Wildner, Clemens, Austrian diplomat (1892-1965). Archive consisting of ca. 300 mostly typewritten documents, inscribed portraits, guestbook, photos, albums, typescripts, etc., some relating to Heinrich Wildner.

€ 3,000.00

Born in 1892 in Reichenberg in Bohemia (now Liberec in the Czech Republic), Clemens Wildner was the younger brother (by 13 years) of Heinrich Wildner, a high-ranking civil servant in the Austrian Foreign Office. In 1915 he entered the monarchy's foreign service himself. During the time of Austria's First Republic, he was repeatedly posted to Breslau, Constantinople, Warsaw, Lviv, Berlin, Cologne, and Budapest); after the Second World War he served the Second Republic as envoy to Turkey (1946-52) and Egypt (1953-57) and as ambassador to Brasil (1955-56) and Spain (1956-57).

The present archive collection contains not only family documents reaching back far into the 19th century, but also letters of accreditation signed by Austrian presidents Michael Hainisch and Karl Renner as well as 62 letters of official correspondence with vice-chancellor Emil Fey (1933), chancellors Ramek, Figl, and Renner. 12 additional letters are by Johann Georg Tursky, later Austrian ambassador to Switzerland, Josef Schöner, head of the Chancellery's political department of foreign affairs, Bruno Kreisky (as secretary of state, 21 Dec. 1956) and Konrad Adenauer (a private letter of condolence to Wildner's widow, 2 March 1965). A red photo album comprises 92 original photos dating from 1946 to 1957, showing the Austrian embassy in Ankara, ambassador and envoys attending a parade, the Turkish president Inönü at a football match, the Russian embassy, die Acropolis, the Tehran bazaar, mosques in Isfahan and Ghom, the monastic caves in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, an Afghan triba leader, the pyramids of Giza, Egyptian president Muhammad Nagib, the Cairo citadel, Lebanese president Camille Chamoun, Syrian president Adib Shishakli, a voyage to Brazil on the MN Augustus, Brazilian president João Café Filho, Spanish dictator Franco and foreign minister Alberto Martín-Artajo Álvarez. A green album contains 41 printed invitations and menus from the MN Augustus (including some 10 additional programmes and menus).

Also includes a corrected 216-page typescript for an unpublished sequel volume to Wildner's memoir, "Von Wien nach Wien. Erinnerungen eines Diplomaten" (the first and only volume, published in 1961, is also present here).

Further includes 4 signed and inscribed portrait photographs of 1) Ismet Inönü (1884-73), Turkish president and ally of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. December 1951. 225 x 165 mm. Framed and glazed; 2) Athinagoras (1886-1972), Patriarch of Constantinople. Phanar, 2 Jan. 1952. 225 x 165 mm. Framed and glazed; 3) Faisal II (1935-58), King of Iraq. 19 May 1956. 190 x 150 mm. Framed and glazed; 4) Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), first German Federal Chancellor. 160 x 130 mm. Also, a school photograph (152 x 215 mm) and a guestbook from 1924 to 1964 comprising more than 1900 entries on 132 written pages, including numerous celebrities such as Auguste (Gussie) and Konrad Adenauer (14 June 1926, 20 Jan. 1928, after 25 June 1928, 24 June 1931), Fritz Bock (politician and co-founder of the ÖVP party, 4 June 1957), Hans Duhan (operatic singer, 6 July 1928), Karl Eidlitz (theatre director, after 25 June 1928), Hedwig (Hedy) and Willy Fränzl (ballet dancers, 6 July 1928), Hermann Gallos (operatic singer, 6 July 1928), Reinhold Häussermann (actor, 25 June 1928), Franz Herterich (actor and director, 25 June 1928), Gunda (née Lexer), Barbara, and Clemens Holzmeister (architect, 7 March 1947, 15 May 1947, 29 Jan. 1948, 25 May 1948, 4 Nov. 1948, 31 Jan. 1949, Mardi Gras 1949, 22 Feb. 1950), Michael Hutterstrasser (conductor, 5 Feb. 1951), Heinrich Kröller (dancer and choreographer, 6 July 1928), Hermann Kronsteiner (composer and church musician, July 1955), Alice Neven DuMont (politician and feminist, 14 June 1926, 20 Jan. 1928), Hedy Pfundmayr (dancer, choreographer and actress, 6 July 1928), Oskar Regele (military officer, historian and writer, 6 Sept. 1942, 5 Dec. 1943), Richard Riemerschmid (architekt and designer, 11 May 1928), Josef Schöner (diplomat, 5 Dec. 1943, 19 Feb. 1944, 10 May 1944), Hans Schürff (minister for trade, 11 May 1928), Vera Schwarz (operatic singer, 6 July 1928), Gabrielle and Franz Josef count Seefried (15 June 1956, 27 Oct. 1956, 13 Dec. 1956, 12 Jan. 1957, 18 Jan. 1957, 26 March 1957, 9 May 1957, 4 June 1957, 5 June 1957, 18 June 1957, 30 Oct. 1957, 14 Nov. 1957), Alma Seidler (actress, after 25 June 1928), Ignaz Seipel (politician, 6 Sept. 1927), Richard Tauber (operatic singer, 6 July 1928), Hermann Wiedemann (operatic singer, 6 July 1928), Marta and Vincenz Windisch-Grätz (9 Nov. 1954) and Philipp von Zeska (actor, director and writer, after 25 June 1928).

Includes a copy of Heinrich Wildner's books "Die Technik der Diplomatie" (Vienna, 1959) and "'ich bestelle Sie hiemit zum Leiter des Außenamtes ...'. Das Tagebuch von Heinrich Wildner 1945" (Vienna, 2010), 27 contemporary reviews of Clemens Wildner's memoirs, correspondence with him, his wife Ida and his daughter Clarissa, and another typed letter signed by Konrad Adenauer (dated 5 Dec. 1961).