Mourning for Nikolaus Glattauer: The voice of education falls silent at the age of 66

Mourning for Nikolaus Glattauer: The voice of education falls silent at the age of 66

The Austrian publicist, journalist and teacher Nikolaus “Niki” Glattauer died on September 4, 2025 at the age of 66. His brother, the author Daniel Glattauer, confirmed that Niki died peacefully and without pain at home. His death came after an assisted suicide, a decision he made because of his serious cancer, more specifically incurable biliary carcinoma. This was possible because assisted suicide for terminally ill people has been legal in Austria since 2022. Niki Glattauer met all legal requirements for this decision, including appropriate medical and notarial assessments.

As Daniel Glattauer reported, the family spent one last, lovely evening together. Niki heard his last words: "Beautiful. Wow!", reflecting a peaceful end to his life. In recent days he spoke openly about his decision and emphasized that he did not want to live at any cost. This topic was important to him because he campaigned for self-determined dying, especially for the terminally ill in Austria, which he recently spoke about in interviews.

A life in the media landscape

Niki Glattauer was born on January 1, 1959 in Zurich, but grew up in Vienna. He was anything but unknown in the Austrian media landscape. He worked as a journalist for renowned media such as “Die Presse”, “Kronen Zeitung”, “Kurier” and was deputy editor-in-chief at “News”. His journalistic career was characterized by his ability to take up relevant topics and make them accessible to readers.

From around the age of 40, Niki took the plunge into teaching and was passionate about education. He became a teacher, special education teacher and finally director of the general special school in Vienna-Meidling, a position he has held since 2017. Glattauer actively campaigned for the improvement of the education system and formulated demands on society and politics in his numerous non-fiction books and columns, including his best-known work "The Pisa Lie. How our schools are really getting better".

A broad literary work

In total, Nikolaus Glattauer published around twelve books, including two novels and three children's books. His children's book "Escape" even premiered in a stage version in 2017, underscoring his influence on various art forms. His other important publications include “Jakobus, Stepson of God”, “Im Vogelblick” and “Schlag gut, Susi!”. He was also an active member of juries, including for the “Ohrenschmaus” literary prize, and served on the executive board of the Institute for Youth Literature from 2016 to 2022.

Niki Glattauer will be remembered as a formative figure in the Austrian media and education landscape. His open words and his committed contributions to the discussion about education and life itself will be appreciated and missed by many. His death leaves a great void, but his legacy will live on - in the works he leaves behind and in the hearts of the people he reached.

For more information, see the articles from MyDistrict, Cosmo and Small newspaper.