From the Archives - Graz

The Montclair–Graz Sister City relationship was established after World War II as part of the international peace efforts led by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Montclair’s connection with Graz began soon after the war, when the community sent medical supplies and care packages to Austria. Mountainside Hospital also provided medical assistance, donating an X-ray machine and incubator to a hospital in Graz that had been severely damaged during the war.

In the many years between World War II and today, exciting programs were enacted between these two cities, specifically here at Montclair State University.

Montclair-Graz Exchange Program

The Montclair–Graz Exchange Program gives Montclair students the opportunity to spend an academic year studying in Graz, Austria, at the University of Graz, one of the country’s largest institutions of higher education.

What began as an act of friendship and reconciliation after World War II has grown into one of Montclair’s longest-standing international partnerships. Early humanitarian aid eventually developed into this formal student exchange between Montclair State University and Graz. The program includes a full scholarship funded by Montclair State University, Montclair’s Overseas Neighbors and the City of Graz and provides free tuition, room and a small stipend. Over the years, hundreds of students have spent two semesters living and studying in each other’s cities.

In 2025, a delegation from Graz visited Montclair to commemorate 75 years of international partnership and celebrate the relationship between the two cities.

The Transatlantic Entrepreneur Academy

In 2015 the launch of Transatlantic Entrepreneur Academy occurred, an innovative faculty-led program through which 20 Graz students and several faculty visited Montclair to study entrepreneurship on campus as well as in Newark and New York City. Over Spring Break of that same year, 20 Montclair students and professors Jason Frasca and Iain Kerr visited Graz, Austria to work on entrepreneurship, with the same counterparts.

A Gift from Graz!

Among the materials connected to Montclair’s relationship with Graz, stored in the Montclair Archives, is a painting of the Rathaus Plaza (Rathaus Market Place) in Graz, painted by Austrian artist Fred Hartig (seen above). The painting was presented to Montclair Overseas Neighbors in 1967 as a gift from the Republic of Austria.

The gift was presented by Dr. Theodor Piffl-Percevic, Austria’s Minister of Education, during a visit to Montclair. Hartig, who was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1901 and had lived in Graz since 1948, was an accomplished artist and president of the Association of Styrian Artists. He was also a recipient of Graz’s 1958 Art Medal.