir Eck (1919–1938)
Dr. Adolf Pilz (1945)
Karl Seitz (1946–1950)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Burghard Breitner (1950–1956)
DDr.h.c. Hans Lauda (1956–1974)
Dr. Heinrich Treichl (1974–1999)
Fredy Mayer (1999-2013)
Univ.-Prof. DDr. Gerald Schöpfer (since 2013)

National Organisation

The organisation persists of 9 subordinate national organisations, all are their own entities but are bound to the basic principles of the Austrian Red Cross. This has historical reasons, the national organisation originated out of many small, local aid organisations.