Austrian Americans (, ) are Americans of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n descent, chiefly German-speaking Catholics and Jews. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were 735,128 Americans of full or partial Austrian descent, accounting for 0.3% of the population. The states with the largest Austrian American populations are New York (93,083), California (84,959), Pennsylvania (58,002) (most of them in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

), Florida (54,214), New Jersey (45,154), and Ohio (27,017). This may be an undercount since many

German Americans German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

, Czech Americans,

Polish Americans Polish Americans () are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, ...

, Slovak Americans, Slovenian Americans,

Croatian Americans Croatian Americans or Croat Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Croatian ancestry. In 2012, there were 414,714 American citizens of Croat or Croatian descent living in the United States as per revised 2010 United States Census ...

, and

Ukrainian Americans Ukrainian Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2021 there were 1,017,586 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.3% of the American population. The Ukrainian popu ...

, and other Americans with

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

an ancestry can trace their roots from the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

territories of

, the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

, or

Cisleithania Cisleithania, officially The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council (), was the northern and western part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in the Compromise of 1867—as distinguished from ''Transleithania'' (i.e., ...

in the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

, regions which were major sources of immigrants to the United States before World War I, and whose inhabitants often assimilated into larger immigrant and ethnic communities throughout the United States.

Migration history

Early migrations

Austrian migration to the U.S. probably started in 1734, when a group of 50 families from the city of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

migrated to the newly founded

Province of Georgia The Province of Georgia (also Georgia Colony) was one of the Southern Colonies in colonial-era British America. In 1775 it was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to support the American Revolution. The original land grant of the Province of G ...

. Having a Protestant background, they migrated because of Catholic repression in their country.

World War II and post-war migrations

In the late 1930s, large numbers of Austrians migrated to the United States, most of whom were Jews fleeing the Nazi persecution that started with the annexation of Austria in 1938. By 1941, some 29,000 Jewish Austrians had emigrated to the United States. Most of them were doctors, lawyers, architects and artists, including composers, writers and stage and film directors). After WW II ended, some further 40,000 Austrians emigrated to the United States (1945-1960).

Present day

Since the 1960s, Austrian immigration has been very limited, owing to Austria's high levels of development and political freedom. According to the 1990 U.S. census, 948,558 people identified their origins in Austria.Everyculture:Austrian-Americans
Posted by Syd Jones. Retrieved in December 08, 2011, to 13:05 pm. Most of the present-day immigrants who currently live in the United States who were born in Austria identify themselves as being of Austrian ancestry, but the percentage who identify themselves as being of German ancestry is larger than the one expected on the basis of the opinion polls in Austria. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2015, there were 26,603 individuals living in the U.S. born in Austria who identified themselves as being of Austrian ancestry. By contrast, in the same year, there were 6,200 individuals living in the U.S. born in Austria who identified themselves as being of German ancestry. Most of the immigrants from South Tyrol in Italy to the United States identify themselves as being of German rather than Austrian ancestry. According to the Census Bureau, in 2015, there were 365 individuals living in the U.S. born in Italy who identified themselves as being of Austrian ancestry. By contrast, in the same year, there were 1,040 individuals living in the U.S. born in Italy who identified themselves as being of German ancestry.

Assimilation

Austrian immigrants adapted quickly to American society because the Austro-Hungarian Empire had also been a

melting pot A melting pot is a Monoculturalism, monocultural metaphor for a wiktionary:heterogeneous, heterogeneous society becoming more wiktionary:homogeneous, homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative bei ...

of many cultures and languages. On the other hand, despite the rejection that Austrians feel toward the behavior of the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, regarded by Austrians as less tolerants and cosmopolitans, they have suffered the same damages and discrimination that German immigrants have faced in the United States. They were considered by Americans to be the same because of their language and both world wars.

Religion

The emigration of other religious groups from Austria to the United States, especially the Jews from Vienna after 1938, has also contributed to strengthen religious variety in the United States. Isidor Bush (1822–98) emigrated from Vienna in 1849 and became a leading Jewish citizen of the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri through his business ventures, religious work, and political activities. His vineyards were famous and profitable.

