Society 379

SOCIETY
A journey into
the future
Since 1997, Welcome to Austria organizes social
events for spouses of diplomats and international
civil servants. Co-founder Gabrielle Schallenberg
gave a very personal insight into her life
and the story behind the association.
Co-founder, first vice-president and
la doyenne of Welcome to Austria,
Gabrielle Schallenberg, opened the
doors to her private home for a talk
about some of the most interesting
moments of her life, about living
abroad, hosting important and influential
people from all over the world
and about her ideas of a post-corona
restart of Welcome to Austria here in
Vienna. Mag. Gerti Tauchhammer, the
publisher of SOCIETY magazine and
board member since the foundation,
and Mag. Clarissa Mayer-Heinisch
have been invited to listen and learn
from the elegant and ageless lady.
The big green gate opens slowly, we
walk up a flight of stairs and there, honorable
Mrs. Gabrielle Schallenberg is
awaiting us, welcoming guests just as
she did her entire life. Born at the very
beginning of the Second World War,
she grew up in a castle owned by her
mother in Aargau, Switzerland. She
remembers her early years as a kind
of paradise, although the family had
to face the hardships of war. Later she
spent her school years in Zurich and
some time in Cambridge, New York
and Colombia. Shortly after her return
to Europe in the early 1970s, Gabrielle
Schallenberg met the love of her life
– Wolfgang. At that time, he already
worked as a diplomat and his career,
which led him from many posts as an
Ambassador to the years in Vienna as
a highly respected General Secretary
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had
just begun. “We got to know each
other because we both loved books”,
she says with a twinkle in her eyes.
Thinking back to the first years of her
new marriage, the birth of her son
Alexander, who now serves as Foreign
Minister of Austria, the time in New
Delhi comes to her mind. “We had a
lovely time there”, she says and talks
about her friendship with “wonderful
Indian ladies”, with whom as President
of JWC, she set up a huge
cultural program for the so called
“International Women’s Club”. It was
during this time, that Gabrielle Schallenberg
experienced the importance
of understanding and exploring the
country one is temporarily living in
and getting in touch with the international
community.
One of the posts as Ambassador took
Wolfgang and his wife Gabrielle to
Paris in 1988. “Bienvenue en France”
immediately asked her to join when
she arrived there. “Bienvenue en
Belgique”, the original club, was set
up in 1957, when the EU was founded
in Brussels. Once again, she enjoyed
the programs offered and got herself
involved in setting up different events.
No wonder that she was the one who
founded Welcome to Austria once
she was back in Vienna. Together with
Benita Ferrero Waldner, Secretary of
State at that time, she established the
association and she was responsible
for the statutes, found a name and
logo and organized the first board
members.
All of this happened in 1997, and ever
since that time, Welcome to Austria
has been active in attracting the
relatives of diplomats and international
civil servants who are accredited
in Austria. Gabrielle Schallenberg has
always been creative in organizing
tours and activities related to the
rich Austrian cultural life. One of the
very first trips was an excursion to the
Waldviertel and some of its famous
castles and monasteries, as well as
meetings with the owners of Rappottenstein
and Rastenburg, a visit to the
Austrian Masonic Museum Rosenau
and a guided tour through the cloister
of Zwettl given by the abbot. Furthermore,
she invited people to discussions
with well-known scientists, artists
or architects and organized glimpses
into private art collections.
DIPLOMATIE
048