Austrian-American Day and Austrian National Day
German House
Seattle
October 26, 2009
(As Prepared)

Grüß Gott

What a great celebration this is, and thank you for having me here again. Great food and entertainment too. What an incredible and varied talent show by the “Austrian-American Idols.”  It always amazes me to see the incredible talent that we have in our state. I just wish I had some of it.

Every time I think about Austria – and I just cannot help it – the words from several tunes from the Sound of Music start to stream through my brain. For many of us Americans that musical production introduced us to the splendor of Austria.

The film version of the musical came out around 1965. But did you know that the Sound of Music actually made its debut on Broadway almost exactly 50 years ago?  The story of the von Trapp family singers launched a number of America’s best known and inspiring show tunes (Edelweiss, Climb Every Mountain, My Favorite Things, Sound of Music, etc.).

I was fortunate to be able to join Claire Rood and several others last year for an Austrian-American Day outing to see the von Trapp collection at the private European Art Gallery owned by Helene Burmeister in Bellevue.

The von Trapp story was an inspiring story born out of difficult times. Another inspiring story born out of difficult times was the help that the Austrians gave to refugees from Hungary during the Hungarian uprising just three years before the Sound of Music debut, that is in 1956. More than 200,000 refugees from Budapest were allowed across Austrian lines during the Soviet takeover and were offered humanitarian assistance.

In fact on Oct. 27, 1956, the Austrians were able to provide hundreds of tons of badly-needed food, medicine, blood plasma, bandages, clothing, and other supplies to Hungary.

This was a time when Europe was deeply divided by the Cold War’s Iron Curtain. It was also a time when the young Austrian Republic was just emerging as a place for freedom and democracy.

Is my friend Helen Szablya, the honorary consul of Hungary, with us today?  Helen, today is a celebration for Hungary as well because Austria and Hungary are both neighbors and allies. I would like to thank you for all that you do in Washington to promote your country’s culture and people here.

We need to remember these dates – it is important to remember what has transpired in our common history so that we can benefit by the lessons it teaches us as global citizens.

Of course the primary reason we are all here today is to celebrate both Austrian-American Day and Austrian National Day.  It was on Sept. 27, 1945 that a conference was convened in Vienna and, with the strong support of America, a treaty was signed that freed Austria from Soviet occupation and paved the way for the first Austrian post-war government. Ten years later, the major powers of World War II - the USA, USSR, Great Britain and France - granted independence to Austria. The day was celebrated with a giant parade in Vienna and a new constitution was written and signed.

So how fitting as we celebrate these events that Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, is in Seattle today to make the first ever public address by a sitting UN Secretary-general in this area?

As a former ambassador to Vienna, Ban Ki-moon must know Austria well and of course will understand the world issues that affect the still relatively young republic and Europe as a whole. I hope that some of you in the room had the opportunity to hear the secretary general speak. In fact two days ago, on Oct. 24, it was United Nations Day around the world. I know Austria is a proud and highly regarded member of the U.N. as well as the European Union, and works with NATO through the Partnership for Peace framework.

You folks in the Austrian American Council and the Austria Club of Washington are very fortunate to be living through a time when you can see the efforts of those tumultuous times of the 1940s and 50s bear fruit today. Personally, I also feel you are fortunate to be living in Washington state, which is rich in foreign exchange, culture and diversity. 

In fact, Washington and Austria have so much in common it is almost like we are neighbors. For one, we are geographically on the same latitude.

Austria’s highest mountain, Grossglockner, is in the Southwest part of Austria and stands 12,450 feet.  Our state’s second highest peak, Mt. Adams, is nearly as high at 12,276 feet and is also in our Southwest region. In fact Grossglockner is about 70 miles north of Adams, latitudinally anyway, as the crow flies.

Do you enjoy fine wine? Washington State is one of the few major wine regions to have significant plantings of the fine Lemberger grape, which are also very common in Austria, although known as Blaufrankisch (Bla-ow-fraankish) there.  This hearty vine first planted in Washington in 1941, producing a quality red wine rich in tannin.  There are now about 174 acres of Lemberger grapes planted in the state, and about 14 wineries bottling varietal Lembergers and some using it in blends.

We have much more in common with Austria, even though in square miles Washington is much larger than Austria and Austria is a little closer in shape to Idaho, lying down sideways, than to Washington. In fact about 2.2 Austrias could fit in one Washington. Austria has a few more people than Washington – about eight million compared to our 6.5 to 7 million. The mighty Danube River, 1770 miles long, passes right through Vienna. Our Columbia River, 1,243 miles, rolls by the Tri-Cities.

The Austrian Fieldcress is a Class B Noxious weed that invades our pastures and cultivated fields. Thank you very much for that! Fortunately,  Austrians have made contributions to our state that can be regarded as far more positive.

We Washingtonians share a love of mountains with Austria, and Austrians are drawn to their mountains for skiing and other recreational pursuits, just as we are drawn to the Cascades and our other mountain regions. Skiing is of course very popular both here and in Austria. In fact one of my staff members visited Austria for the very first time on skis when she was 16.

The late Austrian Otto Lang opened the first ski schools on Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood and Mt. Baker; coached an Olympic team, trained ski instructors; authored two books and made movies.

Another world-class Austrian skier, Franz Gabl, who now lives in a retirement home in Bellingham, won the silver medal in downhill for the Winter Olympics in 1948. He developed ski schools and mountaineering in this state as well as in British Columbia.  He also founded the annual Ski to Sea competition in Whatcom County and was the author of several books.

Kneissl and Vökl skis have been popular in our state, imported by American and Austrian business owners; as well as brands of Austrian ski boots. We value these contributions to our mountain sports.

I mentioned music from the Sound of Music, but Austrian classical music is very popular and promoted by Seattle Symphony conductor Gerard Schwarz; also by classical music channels and musicians with Austrian roots in classical and folk music.

The list of great Austrian contributions to Washington goes on, in painting, in architecture, music, business and culture.  It is these things that bring us together. It is Austrian American Day that gives us occasion to remember. It is days like this combined celebration that show that we are in unity as a people and in spirit.

May you all have a wonderful celebration.