SOCIETY 368 / 2015

DIPLOMATIE
THAILAND
Exterior view of the
Royal Thai Residence in the
Cottage Quartert
Meeting room of the
Ambassador
The first owner of the house in
Weimarerstraße 68, now the
Residence of the Ambassador
of Thailand to the Republic of
Austria, was Dr. Gustav Ritter
von Höfken.
Dr. Höfken (1811-1889), a German citizen
from Westfalen, was educated in the
field of political science and national
economy. His publications attracted a lot
of interest in Austria. He was employed at
the Austrian Ministry for Trade and later
at the Ministry of Finance as Counselor to
the Ministry. He had a successful career as
the editor-in-chief of the economic magazine
“Austria” and became one of the most
remarkable journalists of his time.
The house was constructed following
to plans by architect Carl Haas in 1883.
The family Höfken sold the house in 1901
to the textile manufacturer and member
of the General Council of the Austrian
National Bank, Otto Wolfrum. The house
remained the property of Mr. Wolfrum
and was then purchased by the Federal
Economic Chamber before being rented to
the Royal Thai Embassy in 1982. From 1954
to 1958, the building was renovated with
slight changes.
In 1898, Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), a
lawyer from Budapest, moved in and stayed
until 1902 with his family. Famous as a feature
writer, Mr. Herzl's brochure “The Jewish
State – an attempt to solve the Jewish
Problem”, is one of the most important
texts of early Zionism. Herzl envisioned
the founding of a future independent Jewish
state during the 20th century.
Apart from engaging himself in political
activity, Dr. Herzl still worked as a journalist
for the “Neue Freie Presse”. When he
died of a heart attack in 1904, about 6000
people participated at the funeral cortege
– a Zionist mass rally. Until 1938 and again
from 1945-1949, every year Zionist youth
organizations arranged a posthumous memorial
service for Dr. Herzl in the area of
the “Cottage Quarter” on his death anniversary.
The house has been used by the Royal
Thai Embassy since 1986 and 22 years later
was purchased also by the Royal Thai Embassy
in 2008.
•
The Thai Residence displays
a variety of Thai art and
handicraft
SOCIETY 2_2015 | 29