Dr. Ludwig Paul von Kleinwächter

Ludwig Paul von Kleinwächter was born in Czernowitz as the son of the economist Friedrich von Kleinwächter, who was ennobled in 1909. After elementary school, he attended the state grammar school in Czernowitz, where he graduated in 1903 and enrolled in law in Berlin and at the Franz-Josefs University in Czernowitz in the same year. In 1909 he obtained his doctorate there sub auspiciis and then studied at the Consular Academy in Vienna. In 1911 he entered the diplomatic service of Austria-Hungary. From 1912 to 1916 he was consul in New York and in 1916 in Buffalo. From June 1916 until the USA entered the First World War in spring 1917, he served at the embassy in Washington. From December 1917 to February 1918, he was deployed together with Theodor von Hornbostel in the Prisoners of War Commission Saint Petersburg. From April 1918 to November 1918, he was head of the civilian internment department in Kiev.

After the war, Ludwig von Kleinwächter served as a diplomat for the Republic of Austria. He married in 1921 and had two daughters. In April and May 1921, he was a member of the delegation to the Conference of the Successor States of the Monarchy in Rome. He returned to the USA in February 1922 and was head of the consulate in Chicago until 1925. From June 1925 to December 1926, he served as Counsellor at the Austrian Legation in Washington. He then worked for the Federal Press Service in Vienna for several years, interrupted by a stay in Canada, where he headed the Consulate General in Ottawa from 1930 to 1932. In the 1930s, he joined the Vaterländische Front.

After the occupation of Austria by the Third Reich, Ludwig von Kleinwächter was arrested as a "Halbjude" on the day of the invasion on March 12, 1938 and dismissed from the service. On April 2, 1938, he was deported to the Dachau concentration camp on the so-called Prominent Transport. From there, he was transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp on September 23, 1938, where he was released on May 3, 1939. In November 1939, he was arrested again by the Gestapo for 18 days. After that, he kept his head above water with odd jobs.

This is how he experienced the liberation of Austria by the Allies in May 1945. Ludwig von Kleinwächter was rehabilitated in April 1945 and appointed permanent representative of the Office of Foreign Affairs to the American delegation of the Allied Commission for Austria by the Renner Provisional State Government. After the National Council elections in November 1945, the new Federal Government Figl sends him to Washington as extraordinary envoy and minister plenipotentiary, where he arrives in February 1946. Together with his colleague Hans Thalberg, he rebuilt the Austrian legation.

Ludwig von Kleinwächter was convinced that Austria was the first victim of National Socialist expansion and aggression. He successfully lobbied the US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes for support for Austria's request for urgently needed UNRRA aid. After the UNRRA program expired in 1947, Ludwig von Kleinwächter succeeded in ensuring that Austria was given special consideration in the subsequent Marshall Plan and received a large share of the aid funds.

Another of Kleinwächter's diplomatic successes was the signing of the first Fulbright Agreement between Austria and the USA in June 1950. In December 1951, shortly before his retirement, he was promoted to ambassador. From 1952, Kleinwächter was Chairman of the Austro-American Institute of Education created by Paul Leo Dengler in 1926.