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Austrian Americans (German: Österreichamerikaner, pronounced [ˈøːstɐraɪçameriˌkaːnɐ]) are Americans of Austrian 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), Florida (54,214), New Jersey (45,154), and Ohio (27,017).[2]
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 646,438 (2019)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| New York, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Connecticut, Kansas | |
| Languages | |
| German, American English | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic, Protestant; Jewish and other minorities | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Dutch Americans German Americans Swiss Americans German diasporas |
This may be an undercount since many German Americans, Czech Americans, Polish Americans, Slovak Americans, and Ukrainian Americans, and other Americans with Central European ancestry can trace their roots from the Habsburg territories of Austria, the Austrian Empire, or Cisleithania in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 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.[3][4]
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Early migrations
The Austrian migration to the U.S. probably started in 1734, when a group of 50 families from the city of Salzburg, Austria, migrated to the newly founded Georgia. Having a Protestant background, they migrated because of Catholic repression in their country.[citation needed]
Most of these newly immigrated Austrians were cosmopolitan and were left-wing. They found employment in Chicago stockyards and in Pennsylvania, in jobs related to cement and steel factories. Many of them, more than 35 percent, returned to Austria with the savings that they had made by their employment.[citation needed]
World War II & Post-War Migrations
In the late 1930s, more and more Austrians migrated to the United States, most of which were Jews fleeing the Nazi persecution that started with the Annexation of Austria in 1938. In 1941, some 29,000 Jewish Austrians had emigrated to the United States. Most of them were doctors, lawyers, architects and artists (such as composers, writers and stage/ film directors).[5] After WW II had ended, some further 40,000 Austrians emigrated to the United States (1945-1960).
Present day
Since the 1960s, however, Austrian immigration has been very small, mostly because Austria is now a developed nation, where poverty and political oppression are scarce. According to the 1990 U.S. census, 948,558 people identified their origins in Austria.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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 United States Census Bureau, in 2015, there were 365 individuals living in the U.S. born in Italy who identified themselves as being of Austrian ancestry.[7] By contrast, in the same year, there were 1040 individuals living in the U.S. born in Italy who identified themselves as being of German ancestry.[8]
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Austrian immigrants adapted quickly to American society because the Austro-Hungarian Empire had also been a melting pot of many cultures and languages. On the other hand, despite the rejection that Austrians feel toward the behavior of the Germans, 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.[6]
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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.[6][9] 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.[10]
The U.S. communities with the highest percentage of self-professed Austrian Americans are:[11]
| Percentage | Community | State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12.10% | Waterville | Wisconsin |
| 2 | 10.60% | Coplay | Pennsylvania |
| 3 | 9.20% | Durand | Wisconsin |
| 4 | 5.20% | Rock Creek | Wisconsin |
| 4 | 5.20% | Northampton | Pennsylvania |
| 5 | 4.50% | Allen Township | Pennsylvania |
| 6 | 4.40% | Drammen | Wisconsin |
| 7 | 4.30% | Palenville | New York |
| 8 | 4.20% | Great Neck Plaza | New York |
| 8 | 4.20% | Upper Nazareth Township | Pennsylvania |
| 8 | 4.20% | Schuylkill Township | Pennsylvania |
| 9 | 4.10% | Noble Township | Indiana |
| 10 | 4.00% | Highland Beach | Florida |
| 10 | 4.00% | Mondovi | Wisconsin |
| 11 | 3.90% | North Catasauqua | Pennsylvania |
| 11 | 3.80% | Russell Gardens | New York |
