Statement: Thomas Birkmeir – allegations in “The Standard”

Due to the current allegations made in the daily newspaper “Der Standard” about our artistic director Thomas Birkmeir, we see ourselves for the following statement:

First of all, it should be noted that our artistic director and we take the allegations expressed very seriously and have been striving for many years to ensure all employees: inside a safe and pleasant work environment. For this reason, compliance has existed in the Theater der Jugend since 2019, ongoing training courses for compliance and “#Me TOO”, there are equal treatment and compliance officers as well as a child protection concept with a child protection officer. Above all, there is an ongoing contract with the renowned and independent institute “Health Consult”, which offers all employees: inside professional psychological care. In addition, a gibberger portal (“whistle blowing”) is set up and there are regular employees: internal surveys to the working atmosphere. So it was director Birkmeir and us always a great concern to establish a balanced relationship between women and men, which he succeeded almost continuously. The handling of director Birkmeir with women can be described as fundamentally respectful and appreciative and never reducing.

The institutions shown above were created on the initiative of director Birkmeir or with his support, to whom a correct and safe working atmosphere has always been a great focus. In principle, it does not correspond to the nature of Thomas Birkmeir to appreciate, insult or humiliate employees: certainly not in the presence of other people. Nor is this physically attacked, rather Thomas Birkmeir embarrassed that it does not come about by him or between the actors: physical demonstrations that are not discussed in advance.

A current statement by “Health Consult” certifies the following to our house: “The occupational psychological center of the Health Consult Society for Pension Medicine has been continuously supporting the Theater der Jugend since October 2019 as part of a prevention agreement (previously sporadically since 2018). The use of the comprehensive occupational psychological offer is (compared to approx. 270 companies supervised by Health Consult). Both employees trust themselves with sensitive issues to occupational psychology and managers. In particular, the management is used to use the offer for the early solution of conflicts in protected framework. The open and continuous internal dialogue between the management and the employees has been repeatedly propagated and is also supported by occupational psychologists. Neither from comprehensive care nor from the systematic evaluations of work -related psychological stress nor from the workshops on the subject of “gender equality (#metoo)” are known to incidents of harassment, bullying or systematic discrimination through the management. An essential result of the evaluations as well as the workshops on gender equality (“#metoo”) is the continuous continuation of the internal dialogue with several internal and external response. “

We therefore reject the allegations described in the “Standard” with all determination as untrue: these either did not take place in the form described or were completely demolished from the context to the disadvantage of director Birkmeir. Above all, it is apparently consistent, which have been a few years ago and were already comprehensively checked due to anonymous letters from superordinate institutions and people and were not judged as untrue and therefore not personally and continuously assessed. Rather, the impression was urged for us that there are people behind the denunciations who were not employed in the youth theater for various reasons or only to a limited extent.

There are also no insinuations that our artistic director would not have taken the legal protective measures during the corona pandemic and would have been amused by people who would have demanded particularly strict measures. Rather, it is correct that the Corona time was a difficult time, especially for the theater and has been shown to be able to carry out the company with strictly changing measures or to take it up again. This also included carefully dealing with the fears of the employees.

However, we and Mr. Birkmeir offer the supposedly affected persons to process the facts together in a “Safe Space”. However, it is also stated that we do not want to accept the spread of this untrue allegations and that we are already examining legal steps.