Vienna’s Mayor Ludwig honored Jürgen Em with the Golden Medal of Honor | City vienna – 2024-05-04 20:39:07

Vienna (OTS/RK) – Today, Tuesday, Governor and Mayor Michael Ludwig awarded the Golden Medal of Honor for services to the State of Vienna to Jürgen Em, President of the World Association of Austrians Abroad (AÖWB), retired, in the town hall

In his speech, Ludwig Jürgen described Em as “a reliable and irreplaceable partner for our state and our federal capital.” In his role as President of the AÖWB, Em “made the areas of citizenship issues, pension issues and social issues regarding the return of Austrians abroad a matter close to his heart”. Em affectionately called the 540,000 Austrians abroad “our little ambassadors who work unpaid for Austria” and was always fully committed to good bilateral relations between Austria and Germany. Ludwig was pleased to be able to honor the “passionate country and people connector” Jürgen Em with the Golden Medal of Honor for services to the State of Vienna. This is also a recognition of the fact that “as a mentor and contributor to the spread of Viennese entertainment culture, including Viennese songs and Viennese cabaret, he has been bringing the waltz feeling to his adopted homeland with the ‘Vienna Ball’ in Bonn for over 30 years,” said Ludwig in conclusion.

To person

Dr. Jürgen Em was born in Vienna in 1941. He received his doctorate in economics and social sciences in Innsbruck and was a university assistant at the chair for economics and social policy there from 1968 to 1973. From 1973 to 1975 he taught as a lecturer in economics and business administration at the Rheinische Akademie in Cologne and at the German Employee Academy in Düsseldorf. From 1975 to 1999 he made his expertise available to the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations in Cologne. He also worked as an advisor to the German Federal Ministry for Youth, Family and Women, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Education. In May 1985, Jürgen Em was a founding member of the “Österreichische Gesellschaft Bonn e. V.”, whose president he became in the spring of 1985. In September of the same year he became a board member and in 1989 vice president of the World Association of Austrians Abroad (WBÖA) – the umbrella organization of Austrian associations that exist worldwide. On January 1st, 2019 he became ultimately president of the organization and held this position until 2022. Jürgen Em is the recipient of awards such as the Great Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria, the European Cross in Gold from the Economic Committee of Germany and the order “Mérite Européen (Final) red”.

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