| 12 | 3.70% | Washington Township | Kansas |
| 13 | 3.60% | Whitehall Township | Pennsylvania |
| 13 | 3.60% | Arma | Kansas |
| 13 | 3.60% | Tuscarawas | Ohio |
| 14 | 3.30% | Hewlett Harbor | New York |
| 14 | 3.30% | East Union Township | Pennsylvania |
| 14 | 3.30% | Indian Hills | Colorado |
| 15 | 3.20% | Ellis | Kansas |
| 15 | 3.20% | Harbor Isle | New York |
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:[12]
- 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 1.0%
- Tuxedo Park, New York 1.0%
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Entertainment
- Woody Allen – (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg) actor, director, screenwriter, comedian, author, playwright, and musician[13][14]
- Gabrielle Anwar – actress[15]
- Adele Astaire – dancer, actress, sister of Fred Astaire
- Fred Astaire – dancer, actor[16]
- Sean Astin – actor
- Bibi Besch – actress[17]
- Theodore Bikel – actor, singer, musician
- Peter Bogdanovich – director, writer, actor, producer, critic and film historian
- Hans Conried – actor
- Ricardo Cortez – silent film actor, of Austrian Jewish descent[18]
- Stanley Cortez – cinematographer
- Billy Crystal – actor, comedian
- Robert von Dassanowsky – academic, writer and film producer[19]
- Max Fleischer – animator
- Richard Fleischer – director, son of Max Fleischer
- Teri Garr – actress, comedian, dancer and voice artist[20]
- Jeff Goldblum – actor
- Alex Hafner – actor
- Mark Harmon – actor
- Kurt Kasznar – Austrian-born American actor
- Stanley Kubrick – director, producer, screenwriter
- Hedy Lamarr – actress, inventor, and producer; from an Austrian Jewish family[21]
- Elissa Landi – actress[22]
- Fritz Lang – director
- Lotte Lenya – actress, singer and diseuse
- Peter Lorre – actor
- Joe Manganiello – actor, grandmother was of Austrian descent
- Samantha Mathis – actress, daughter of Bibi Besch
- Paul Muni – actor
- Arthur Murray – dancer, entrepreneur
- Natalie Portman – actress, born to a Jewish family, some of whom came from Austria
- Otto Preminger – director
- Leah Remini – actress, mother has Austrian Jewish descent[23][24]
- Don Rickles – actor and comedian, of Jewish descent
- Fritzi Scheff – actress
- Joseph Schildkraut – actor
- Arnold Schwarzenegger – actor and 38th Governor of California[25]
- Patrick Schwarzenegger – actor, son of Arnold, brother of Katherine Schwarzenegger
- Harry Shearer – actor
- Lilia Skala – actress[26]
- Walter Slezak – actor[27]
- Eric Stonestreet – actor, original family name before World War I was Steingassner
- Edgar G. Ulmer – director
- Erich von Stroheim – director
- Josef von Sternberg – director
- Tessa Gräfin von Walderdorff – American socialite, writer, and actress who is a member of the Austrian noble family Walderdorff
- Johann Peter Weißmüller (Johnny Weissmuller/Weissmüller) - actor ("Tarzan")
- Billy Wilder – director, of Jewish descent[28]
- Shelley Winters – actress, of Jewish descent
- Elijah Wood – actor
- Fred Zinnemann – director
Science and medicine
- Godfrey Edward Arnold – medical doctor and researcher
- Bruno Bettelheim – child psychologist, psychoanalyst and concentration camp survivor
- Carl Djerassi – chemist, novelist, and playwright
- Kurt Gödel – logician, mathematician, philosopher
- Friedrich von Hayek – Austrian-born economist and philosopher
- Hans Holzer – paranormal researcher and author[29][30]
- Heinz von Foerster – scientist combining physics and philosophy, originator of Second-order cybernetics
- Eric Kandel – neuroscientist
- Karl Landsteiner – biologist and physician, best known for having distinguished the main blood groups
- Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises – economist, philosopher, author and classical liberal
- Ignatz Leo Nascher – doctor and gerontologist
- Wilhelm Reich – psychiatrist[31]
- Wolfgang Pauli – physicist[32]
- Alfred Schütz – philosopher/sociologist[33]
- Joseph Warkany – pediatrician
- Paul Watzlawick – psychologist, communications theorist, and philosopher[34]
- Victor Frederick Weisskopf – 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[35]
Music
- Walter Arlen – composer, music critic at the Los Angeles Times
- Victor L. Berger – socialist politician and journalist
- Peter L. Berger – sociologist
- Gustav Bergmann – philosopher
- Edward Bernays – Austrian-American pioneer in public relations, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations".