Austrian-American communities in the United States

The U.S. communities with the highest percentage of self-professed Austrian Americans are:

U.S. communities with the most residents born in Austria

The U.S. communities where born Austrians make up more than 1% of the total population are: # Hillside Lake, New York 1.4% # Redway, California 1.3% # Black Diamond, Florida 1.2% # Smallwood, New York 1.2% # Highland Beach, Florida 1.2% # Cordova, Maryland 1.2% # Keystone, Colorado 1.2% # North Lynbrook, New York 1.1% # Cedar Glen Lakes, New Jersey 1.1% # Center City, Minnesota 1.1% # Scotts Corners, New York 1.0% # Killington, Vermont 1.0% #

Lexington, New York Lexington is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 770 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census, Lexington town, Greene County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP& ...

1.0% # Tuxedo Park, New York 1.0%

Notable people

Entertainment

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(born Allan Stewart Konigsberg) – actor, director, screenwriter, comedian, author, playwright, and musician * Gabrielle Anwar – actress * Bea Arthur (born Bernice Franke), actress, comedienne, and singer * Adele Astaire (born Adele Austerlitz) – dancer, actress, sister of Fred Astaire *

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(born Frederick Austerlitz) – dancer, actor * Sean Astin – actor *

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, actress, comedian, writer, and producer * Roger Bart, actor and singer. *

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(born David Friedman), writer and producer. * Bibi Besch – actress *

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He made his stage debut in '' Tevye the Milkman'' in Mandatory Palestine, where he lived as ...

– actor, singer, musician *

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for ''Fi ...

– director, writer, actor, producer, critic and film historian *

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, actress * Spencer Breslin, actor and songwriter. *

Albert Brooks Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein; July 22, 1947) is an American actor, director and screenwriter. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1987 comedy-drama film '' Broadcast News' ...

(born Albert Lawrence Einstein), actor, director, and screenwriter * Pauline Chalamet, American-French actress and producer * Timothée Hal Chalamet, French-American actor and film producer * Hans Conried – actor * Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Krantz) – silent film actor, of Austrian Jewish descent * Stanley Cortez (born Stanislaus Kranz) – cinematographer *

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, actor. *

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– actor, comedian, and filmmaker * Robert von Dassanowsky – academic, writer and film producer *

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, actor * Norman Fell (born Norman Feld), actor of film and television *

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...

– animator *

Richard Fleischer Richard Owen Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director. His career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. He was the ...

– director, son of Max Fleischer *

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor ( , ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were socialites and actresses Eva Gabor and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the ...

, Hungarian-American socialite and actress *

Teri Garr Terry Ann Garr (December 11, 1944 – October 29, 2024), known as Teri Garr, was an American actress. Known for her comedic roles in film and television in the 1970s and 1980s, she often played women struggling to cope with the life-changing ex ...

– actress, comedian, dancer and voice artist * Jeff Goldblum – actor and musician * Alex Hafner – actor * Colin Hanks, actor and filmmaker. *

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor, writer, producer, television director and former American football, football player. He is best known for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on ''NCIS (TV series), NCIS'' ...

– actor *

Kurt Kasznar Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...

(born Kurt Servischer) – Austrian-born American actor *

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

(born Lawrence Zeiger), author, radio host and television host *

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

– director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer * Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Kiesler) – actress, inventor, and producer; from an Austrian Jewish family *

Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's '' North by Northwest'' (1959). His career breakthrough c ...

, actor. * Elissa Landi – actress *

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

– director *

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough in the teen film ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). She re ...

, actress *

Lotte Lenya Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is be ...

(born Karoline Blamauer) – actress, singer and diseuse *

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, active first in Europe and later in the United States. Known for his timidly devious characters, his appearance, and accented vo ...

(born László Löwenstein) – actor * Joe Manganiello – actor, grandmother was of Austrian descent *

Julianna Margulies Julianna Margulies (; born June 8, 1966) is an American actress. After several small television roles, Margulies received wide recognition for her starring role as Carol Hathaway in the NBC medical drama series '' ER'' (1994–2000; 2009), fo ...

, actress *

Samantha Mathis Samantha Mathis (born May 12, 1970) is an American actress and trade union leader who served as the Vice President, Actors/Performers of SAG-AFTRA from 2015 to 2019. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in '' Pump Up ...

