Austrian Awards

Dr. Michael Haltzel was awarded the Austrian Decoration of Honor in in Silver. The decoration was presented by Ambassador Eva Nowotny on March 29 at the Austrian Residence. His Austrian ancestry goes back four generations to great-grandfather, who emigrated to the United States in the 1860's during the Habsburg Monarchy.

Ambassador Eva Nowotny presents Austrian Award to Dr. Michael Haltzel

During his career, Dr. Haltzel distinguished himself as an expert on European politics and transatlantic relations. He was the senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and staff director of the Subcommittee on European Affairs of the committee. He was also the lead Democratic Senate staffer on NATO and Balkan policy. Before joining the Senate, Dr. Haltzel was the chief of the European Division at the Library of Congress.

The award honors the significant contribution to Austrian-American relations by Dr. Haltzel, who has always emphasized his Austrian ties and been known as a partner and friend of Austria.

Dr. Paul Michael Lützeler received the Austrian Great Medal of Merit. Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, presented Lützeler the award in a ceremony on February 8 at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, where Dr. Lützeler founded the Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature in Arts & Sciences. He joined the faculty of Arts & Sciences in 1973 and was named Rosa May Distinguished University Professor in 1993.

The award is being bestowed on Dr. Lützeler for his work on the Jewish-Austrian novelist, Hermann Broch (1886-1951), and his research in the fields of European identity and Contemporary Austrian literature. An international leading authority on Broch, Lützeler edited Broch’s collected works in 17 volumes.