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Allied-occupied Austria

January 09, 2023

The Allied occupation of Austria started on 27 April 1945 when Austria under Allied control claimed independence from Germany as a result of the Vienna Offensive and ended with the Austrian State Treaty on 27 July 1955.

Republic of Austria
Republik Österreich (German)
1945–1955
Occupation sectors in Austria
StatusMilitary occupation by the Allied Control Council
CapitalVienna
Common languagesGerman (Austrian German)
Austro-Bavarian, Alemannic, Burgenland Croatian
Religion
Christianity (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant)
Demonym(s)Austrian
GovernmentDependent federal parliamentary republic
Governors 
• British zone
Richard McCreery
• American zone
Mark W. Clark
• French zone
Antoine Béthouart
• Soviet zone
Ivan Konev
• Soviet Military Occupation
Fyodor Tolbukhin
President 
• 1945–1950
Karl Renner
• 1951–1955
Theodor Körner
Chancellor 
• 1945
Karl Renner
• 1945–1953
Leopold Figl
• 1953–1955
Julius Raab
Historical eraAftermath of World War II / Cold War
13 April 1945
• Established
27 April 1945
27 July 1955
• Last Allies left
25 October 1955
Population
• 1945
6,793,000
• 1955
6,947,000
CurrencyAustrian schilling
ISO 3166 codeAT
Today part of
Austria

After the Anschluss in 1938, Austria had generally been recognized as part of Nazi Germany. In 1943, however, the Allies agreed in the Declaration of Moscow that Austria would instead be regarded as the first victim of Nazi aggression but did not deny Austrian role in Nazi crimes, and treated as a liberated and independent country after the war.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Austria was divided into four zones and jointly occupied by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, and France. Vienna was similarly subdivided, but the central district was collectively administered by the Allied Control Council.

Whereas Germany was divided into East and West Germany in 1949, Austria remained under joint occupation of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union until 1955; its status became a controversial subject in the Cold War until the warming of relations known as the Khrushchev Thaw. After Austrian promises of perpetual neutrality, Austria was accorded full independence on 15 May 1955 and the last occupation troops left on 25 October that year.

Background

Further information: Moscow Conference (1943)

At the 1943 Moscow Conference, the Soviet Union, United States, and the United Kingdom had jointly decided that the German annexation of Austria would be considered "null and void". As well, all administrative and legal measures since 1938 would be ignored. The conference declared the intent to create a free and independent Austria after the war, but also stated that Austria had a responsibility for "participation in the war at the side of Hitlerite Germany" which could not be evaded.[1]

1945–1946: first year of occupation

Soviet rule and reestablishing Austrian government

Further information: Eastern Front (World War II), Soviet occupations, and Austrian resistance

On 29 March 1945, Soviet commander Fyodor Tolbukhin's troops crossed the former Austrian border at Klostermarienberg in Burgenland.[2] On 3 April, at the beginning of the Vienna Offensive, the Austrian politician Karl Renner, then living in southern Lower Austria, established contact with the Soviets. Joseph Stalin had already established a would-be future Austrian cabinet from the country's communists in exile, but Tolbukhin's telegram changed Stalin's mind in favor of Renner.[3]

On 20 April 1945, the Soviets, without asking their Western allies,[4] instructed Renner to form a provisional government. Seven days later Renner's cabinet took office, declared the independence of Austria from Nazi Germany and called for the creation of a democratic state along the lines of the First Austrian Republic.[4] Soviet acceptance of Renner was not an isolated episode; their officers re-established district administrations and appointed local mayors, frequently following the advice of the locals, even before the battle was over.[5]

 
Soviet troops in the Schönbrunn Palace gardens, 1945

Renner and his ministers were guarded and watched by NKVD[a] bodyguards.[6] One-third of State Chancellor Renner's cabinet, including crucial seats of the Secretary of State of the Interior and the Secretary of State for Education, was staffed by Austrian Communists.[4] The Western allies suspected the establishment of a puppet state and refused to recognize Renner.[4] The British were particularly hostile;[4] even American President Harry Truman, who believed that Renner was a trustworthy politician rather than a token front for the Kremlin, denied him recognition.[7] But Renner had secured inter-party control by designating two Under-Secretaries of State in each of the ministries, appointed by the two parties not designating the Secretary of State.

