Günter Bischof (Austrian Marshall Plan Professor, The University of New Orleans)
Hannes Richter (Austrian Embassy, Washington, DC; Austrian Marshall Plan Fellow)

When: Monday, October 21, 6:30 PM
Where: Vortragssaal der Österreichischen Kulturvereinigung
Hanuschgasse 3, Hof 2, Stiege 4, 1. Stock
1010 Vienna

In his memoirs Henry Grunwald tells the story that he had planned for his Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to be confirmed as Ambassador to Vienna to say that Austria was “an important unimportant country”, but then thought better of it. Indeed, this still may be an accurate characterization of Austria’s place on the list of hierarchies for U.S. foreign policy today. After the end of the Cold War, Austria no longer held the importance that it enjoyed during its role as East-West mediator and meeting place as “an unofficial headquarters for the Cold War”.

In 2018 Ambassador Wolfgang Waldner launched the idea of commemorating the important events connected with that year with an exhibit and accompanying monograph to review the crucial turning points in the Austrian – American relationship from 1838 to 2018 in their respective historical contexts.

The book, accompanying the exhibit, tells the story of Austrian immigrants to the United States over a period of almost 300 years.

Günter Bischof is the Austrian Marshall Plan Professor of History and Director of the Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies at the University of New Orleans. He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences, author and editor of many books, and co-editor of Contemporary Austrian Studies (28 volumes).

Hannes Richter is a scholar-practitioner focused on digital effects in political communication in the domestic and international arenas; he serves as the Deputy Director of the Austrian Press and Information Service at the Embassy of Austria in Washington, DC, and was an Austrian Marshall Plan Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.