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25 years ago
The first stake of the Church in Austria was organized April 20, 1980, according to the May 3, 1980, Church News.
The article stated: "The Vienna Austria Stake, the first stake to be created in that country, where the Church was introduced 115 years ago, was organized April 20, from the Austria Vienna Mission.
"President Ezra Taft Benson (President of the Quorum of the Twelve) presided at the conference at which the stake was formed with 2,014 members in five wards and seven branches. Assisting at the conference was Elder Theodore M. Burton, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and executive administrator of the Europe Area of the Church."
The new stake president was Johann A. Wondra, who had been president of the Vienna District, with counselors Leopold M. Soucek and Ernst Husz, according to the Church News.
Information in the article included that the first baptism in Austria was in 1870, with the first missionaries assigned to work there in 1883. The first branch was organized in 1901 at Haag am Haustruct with seven members, while Vienna's first branch was organized in 1909. The work of the Church was disrupted by World War I and World War II.
The article further reported: "In 1946, President Benson reorganized the Austrian District of the Swiss-Austrian District of the Swiss-Austrian Mission. The Austrian government officially recognized the Church in 1958."
