Hans Marte

Hans Marte was an Austrian wrestler who participated at the 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He competed in both styles in the featherweight division in Rome and finished 11th and 16th in Greco-Roman and freestyle respectively. Four years later he was also eliminated in the fourth round (of six) in the Greco-Roman style.

Marte’s father was an opponent of the Nazis in Austria and was murdered in a POW camp in Siberia by the Russians. Hans Marte studied law and became a judge in Bregenz and Feldkirch. He was president of the Austrian-American Society and a member of the Austrian-Soviet Society. From 1971, he worked as a cultural attaché at the Austrian Embassy in Warsaw, and from 1973 headed the Austrian Cultural Institute there. From 1974-82 Marte was cultural councillor at the Austrian Embassy in Moscow.

From 1993 until his retirement in 2000, Marte was general director of the Austrian National Library, which he fundamentally reformed. From 1989-2003 he was President of the Association for Research of the History of Jews in Austria and from 2001-08 President of the Austrian UNESCO Commission.