As soon as Hitler's armies were pushed back into Germany, the Red Army and the NKVD began to comb the captured territories. By 23 May they reported arrests of 268 former Red Army men, 1,208 Wehrmacht men, and 1,655 civilians.[8] In the following weeks the British surrendered over 40,000 Cossacks who had fled to Western Austria from Soviet authorities and certain death.[9] In July and August, the Soviets brought in four regiments of NKVD troops to "mop up" Vienna and seal the Czechoslovak border.[10][11]

Soviet commanders on the ground ordered the troops to stop the crime as soon as they entered Austria. On April 4, 1945, the command issued a directive that was read to all soldiers on the front lines. The directive declared that Austria was Hitler's first victim and that the Red Army had entered the country to liberate it and annihilate the German Army. For years, it said, Propaganda in Nazi Germany terrorized Austrians with atrocities committed by Soviet soldiers. The directive called Nazi propaganda a lie and called on the military not to confuse Austrian civilians with German occupiers. The end of the file is:

“Be merciless towards German enslavers, but don’t offend the Austrian population. Respect their traditions, families, and private property. Proudly carry the glorious title of a Red Army warrior…let your conduct cause respect everywhere for the Red Army.”[12] The Red Army lost 17,000 lives in the Battle of Vienna. Soviet troops engaged in systematic sexual violence against women, beginning in the first days and weeks after the Soviet victory. Repression against civilians harmed the Red Army's reputation to such an extent that on 28 September 1945 Moscow issued an order forbidding violent interrogations.[13] Red Army morale fell as soldiers prepared to be sent home; replacement of combat units with Ivan Konev's permanent occupation force only marginally reduced 'misbehaviour'.[14] Throughout 1945 and 1946, all levels of Soviet command tried, in vain, to contain desertion and plunder by rank and file.[15][16] According to Austrian police records for 1946, "men in Soviet uniform", usually drunk, accounted for more than 90% of registered crime (in comparison, U.S. soldiers accounted for 5 to 7%).[17][18] At the same time, the Soviet governors resisted the expansion and arming of the Austrian police force.[19]

French, British, and American troops

 
The four sectors of occupation in Vienna
Further information: Allies of World War II and Effects of World War II

American troops, including the 11th Armored Division, crossed the Austrian border on 26 April, followed by French and British troops on 29 April and on 8 May, respectively.[20][2] Until the end of July 1945 none of the Western allies had first-hand intelligence from Eastern Austria (likewise, Renner's cabinet knew practically nothing about conditions in the West).[21]

 
Soviet soldiers taking down a Nazi sign in Austria.

The first Americans arrived in Vienna in the end of July 1945,[7] when the Soviets were pressing Renner to surrender Austrian oil fields.[22] Americans objected and blocked the deal[22] but ultimately the Soviets assumed control over Austrian oil in their zone. The British arrived in September. The Allied Council of four military governors[23] convened for its first meeting in Vienna on 12 September 1945. It refused to recognize Renner's claim of a national government but did not prevent him from extending influence into the Western zones. Renner appointed vocal anti-communist Karl Gruber as Foreign Minister and tried to reduce Communist influence. On 20 October 1945, Renner's reformed cabinet was recognized by the Western allies and received a go-ahead for the first legislative election.[24]

Occupation zones

On 9 July 1945 the Allies agreed on the borders of their occupation zones.[25] Movement of occupation troops ("zone swap") continued until the end of July.[21] The French and American zones bordered those countries' zones in Germany, and the Soviet zone bordered future Warsaw Pact states:

In determining the occupation zones, the administrative changes made after the Anschluss were applied in the western zones (Steirisches Salzkammergut to Upper Austria and East Tyrol to Carinthia) and were disregarded in the Soviet zone (Vienna not enlarged and Burgenland re-established).

First general elections after the war

The election held on 25 November 1945 was a blow for the Communist Party of Austria which received a bit more than 5% of the vote. The coalition of Christian Democrats (ÖVP) and Social Democrats (SPÖ),[26] backed by 90% of the votes, assumed control over the cabinet and offered the position of Federal Chancellor to Christian Democrat Julius Raab.[27] The Soviets vetoed Raab,[27] because he had been a member of the austrofascist Fatherland Front during the 1930s and the Soviets, unlike the West, favored a policy of denazification. Instead President Karl Renner, with the consent of parliament, appointed Leopold Figl, who was just barely acceptable to the Soviets.[24] They responded with massive and coordinated expropriation of Austrian economic assets.[24]

The Potsdam Agreement allowed confiscation of "German external assets" in Austria, and the Soviets used the vagueness of this definition to the full.[28] In less than a year they dismantled and shipped to the East industrial equipment valued at around US$500 million.[7] American High Commissioner Mark W. Clark vocally resisted Soviet expansionist intentions, and his reports to Washington, along with George F. Kennan's The Long Telegram, supported Truman's tough stance against the Soviets.[29] Thus, according to Bischof, the Cold War in Austria began in the spring of 1946, one year before the outbreak of the global Cold War.[22]

