List of ambassadors of Austria to the United States

This is a list of ambassadors of Austria to the United States.

Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the United States
Coat of arms of Austria
Incumbent Petra Schneebauer since 2023
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Austria, Washington D.C.
Style	Her Excellency
Inaugural holder	Wenzel von Mareschall (as Ambassador of the Austrian Empire)
Formation	1838
Website	Austrian Embassy, Washington D.C.

History

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]

Heads of Mission

Ambassadors of the Austrian Empire

Term Start	Term End	Name	Title	Notes
1838	1841	Wenzel von Mareschall	[3][4]
1841	1855	Johann von Hülsemann	Chargé d'Affaires	August Belmont served as Consul-General from 1844 to 1850.[5]
1855	1868	Imperial and Royal Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
1863	1864		Nikolaus von Giorgi
1865	1867		Ferdinand von Wydenbruck	[6]

Ambassadors of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Term Start	Term End	Image	Name	Title	Notes
1867	1868		Karl von und zu Franckenstein	Chargé d'Affaires
1868	1874		Karl von Lederer	Imperial and Royal Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	Previously Ambassador to the Hanseatic Cities in Hamburg
1874	1875		Wilhelm von Schwarz-Senborn		Previously General Director of the 1873 Vienna World's Fair
1875	1878		Ladislaus von Hoyos-Sprinzenstein		Later Ambassador to France in Paris
1878	1881		Ernst von Mayr
1881	1886		Ignaz von Schäffer
1887	1894		Ernst Schmit von Tavera
1894	1902		Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár		Previously Austro-Hungarian Minister to Brazil and Serbia
1902	1913			Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary[6]
1913	1915		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.
1916	1917		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.
Interruption in relations due to World War I

Ambassadors of the First Austrian Republic

Term Start	Term End	Image	Name	Title	Notes
1921	1925		Edgar L. G. Prochnik	Chargés d'affaires ad interim
1925	1938			Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	Terminated mission due to Anschluss with Germany
Interruption in relations due to World War II

Ambassadors of the Second Austrian Republic

Term Start	Term End	Image	Name	Title	Notes
1946	1951		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]
1951	1952			Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
1952	1954		Max Löwenthal		Later Ambassador in Ottawa, Buenos Aires, and Rome[8]
1954	1957		Karl Gruber		Previously Foreign Minister of Austria from 1945 to 1953
1958	1965		Wilfried Platzer
1965	1969		Ernst Lemberger
1969	1972		Karl Gruber		Second term
1972	1977		Arno Halusa
1977	1982		Karl Herbert Schober
1982	1987		Thomas Klestil		Later served as President of Austria from 1992 to 2004
1987	1993		Friedrich Hoess
1993	1999		Helmut Tuerk
1999	2003		Peter Moser
2003	2009		Eva Nowotny		Formerly Ambassador to France, and to the Court of St. James's (United Kingdom)
2009	2011		Christian Prosl
2011	2015		Hans Peter Manz		Formerly Ambassador to Switzerland[9][10]
2016	2019		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]
2019	2022		Martin Weiss		Formerly Ambassador to Israel, Director of the Press and Information Department of the Foreign Ministry, and Ambassador to Cyprus.[12]
2023	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]

See also

• Austria–United States relations
• United States Ambassador to Austria
• Foreign relations of Austria