Bernhart Barta (Virginia & West-Virginia)

Mr. Barta, how long have you been serving as Austrian Honorary Consul?

For more than 22 years! It was Thomas Klestil, back then the Austrian Ambassador to the United States and later the President of Austria, who signed my commission. In the 1990s, Austria had only very few honorary consulates in the U.S. and wanted to enlarge its consular network. As I was well connected both in Austria and the U.S., and regularly in touch with the Embassy, I was asked if I wanted to become Austrian Consul for Virginia and West Virginia. I am not sure if it was Klestil himself who asked me, but it definitively was an offer I couldn’t decline.

Twenty-two years as Honorary Consul is very impressive! Which tasks keep you most busy?

On a daily basis, I’m mostly dealing with visa applications, residence authorizations and notarizations. I’m also helping many Fulbright students with their applications. Once a year I’m hosting an event for Austrian expats, usually in October on the occasion of the Austrian National Day. And every five years we are celebrating my jubilee as Honorary Consul with a great party.

In your estimation, how many Austrians are living in Virginia and West-Virginia?

I can’t tell you exact numbers, only a few hundred are officially registered but I’m sure there are a few thousand people with some connection to Austria living in the area. I usually hold a short speech at our annual German Oktoberfest here and I always end up meeting people from places like Graz or Linz.

You are one of those Austrian expats and have been living in the U.S. for more than 30 years. Why did you move to the United States initially?

I always knew that I wanted to live in this country! When a headhunter told me about a job opening here in 1985, I accepted willingly and took the position of CEO of “Franz Haas Waffelmaschinen,” a manufacturer of machinery for the production of wafers and hollow wafer sticks. They had a subsidiary in Richmond, Virginia. My wife followed me a little later with our son Nikolaus, who was three years old back then. But we actually didn’t plan on living here permanently.

But you did! So what happened?

We had a wonderful life in Austria, but you know somehow you end up staying longer and longer… In the beginning we said two years, then three years, then five years and all of a sudden we had been living in the U.S. for 10 years. But we did enjoy the luxury that we were always able to go back to Austria when we wanted to, we still had a place of residence in Vienna and the family of my wife has a beautiful house right by Lake Millstatt in Carinthia.

That’s where my kids and my wife spend the summers. That’s what made the emigration easier, because we knew we could always go back. Besides, I was traveling to Austria on business a few times a year anyways. And you know, ten years, 15 years passed and now 30 years later we are still living here in Virginia!

Could you still imagine going back to Austria permanently?

No, I couldn’t. One of our sons is actually currently working as a lawyer in Vienna; our other son is a dentist in Richmond. But our principal residence will always remain Richmond or the United States. I mean I represent the Republic of Austria and I am very proud and enthusiastic to have both the Austrian and the American citizenship. But for me personally the U.S. is the best country in the world to live in. I have been living in Austria, France, Egypt, India, but there’s no question about that. I am lucky to say that I can afford to choose where I want to live and it’s definitely the United States.

Why do you consider the U.S. the best country for you to live in?

I’m seeing it from an economic point of view. I was an entrepreneur for many years and I’m still engaged in business. Compared to other countries, it’s so much easier to establish a business here in the U.S., especially when it comes to the founding of a company or to personnel matters. From 2003 to 2015 I was partner and vice president of BluePrint Automation, a global leader for end-of-line packaging automation solutions. I’m now retired but I still act as advisor for them.

You were talking from an economical perspective, what do you think about the cultural offerings in the U.S. compared to Austria?

We have the advantage that Virginia is one of the 13 original states. There are a lot of “old-established and wealthy families,” which is why there is funding for the cultural sector. One could – thoroughly – compare that to Austria. I love to go to the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Leopold Museum in Vienna, I love art and the opera. But the area around Washington, DC and Richmond also has lot to offer - events, theaters, opera, museums, and of course a lot of historical sites.

Thank you for the conversation.