On 28 June 1946, the Allies signed the Second Control Agreement that loosened their dominance over the Austrian government. The Parliament was de facto relieved of Allied control. From now on its decision could be overturned only by unanimous vote by all four Allies.[30] Soviet vetoes were routinely voided by Western opposition.[30] For the next nine years the country was gradually emancipated from foreign control, and evolved from a "nation under tutelage" to full independence.[31] The government possessed its own independent vision of the future, reacting to adverse circumstances and at times turning them to their own benefit.[32] The first allied talks on Austrian independence were held in January 1947, and deadlocked over the issue of "German assets" in Soviet possession.[33]

Mounting losses

Further information: USIA and History of South Tyrol

In late 1945 and early 1946 the Allied occupation force peaked at around 150,000 Soviet, 55,000 British, 40,000 American, and 15,000 French troops.[34] The costs of keeping these troops were levied on the Austrian government. At first, Austria had to pay the whole occupation bill; in 1946 occupation costs were capped at 35% of Austrian state expenditures, equally split between the Soviets and the Western allies.[34]

Coincidentally with the Second Control Agreement, the Soviets changed their economic policy from outright plunder to running expropriated Austrian businesses for a profit. Austrian communists advised Stalin to nationalize the whole economy, but he deemed the proposal to be too radical.[3] Between February and June 1946, the Soviets expropriated hundreds of businesses left in their zone.[22] On 27 June 1946, they amalgamated these assets into the USIA, a conglomerate of over 400 enterprises.[35] It controlled not more than 5% of Austrian economic output but possessed a substantial, or even monopolistic, share in the glass, steel, oil, and transportation industries.[36] The USIA was weakly integrated with the rest of the Austrian economy; its products were primarily shipped to the East, its profits de facto confiscated and its taxes left unpaid by the Soviets. The Austrian government refused to recognize USIA legal title over its possessions; in retaliation, the USIA refused to pay Austrian taxes and tariffs.[37] This competitive advantage helped to keep USIA enterprises afloat despite their mounting obsolescence. The Soviets had no intention to reinvest their profits, and USIA assets gradually decayed and lost their competitive edge.[38] The Austrian government feared paramilitary communist gangs sheltered by the USIA[39] and scorned it for being "an economy of exploitation in colonial style."[40] The economy of the Soviet zone eventually reunited with the rest of the country.

South Tyrol was returned to Italy. The "thirty-second decision" of the Council of Foreign Ministers to grant South Tyrol to Italy (4 September 1945) disregarded popular opinion in Austria and the possible effects of a forced repatriation of 200,000 German-speaking Tyroleans.[41] The decision was arguably motivated by the British desire to reward Italy, a country far more important for the containment of world communism.[citation needed] Renner's objections came in too late and carried too little weight to have effect.[42] Popular and official protests continued through 1946. The signatures of 150,000 South Tyroleans did not alter the decision.[43] South Tyrol is today an Italian autonomous province (Bolzano/Bozen) with a German-speaking majority.

Hunger

In 1947, the Austrian economy, including USIA enterprises, reached 61% of pre-war levels, but it was disproportionately weak in consumer goods production (42% of pre-war levels).[44] Food remained the worst problem. The country, according to American reports, survived 1945 and 1946 on "a near-starvation diet" with daily rations remaining below 2000 calories until the end of 1947.[45] 65% of Austrian agricultural output and nearly all oil was concentrated in the Soviet zone, complicating the Western Allies' task of feeding the population in their own zones.[46]

From March 1946 to June 1947, 64% of these rations were provided by the UNRRA.[47] Heating depended on supplies of German coal shipped by the U.S. on lax credit terms.[48] A 1946 drought further depressed farm output and hydroelectric power generation. Figl's government, the Chambers of Labor, Trade and Agriculture, and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) temporarily resolved the crisis in favor of tight regulation of food and labor markets. Wage increases were limited and locked to commodity prices through annual price-wage agreements. The negotiations set a model of building consensus between elected and non-elected political elites that became the basis of post-war Austrian democracy,[49] known as Austrian Social Partnership and Austro-corporatism.[50]