– actress, daughter of Bibi Besch * T.J. Miller, stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter * Zero Mostel, actor, comedian, and singer * Paul Muni (born Frederich Meier Weisenfreund) – actor *

Arthur Murray Arthur Murray (born Moses Teichman; April 4, 1895 – March 3, 1991) was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name. Early life and start in dance Arthur Mur ...

(born Moses Teichman) – dancer, entrepreneur *

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American actress. Pleshette was known for her roles in theatre, film, and television. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. For her role as Emily Hart ...

, actress *

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

(born Natalie Hershlag) – actress, born to a Jewish family, some of whom came from Austria *

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( ; ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian Americans, Austrian-American film and theatre director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the the ...

– director *

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. He was the List of awards and nominations received by Carl Reiner, recipient of many awards and ...

, actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter * Leah Remini – actress, mother has Austrian Jewish descent *

Don Rickles Donald Jay Rickles (May 8, 1926 – April 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was known primarily for his insult comedy. His film roles include ''Run Silent, Run Deep (film), Run Silent, Run Deep'' (1958), ''Enter Laughing ...

– actor and comedian, of Jewish descent * Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Blum), actress *

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films ''Cabin Fev ...

, film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor * Lionel Royce (born Leon Moriz Reiss), actor of stage and screen * Fritzi Scheff – actress * Joseph Schildkraut – actor *

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

– actor and 38th

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

* Patrick Schwarzenegger – actor, son of Arnold, brother of Katherine Schwarzenegger * Amanda Setton, actress. * Harry Shearer – actor * Lilia Skala (born Lilia Sofer) – actress * Walter Slezak – actor *

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

, broadcaster and media personality. * Eric Stonestreet – actor, original family name before World War I was Steingassner * Edgar G. Ulmer – director *

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim, ; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of ...

– director *

Josef von Sternberg Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the Silent film, silent to the Sound film, sound era, during which he worked with mos ...

– director * Tessa Gräfin von Walderdorff – American socialite, writer, and actress who is a member of the Austrian noble family Walderdorff * Johnny Weissmuller, Johann Peter Weißmüller (Johnny Weissmüller) - actor ("Tarzan") *

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

(born Samuel Wilder) – director, of Jewish descent *

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American film actress whose career spanned seven decades. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ' ...

(born Shirley Schrift) – actress, of Jewish descent *

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

– actor * Ian Ziering, actor *

Fred Zinnemann Alfred Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an American film director and producer. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thriller film, thrillers, western (genre), westerns, film ...

– director

Music

* Walter Arlen (born Walter Aptowitzer) – composer, music critic at the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' *

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

– composer and conductor *

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David was born and raised in New ...

, lyricist *

Arthur Fiedler Arthur Fiedler (December 17, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was an American Conductor (music), conductor known for his association with both the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestra, Boston Pops orchestras. With a combi ...

, conductor *

G-Eazy Gerald Earl Gillum (born May 24, 1989), better known by his stage name G-Eazy, is an American rapper. Based in Oakland, California, he began his career in 2006 and released two independent studio albums before signing with RCA Records to releas ...

(born 1989) – rapper *

Marvin Hamlisch Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. He is one of a handful of people to win Emmy Awards, Emmy, Grammy Awards, Grammy, Academy Awards, Oscar, and Tony Awards, Tony awards, a feat ...

, composer and conductor *

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American film composer. He worked on more than 160 film and television productions between 1978 and 2015. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside tr ...

, film composer and conductor *

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (; May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential comp ...

– composer and conductor * Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer) – conductor * Bobby Schayer – musician *

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

– composer, of Jewish descent *

Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (10 May 1888 – 28 December 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and became one of cinema of the United States, Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodi ...

