Europe and the Soviet Union
Karl F. Mautner: From Austria to American Diplomacy
Escaped Vienna in 1939, lost his parents at Auschwitz, landed at D-Day, and joined the Foreign Service.
- Fled
- Austria
- Status
- Fled persecution
- Arrived in the U.S.
- 1940
- Service
- Foreign Service Officer; Berlin; Berlin Task Force (1961); chief political officer, Khartoum
- Region
- Europe and the Soviet Union
Karl Mautner fled Vienna for Budapest in 1939 and reached New York in February 1940. His parents were murdered at Auschwitz.
He served in the U.S. Army in World War II, then joined the Foreign Service in Berlin, where he served until 1958. He was a member of the Berlin Task Force during the 1961 crisis and later chief political officer in Khartoum. The Department of State's diplomacy museum tells his story.
Read the history behind this story on the Nazi Germany and Austria page, or browse all the diplomats.