Ernst Florian Winter

Ernst Florian Winter
Winter in September 2007.
Born	16 December 1923 Vienna, Austria
Died	16 April 2014(2014-04-16) (aged 90)
Alma mater	University of Michigan Columbia College
Occupation	Historian, political scientist
Spouse(s)	Johanna von Trapp (m. 1948; her death 1994)
Children	7
Parent(s)	Ernst Karl Winter Margarete Winter

Ernst Florian Winter (16 December 1923 – 16 April 2014) was an Austrian-American historian and political scientist, the first director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna after World War II, and chairman of the International Council of the Austrian Service Abroad.

Ernst Florian Winter was born in Vienna, Austria, the oldest of eight children of the sociologist and former third vice mayor of Vienna (1934–36) Ernst Karl Winter. Ernst Florian Winter attended the humanistic grammar school in the Klostergasse in Währing, after which he attended Neulandschule. He was a member of the Austrian Catholic Bund Neuland. Alfons Stilfried and the brothers Otto and Fritz Molden were in the same group.

Winter accompanied his father, Ernst Karl, very early in his political career. Regularly there were hour-long discussions at their family residences, attended by people such as Alfred Missong, August Maria Knoll, Hans Karl von Zessnerspitzberg, and Engelbert Dollfuss. When federal chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg returned from meeting with Hitler at the Berghof on 12 February 1938, he visited the Winters' home to speak with Ernst Karl Winter. The 14-year-old Ernst Florian Winter kept the minutes of this discussion.

A few days before the Anschluss in March 1938, Ernst Karl Winter fled Austria to Switzerland, for political reasons, at the urging of Hans Kelsen. He had to leave his family behind. When the Gestapo came to the Winters' house and could not find Ernst Karl, they took his son, Ernst Florian, to the police station. Ernst Florian's mother, Margarete, managed to get him released on the same day. A few days later, Margarete, her son Ernst Florian and his six siblings fled from Austria (his youngest sibling was born after the family moved to the United States).

Via Switzerland, France, and England, the Winters emigrated to New York City in October 1939. They were one of the first non-Jewish emigrant families. Because there were no Austrian clubs in New York, many Austrian immigrants met in the Winters' house almost every Sunday. At the beginning of 1939, Ernst Karl Winter founded the Austrian American Center in New York, which was the first non-party national committee. This committee regularly organised demonstrations and marches and released weekly publications. There were almost no juveniles under the emigrants, nevertheless Ernst Florian Winter was voted as the leader. A few dozen juveniles regularly celebrated parades on Fifth Avenue. Together with his father, Ernst Florian met U.S. vice president Henry Wallace.