– composer * Richard Stöhr (born Richard Stern), composer, music author, and teacher. * Nita Strauss – rock guitarist * Georg Ludwig von Trapp – headed the Austrian singing family portrayed in

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

. His exploits at sea in World War I earned him numerous decorations. * Agathe von Trapp – eldest daughter of Baron Georg von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, The von Trapp Family from

* Maria F. von Trapp – second-oldest daughter of Baron Georg von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, The von Trapp Family from

* Werner von Trapp – second-oldest son of Georg Ritter von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, The von Trapp Family from

* Joe Zawinul – jazz pianist

Arts & literature

Maria Altmann Maria Altmann (née Maria Victoria Bloch, later Bloch-Bauer; February 18, 1916 – February 7, 2011) was an Austrian-American Jewish refugee from Austria, who fled her home country after it was annexed to the Nazi’s Third Reich. She is noted f ...

– art collector *

Gustav Bergmann Gustav Bergmann (; May 4, 1906 – April 21, 1987) was an Austrian-American philosopher. He studied at the University of Vienna and was a member of the Vienna Circle. Bergmann was influenced by the philosophers Moritz Schlick, Friedrich W ...

– philosopher * Bela Borsodi – photographer * Art Buchwald, humorist * Eric de Kolb – painter and designer *

Felix de Weldon Felix Weihs de Weldon (April 12, 1907 – June 3, 2003) was an Austrian sculptor. His most famous pieces include the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial, 1954) in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, US, and the Natio ...

– sculptor, best known for the Marine Corps War Memorial * Victor Gruen – architect and designer of shopping malls * Raul Hillberg – author,

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and historian, who is widely considered to be one of the world's preeminent scholars of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

* Jerry Iger – famed American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, founder of

Eisner & Iger Eisner & Iger was a comic book packager that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s, a period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Will Eisner and Jerry Ige ...

, an industry trailblazer during the

Golden Age of Comics The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many ...

; born to an Austrian-Jewish family in New York City and Bob Iger's paternal great-uncle * Otto Kallir (born Otto Nirenstein), art historian, author, publisher, and gallerist. * David Karfunkle – painter, muralist * Greta Kempton – artist * Joseph Keppler – cartoonist, best known for the illustrated magazine '' Puck'' *

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

– cartoon artist * Vivian Maier – street photographer *

Eric Kandel Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeo ...

– neuroscientist * Gerda Lerner (née Kronstein) , historian and woman's history author *

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; 8 April 1892 – 16 April 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for most of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. His most ...

– architect * Frederick Burr Opper – cartoonist *

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

– poet, mother of Austrian descent * Katherine Schwarzenegger – author, daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger, sister of Patrick Schwarzenegger *

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty ...

, novelist, playwright, and poet

Journalism

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

– critic, journalist * Michael Smerconish – CNN journalist * Matthew Winter – journalist

Science and medicine

Economics

Alexander Gerschenkron Alexander Gerschenkron (; 1 October 1904 – 26 October 1978) was an American economic historian and professor at Harvard University, trained in the German Historical School of economics. Born into a Jewish family in Odessa, then part of the ...

, economic historian and professor at Harvard University *

Friedrich von Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek (8 May 1899 – 23 March 1992) was an Austrian-born British academic and philosopher. He is known for his contributions to political economy, political philosophy and intellectual history. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobe ...

– Austrian-born economist and philosopher * Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises – economist, philosopher, author and classical liberal * Joseph Warkany –

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

Medicine

* Godfrey Edward Arnold – medical doctor and researcher *

Karl Landsteiner Karl Landsteiner (; 14 June 1868 – 26 June 1943) was an Austrian-American biologist, physician, and immunologist. He emigrated with his family to New York in 1923 at the age of 55 for professional opportunities, working for the Rockefeller ...

–

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, best known for having distinguished the main blood groups * Ignatz Leo Nascher – doctor and gerontologist

Physics

* Heinz von Foerster – scientist combining

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, originator of

Second-order cybernetics Second-order cybernetics, also known as the cybernetics of cybernetics, is the recursive application of cybernetics to itself and the reflexive practice of cybernetics according to such a critique. It is cybernetics where "the role of the observer ...

Wolfgang Pauli Wolfgang Ernst Pauli ( ; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum mechanics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the ...

– theoretical physicist and pioneer of quantum physics, received the Nobel Prize in Physics. *

Victor Frederick Weisskopf Victor Frederick "Viki" Weisskopf (also spelled Viktor; September 19, 1908 – April 22, 2002) was an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He did postdoctoral work with Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, and Niels ...

