Born the son of Eugen Rappaport, an Austrian Jewish businessman, Alfred converted to Roman Catholicism in 1883 and in 1900 joined the Oriental Academy.

[1] On 15 March 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph I. ennobled him with the title of Ritter[3] and allowed him to add a place name to his surname, which was then a standard procedure in Austria.

As part of the process, Rappaport was invited by the authorities to propose a coat of arms and three place names from which one would be chosen.

After the First World War Rappaport was one of the few former leading diplomats of the foreign ministry that were initially employed by the Republic of Austria as director of the political department.

However, during the reforms of 1920 and 1921, when the Republic had to drastically reduce the number of people employed in the public sector, he was retired.