| Post: | Ambassador |
| Body: | the Republic of Austria to the United States |
| Insignia: | Austria Bundesadler.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 120px |
| Insigniacaption: | Coat of arms of Austria |
| Department: | Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Austria, Washington D.C. |
| Incumbent: | Petra Schneebauer |
| Style: | Her Excellency |
| Inaugural: | Wenzel von Mareschall (as Ambassador of the Austrian Empire) |
| Formation: | 1838 |
| Website: | Austrian Embassy, Washington D.C. |
This is a list of ambassadors of Austria to the United States.
The United States first established diplomatic relations with Austria in 1838 during the time of the Austrian Empire. Relations between the United States have been continuous since that time except for two interruptions during World War I and World War II.
As part of the modernization of the state system in the 1860s, Austria-Hungary began to send permanent envoys to the United States. After 11 November 1918, these were no longer representatives of the Emperor, but of the republican state of German-Austria or the Austrian Republic, who were now called ambassadors. On 13 March 1938, the Austrian representation in Washington, D.C. was closed due to the "Anschluss" to Nazi Germany and only reopened one and a half years after the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria following the end of World War II.[1]
The fact that diplomatic relations were not resumed until November 1946 reflects the fact that the United States, as the occupying power in Austria, had a high-ranking presence in Vienna since 1 September 1945, and the four occupying powers considered themselves the supreme authority in Austria. It was not until the summer of 1946 that the government of Leopold Figl was given more political leeway.
The Austrian Embassy in the United States is located in Washington, D.C.[2]
| Term Start | Term End | Name | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wenzel von Mareschall | [3] [4] | |||
| Johann von Hülsemann | Chargé d'Affaires | August Belmont served as Consul-General from 1844 to 1850.[5] | ||
| Imperial and Royal Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | ||||
| Nikolaus von Giorgi | ||||
| Ferdinand von Wydenbruck | [6] | |||
| Term Start | Term End | Image | Name | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karl von und zu Franckenstein | Chargé d'Affaires | ||||
| Karl von Lederer | Imperial and Royal Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | Previously Ambassador to the Hanseatic Cities in Hamburg | |||
| Wilhelm von Schwarz-Senborn | Previously General Director of the 1873 Vienna World's Fair | ||||
| Ladislaus von Hoyos-Sprinzenstein | Later Ambassador to France in Paris | ||||
| Ernst von Mayr | |||||
| Ignaz von Schäffer | |||||
| Ernst Schmit von Tavera | |||||
| Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár | Previously Austro-Hungarian Minister to Brazil and Serbia | ||||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |||||
| Konstantin Dumba | Dumba was declared persona non grata by the U.S. Government on 8 September 1915 and left the U.S. on 5 October, however, his appointment formally ended a month later. | ||||
| Adam Tarnówski von Tarnów | Count Tarnowski was named ambassador following Dumba's expulsion and arrived in Washington in 1916 but never presented his credentials to President Wilson. Therefore, his name therefore does not appear in the U.S. records and the legation is said to have been led by Erich Zwiedinek von Südenhorst as Chargé d'affaires until the embassy was closed and diplomatic relations were officially broken off on 8 April 1917. The United States did not formally declare war on Austria-Hungary until 7 December 1917. | ||||
| Interuption in relations due to World War I | |||||
| Term Start | Term End | Image | Name | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edgar L. G. Prochnik | Chargés d'affaires ad interim | ||||
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | Terminated mission due to Anschluss with Germany | ||||
| Interuption in relations due to World War II | |||||
| Term Start | Term End | Image | Name | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ludwig Kleinwächter | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | Previously Consul in New York City, Buffalo, and Chicago and Counselor at the Legation in Washington, as well as Consul General to Ottawa. In 1938, the Gestapo arrested him as a "half Jew" and sent him to Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps.[7] | |||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |||||
| Max Löwenthal | Later Ambassador in Ottawa, Buenos Aires, and Rome[8] | ||||
| Karl Gruber | Previously Foreign Minister of Austria from 1945 to 1953 | ||||
| Wilfried Platzer | |||||
| Ernst Lemberger | |||||
| Karl Gruber | Second term | ||||
| Arno Halusa | |||||
| Karl Herbert Schober | |||||
| Thomas Klestil | Later served as President of Austria from 1992 to 2004 | ||||
| Friedrich Hoess | |||||
| Helmut Tuerk | |||||
| Peter Moser | |||||
| Eva Nowotny | Formerly Ambassador to France, and to the Court of St. James's (United Kingdom) | ||||
| Christian Prosl | |||||
| Hans Peter Manz | Formerly Ambassador to Switzerland[9] [10] | ||||
| Wolfgang Waldner | Formerly State Secretary for European and International Affairs, Minister in charge of Commerce, Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Culture and Communities for the Regional Government of Carinthia, and Ambassador to Hungary.[11] | ||||
| Martin Weiss | Formerly Ambassador to Israel, Director of the Press and Information Department of the Foreign Ministry, and Ambassador to Cyprus.[12] | ||||
| Present | Petra Schneebauer | Formerly Director-General for Consular Affairs at the Austrian Foreign Ministry and Austrian National Coordinator and leader of the Task Force for the Combat of Human Trafficking.[13] | |||