– physicist of Jewish descent. During World War II, he worked at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, and later campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons; medal received in 1979

Psychology

Bruno Bettelheim Bruno Bettelheim (; August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born American psychologist, scholar, public intellectual and writer who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bet ...

– child psychologist, psychoanalyst and concentration camp survivor *

Ernest Dichter Ernest Dichter (14 August 1907 in Vienna – 21 November 1991 in Peekskill, New York) was an American psychologist and marketing expert known as the "father of motivational research". Dichter pioneered the application of Freudian psychoanalyti ...

, psychologist and marketing expert known as the "father of motivational research". * Heinz Kohut, psychoanalyst best known for his development of self psychology *

Walter Mischel Walter Mischel (; February 22, 1930 – September 12, 2018) was an Austrian-born American psychologist specializing in personality theory and social psychology. He was the Robert Johnston Niven Professor of Humane Letters in the Department ...

– psychologist specializing in personality theory and social psychology; professor at Columbia University *

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( ; ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several in ...

– psychiatrist *

Paul Watzlawick Paul Watzlawick (July 25, 1921 – March 31, 2007) was an Austrian-American family therapist, psychologist, communication theorist, and philosopher. A theoretician in communication theory and radical constructivism, he commented in the fields o ...

– psychologist, communications theorist, and philosopher

Sociology

Peter L. Berger Peter Ludwig Berger (17 March 1929 – 27 June 2017) was an Austrian-born American sociologist and Protestant theologian. Berger became known for his work in the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion, study of modernization, and contr ...

– sociologist * Peter Blau, sociologist and theorist. *

Paul Lazarsfeld Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist and mathematician. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organizat ...

, sociologist and mathematician; founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research *

Alfred Schütz Alfred Schutz (; born Alfred Schütz, ; 1899–1959) was an Austrian philosopher and social phenomenologist whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions. Schutz is gradually being recognized as one of the 20th century's leadin ...

– philosopher/sociologist

Other

* Carl Djerassi –

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

, novelist, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

* Irene Fischer, mathematician and geodesist. *

Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( ; ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel profoundly ...

– logician, mathematician, philosopher * Hans Holzer – paranormal researcher and author

Law

Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, advocating judicial restraint. Born in Vienna, Frankfurter im ...

– U.S. Supreme Court Justice *

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...

– U.S. Supreme Court Justice * Fred F. Herzog – only Jewish judge in Austria between the world wars, he fled to America and became Dean of two different law schools *

Hans Kelsen Hans Kelsen (; ; October 11, 1881 – April 19, 1973) was an Austrian and later American jurist, legal philosopher and political philosopher. He is known principally for his theory of law, which he named the " pure theory of law (''Reine Rechts ...

– jurist *

Richard Posner Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American legal scholar and retired United States circuit judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chicag ...

, legal scholar and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Politics

* Victor L. Berger –

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician and journalist *

Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is a retired American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United St ...

(née Levy), US Senator and member of the US House of Representatives * Henry Ellenbogen – U.S. Congressman from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

– politician, current United States Special Presidential
Envoy for Climate, former Senator from Massachusetts, U.S. presidential candidate of 2004 ( D), former U.S. Secretary of State * Joseph Lieberman, US senator *

Jacky Rosen Jacklyn Sheryl Rosen (née Spektor; born August 2, 1957) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party ...

(née Spekto), US senator and member of the House of Representatives *

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...

, US senator * Arthur Schneier, rabbi and human rights activist * Kurt von Schuschnigg –

Austrofascist The Fatherland Front (, VF) was the right-wing conservative, authoritarian, nationalist, corporatist, fascist and Catholic ruling political organisation of the Federal State of Austria. It claimed to be a nonpartisan movement, and aimed to unit ...

politician and Austrian federal Chancellor 1936-1938 and professor of political sciences at St. Louis University 1948-1967Obituary of Schuschnigg in ''The Times'', London, 19 November 1977 * Ernst Florian Winter – diplomat

Business and technology

Edward Bernays Edward Louis Bernays ( ; ; November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) was an American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". While credited with advancing the profession ...