The severe winter of 1946–1947 was followed by the disastrous summer of 1947, when the potato harvest barely reached 30% of pre-war output.[47] The food shortages were aggravated by the withdrawal of UNRRA aid, spiraling inflation, and the demoralizing failure of State Treaty talks.[47] In April 1947, the government was unable to distribute any rations, and on 5 May Vienna was shaken by a violent food riot.[51] Unlike earlier protests, the demonstrators, led by the Communists, called to curb the westernisation of Austrian politics.[52] In August, a food riot in Bad Ischl turned into a pogrom of local Jews.[53] In November, the food shortage sparked workers' strikes in British-occupied Styria.[52] Figl's government declared that the food riots were a failed communist putsch, although later historians said this was an exaggeration.[33][52]

In June 1947, the month when the UNRRA stopped shipments of food to Austria, the extent of the food crisis compelled the U.S. government to issue $300 million in food aid. In the same month Austria was invited to discuss its participation in the Marshall Plan.[54] Direct aid and subsidies helped Austria to survive the hunger of 1947 while simultaneously depressing food prices and discouraging local farmers, thereby delaying the rebirth of Austrian agriculture.[47]

Marshall Plan

Austria finalized its Marshall Plan program in the end of 1947 and received the first tranche of Marshall Plan aid in March 1948.[55] Heavy industry (or what was left of it) was concentrated around Linz, in the American zone, and in British-occupied Styria. Their products were in high demand in post-war Europe. Naturally, the administrators of the Marshall Plan channeled available financial aid into heavy industry controlled by the American and British forces.[56] American military and political leaders made no secret of their intentions: Geoffrey Keyes said that "we cannot afford to let this key area (Austria) fall under the exclusive influence of the Soviet Union."[57] The Marshall Plan was deployed primarily against the Soviet zone but it was not completely excluded: it received 8% of Marshall plan investments (compared to 25% of food and other physical commodities).[58] The Austrian government regarded financial aid to the Soviet zone as a lifeline holding the country together. This was the only case where Marshall Plan funds were distributed in Soviet-occupied territory.[59]

The Marshall Plan was not universally popular, especially in its initial phase.[60] It benefited some trades such as metallurgy but depressed others such as agriculture. Heavy industries quickly recovered, from 74.7% of pre-war output in 1948 to 150.7% in 1951.[61] American planners deliberately neglected consumer goods industries, construction trades, and small business. Their workers, almost half of the industrial workforce, suffered from rising unemployment.[62] In 1948–1949, a substantial share of Marshall Plan funds was used to subsidize imports of food. American money effectively raised real wages: the grain price was about one-third of the world price, while agriculture remained in ruins.[63] Marshall Plan aid gradually removed many of the causes of popular unrest that shook the country in 1947,[64] but Austria remained dependent on food imports.

The second stage of the Marshall Plan, which began in 1950, concentrated on productivity of the economy.[65] According to Michael J. Hogan, "in the most profound sense, it involved the transfer of attitudes, habits and values as well, indeed a whole way of life that Marshall planners associated with progress in the marketplace of politics and social relationships as much as they did with industry and agriculture."[66] The program, as intended by American lawmakers,[67] targeted improvement in factory-level productivity, labor-management relations, free trade unions and introduction of modern business practices.[68] The Economic Cooperation Administration, which operated until December 1951, distributed around $300 million in technical assistance and attempted steering the Austrian social partnership (political parties, labor unions, business associations, and government) in favor of productivity and growth instead of redistribution and consumption.[69]

Their efforts were thwarted by the Austrian practice of making decisions behind closed doors.[70] The Americans struggled to change it in favor of open, public discussion. They took a strong anti-cartel stance, appreciated by the Socialists, and pressed the government to remove anti-competition legislation.[71] But ultimately they were responsible for the creation of the vast monopolistic public sector of the economy (and thus politically benefiting the Socialists).[72]

According to Bischof, "no European nation benefited more from the Marshall Plan than Austria."[73] Austria received nearly $1 billion through the Marshall Plan, and half a billion in humanitarian aid.[34][74] The Americans also refunded all occupation costs charged in 1945–1946, around $300 million.[75] In 1948–1949 Marshall Plan aid contributed 14% of national income, the highest ratio of all involved countries.[76] Per capita, aid amounted to $132 compared to $19 for the Germans.[34] But Austria also paid more war reparations per capita than any other Axis state or territory.[77] Total war reparations taken by the Soviet Union including withdrawn USIA profits, looted property and the final settlement agreed in 1955, are estimated between $1.54 billion and $2.65 billion[77] (Eisterer: 2 to 2.5 billion).[78]

