Europe and the Soviet Union
George W. Jaeger: From Austria to American Diplomacy
Escaped Vienna on the Kindertransport in 1939 and later joined the U.S. Foreign Service.
- Fled
- Austria
- Status
- Refugee
- Arrived in the U.S.
- 1940
- Service
- Senior Foreign Service officer
- Region
- Europe and the Soviet Union
George Jaeger grew up Catholic in Vienna and learned in 1938 that two of his grandparents were Jewish. After the Nazi takeover he was chased and beaten by Hitler Youth classmates, and most of his father's family later died in the camps. A Quaker volunteer got him a place on a Kindertransport, and he left for England in February 1939.
In 1940 he crossed the Atlantic to Canada and went on to the United States. He later joined the Foreign Service and told his story in an account published by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.
Read the history behind this story on the Nazi Germany and Austria page, or browse all the diplomats.