– Austrian-American pioneer in public relations, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". *

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...

– media executive, successive CEO of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

and the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

* Anselm Franz – pioneering turbojet engineer, designer of the Jumo 004 and Lycoming T53 engines * Joseph Gerber, inventor and businessman. *

Bob Iger Robert Alan Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American media executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company. He previously was the president of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1994 and 1995 and p ...

– longtime

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

, who oversaw a fourfold increase in its

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

; born in New York City to a Jewish family, in particular an Austrian-Jewish father *

Travis Kalanick Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was th ...

– founder, Uber Technologies; born in California to a family of Jewish-Austrian and Slovak-Austrian extraction * Dylan Lauren, businesswoman * Ernst Mahler – chemist and industrialist *

Jillian Michaels Jillian Michaels (born February 18, 1974) is an American fitness trainer, nutritionist, businesswoman, media personality, and author. She is best known for her appearances on NBC series such as ''The Biggest Loser (American TV series), The Bigg ...

, fitness expert, nutritionist, businesswoman, media personality, and author. * Roy Niederhoffer, hedge fund manager *

Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian chef and restaurateur. Early life Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname of his stepfather, Jos ...

– celebrity chef, restaurateur "The Austrian-born Puck began..."; WolfgangPuck.com (2005); retrieved 2006-08-31 * Martin Roscheisen – entrepreneur *

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who was the chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and interim CEO from 2022 to 2023. Schultz owned the Seattle SuperS ...

, CEO of Starbucks * Lewis Strauss. government official, businessman, philanthropist, and naval officer * Elisha Wiesel, businessman and hedge fund manager.

Sports

American football

* Toni Fritsch - NFL player * Mark Herzlich, sports commentator and former NFL football linebacker * Joe Theismann – NFL quarterback, Super Bowl XVII champion

Baseball

* Richard von Foregger, Major League Baseball player * Corey Kluber –

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher, 2014 Cy Young pitcher *

Mose Solomon Mose Hirsch Solomon, nicknamed the Rabbi of Swat (December 8, 1900 – June 25, 1966) was an American left-handed baseball player. In 1923, he hit 49 home runs in the minors, a new minor league record. He briefly played for the New York Giants i ...

("Rabbi of Swat") – Major League Baseball player, of Jewish descent

Swimming

Hedy Bienenfeld Hedwig "Hedy" Bienenfeld, also known after marriage as Hedy Wertheimer (17 October 1907 – 24 September 1976) was an Austrian Olympic swimmer. She won a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke at the 1927 European Aquatics Championships. She compe ...

, also known after marriage as Hedy Wertheimer, Olympic swimmer * Andrea Murez, Olympic swimmer * Otto Wahle, Austrian-American Olympic medalist swimmer

Other

* Benny Feilhaber, professional soccer player * Alfred Guth, water polo player, swimmer, and Olympic modern pentathlete. * Sylven Landesberg, American-Israeli-Austrian professional basketball player * Samuel Mosberg, Olympic champion boxer * Joe Schilling – kickboxer * Frank Spellman, machinist, photographer, and Olympic champion weightlifter. *

Eliot Teltscher Eliot Teltscher (born March 15, 1959) is a retired professional American tennis player. He won the 1983 French Open Mixed Doubles. His highest ranking in singles was No. 6 in the world and in doubles was No. 38 in the world. Tennis career Earl ...

– top-10 tennis player * Ken Uston – blackjack player, strategist, and author

References

External links

Austrian Cultural Institute Forum New York

Botstiber Foundation

USAustrians.com: Austrians in America
{{European Americans American people of Austrian descent Austrian diaspora Austrian diaspora in North America Austrian diaspora in the United States European diaspora in the United States

Migration history

Early migrations

World War II and post-war migrations

Present day

Assimilation

Religion

Austrian-American communities in the United States

U.S. communities with the most residents born in Austria

Notable people

Entertainment

Music

Arts & literature

Journalism

Science and medicine

Economics

Medicine

Physics

Psychology

Sociology

Other

Law

Politics

Business and technology

Sports

American football

Baseball

Swimming

Other

See also

References

Further reading

External links