- Elmer Bernstein – composer
- G-Eazy, (born 1989) – rapper
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold – composer[36]
- Erich Leinsdorf – conductor
- Bobby Schayer – musician
- Arnold Schoenberg – composer, of Jewish descent[37]
- Max Steiner – composer
- Nita Strauss – rock guitarist
- Georg Ludwig von Trapp – headed the Austrian singing family portrayed in The Sound of Music. 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 The Sound of Music
- Maria F. von Trapp – second-oldest daughter of Baron Georg von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, The von Trapp Family from The Sound of Music
- Werner von Trapp – second-oldest son of Georg Ritter von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, The von Trapp Family from The Sound of Music
- Joe Zawinul – jazz pianist
Arts & literature
- Maria Altmann – art collector
- Bela Borsodi – photographer
- Eric de Kolb – painter and designer
- Felix de Weldon – sculptor, best known for the Marine Corps War Memorial
- Jerry Iger – famed American cartoonist, founder of Eisner & Iger, an industry trailblazer during the Golden Age of Comics; born to an Austrian-Jewish family in New York City and Bob Iger's paternal great-uncle
- David Karfunkle – painter, muralist
- Greta Kempton – artist[38]
- Joseph Keppler – cartoonist, best known for the illustrated magazine Puck[39]
- Vivian Maier – street photographer[40]
- Sylvia Plath – poet, mother of Austrian descent
- Katherine Schwarzenegger – author, daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger, sister of Patrick Schwarzenegger
- Victor Gruen – architect and designer of shopping malls
Law and politics
- Henry Ellenbogen – U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania[41]
- Felix Frankfurter – 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
- Raul Hillberg – political scientist and historian, who is widely considered to be one of the world's preeminent scholars of the Holocaust
- Hans Kelsen – jurist[42]
- John Kerry – 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 - Jack Kirby – artist
- Richard Neutra – architect[43]
- Frederick Burr Opper – cartoonist
- Kurt von Schuschnigg – Austrofascist politician and Austrian federal Chancellor 1936-1938 and professor of political sciences at St. Louis University 1948-1967[44]
- Ernst Florian Winter – diplomat
Business and technology
- Michael Eisner – media executive, successive CEO of Paramount Pictures and the Walt Disney Company
- Anselm Franz – pioneering turbojet engineer, designer of the Jumo 004 and Lycoming T53 engines
- Bob Iger – longtime CEO of the Walt Disney Company, who oversaw a fourfold increase in its market capitalization; born in New York City to a Jewish family, in particular an Austrian-Jewish father
- Travis Kalanick – founder, Uber Technologies; born in California to a family of Jewish-Austrian and Slovak-Austrian extraction
- Ernst Mahler – chemist and industrialist
- Wolfgang Puck – celebrity chef, restaurateur[45]
- Martin Roscheisen – entrepreneur
Sports
- Joe Theismann – NFL quarterback, Super Bowl XVII champion
- Corey Kluber – Major League Baseball pitcher, 2014 Cy Young pitcher
- Joe Schilling – kickboxer
- Mose Solomon – "Rabbi of Swat", Major League Baseball player, of Jewish descent
- Eliot Teltscher – top-10 tennis player
- Ken Uston – blackjack player, strategist, and author
- Toni Fritsch - NFL player[46]
Journalism
- Gene Siskel – critic, journalist
- Michael Smerconish – CNN journalist
- Matthew Winter – journalist
- Matthew Karnitschnig – journalist
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