Austrian Information

Dear Readers

This year marks the 175th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Austria. To celebrate this occasion, we will look at the U.S.-Austrian relationship through various lenses: from the experiences of the very first Austrian immigrants to the U.S. to the development of the U.S.-Austrian relations from the time of the Cold War to the Post-Cold War era. Did you know that a great number of Austrian immigrants came to the United States on the “Austro-Americana Line,” an Austrian shipping company, which operated several vessels between the port city of Trieste and the United States?

Once here, Austrians left their mark on American society. You will find their traces in many areas of life, some expected, some less so. We will introduce some of them in this issue. Additional portraits can be viewed on the website www.project175.org – a new addition to our digital portfolio.
Furthermore, we will also hear from former Austrian Ambassadors to the United States as well as from our current Chief of Mission, Hans Peter Manz.

In our series Meet the Consul, we are privileged to introduce Grand Rabbi Ira Korff, the Austrian Consul in Boston. We also feature an interview with the new Washington Bureau Chief of Austrian Public Broadcasting, ORF, Hannelore Veit as well as the owner of Café Katja in New York City, Erwin
Schröttner.

As a final note, I would like to invite you to check out the newly redesigned website of the Austrian Press and Information Service at www.austria.org, which now also includes the electronic version of this publication, optimized for reading on tablets and smartphones. On this website, you can also find our
monthly updates “Austrian Dispatch,” our blog “Jewish News from Austria,” a link to our website “Taste of Austria” as well as links to our social media channels.

Yours sincerely,
Alice Irvin
Editor-in-Chief
Director, Austrian Press & Information Service