Cold War

Further information: Cold War (1947–53) and Wiederbewaffnung

The British had been quietly arming gendarmes, the so-called B-Gendarmerie, since 1945 and discussed the creation of a proper Austrian military in 1947.[79] The Americans feared that Vienna could be the scene of another Berlin Blockade. They set up and filled emergency food dumps, and prepared to airlift supplies to Vienna[80] while the government created a backup base in Salzburg.[81] The American command secretly trained the soldiers of an underground Austrian military at a rate of 200 men a week.[82] The B-Gendarmerie knowingly hired Wehrmacht veterans and VdU members;[83] the denazification of Austria's 537,000 registered Nazis had largely ended in 1948.[84]

Austrian communists appealed to Stalin to partition their country along the German model, but in February 1948 Andrei Zhdanov vetoed the idea:[3] Austria had more value as a bargaining chip than as another unstable client state. The continuing talks on Austrian independence stalled in 1948 but progressed to a "near breakthrough" in 1949: the Soviets lifted most of their objections, and the Americans suspected foul play.[85] The Pentagon was convinced that the withdrawal of Western troops would leave the country open to Soviet invasion of the Czechoslovak model. Clark insisted that before their departure the United States must secretly train and arm the core of a future military. Serious secret training of the B-Gendarmerie began in 1950[81] but soon stalled due to US defense budget cuts in 1951.[86] Gendarmes were trained primarily as an anti-coup police force, but they also studied Soviet combat practice and counted on cooperation with the Yugoslavs in case of a Soviet invasion.[83]

Although in the fall of 1950 the Western powers replaced their military representatives with civilian diplomats,[30] strategically, the situation became gloomier than ever. The Korean War experience persuaded Washington that Austria might become "Europe's Korea"[81] and sped up rearmament of the "secret ally".[87] International tension was coincident with a severe internal economic and social crisis. The planned withdrawal of American food subsidies spelled a sharp drop in real wages. The government and the unions deadlocked in negotiations, and gave the communists the opportunity to organize the 1950 Austrian general strikes which became the gravest threat since the 1947 food riots.[88] The communists stormed and took over ÖGB offices and disrupted railroad traffic but failed to recruit sufficient public support and had to admit defeat.[89] The Soviets and the Western allies did not dare to actively intervene in the strikes.[90] The strike intensified the militarization of Western Austria, with active input from France and the CIA.[81] Despite the strain of the Korean War, by the end of 1952 the American "Stockpile A" (A for Austria) in France and Germany amassed 227 thousand tons of materiel earmarked for Austrian armed forces.[91]

Détente

Further information: Khrushchev Thaw

The death of Joseph Stalin and the Korean Armistice Agreement defused the standoff, and the country was rapidly, but not completely, demilitarized. After the Soviet Union had relieved Austria of the need to pay for the cost of their reduced army of 40,000 men,[75] the British and French followed suit and reduced their forces to a token presence.[92] Finally, the Soviets replaced their military governor with a civilian ambassador. The former border between Eastern and Western Austria became a demarcation line.[75]

Chancellor Julius Raab, elected in April 1953, removed pro-Western foreign minister Gruber and steered Austria to a more neutral policy.[93] Raab carefully probed the Soviets about resuming the talks on independence,[94] but until February 1955 it remained contingent on a solution to the larger German problem. The Western strategy of rearming West Germany, formulated in the Paris Agreement, was unacceptable to the Soviets. They responded with a counter-proposal for a pan-European security system that, they said, could speed up reunification of Germany, and again the West suspected foul play.[95] Eisenhower, in particular, had "an utter lack of confidence in the reliability and integrity of the men in the Kremlin... the Kremlin is pre-empting the right to speak for the small nations of the world".[96]

In January 1955, Soviet diplomats Andrey Gromyko, Vladimir Semenov and Georgy Pushkin secretly advised Vyacheslav Molotov to unlink the Austrian and German issues, expecting that the new talks on Austria would delay ratification of the Paris Agreement.[97][page needed] Molotov publicly announced the new Soviet initiative on 8 February. He put forward three conditions for Austrian independence: neutrality, no foreign military bases, and guarantees against a new Anschluss.[97][page needed][98]

Independence

Further information: Austrian State Treaty
 
Molotov (left) meeting Raab (right) in Moscow, April 1955

In March 1955, Molotov clarified his plan through a series of consultations with ambassador Norbert Bischoff: Austria was no longer hostage to the German issue.[97][page needed] Molotov invited Raab to Moscow for bilateral negotiations that, if successful, had to be followed by a Four Powers conference. By this time Paris Agreements were ratified by France and Germany, although the British and Americans suspected a trap[99] of the same sort that Hitler had set for Schuschnigg in 1938.[100] Anthony Eden and others wrote that the Moscow initiative was merely a cover-up for another incursion into German matters.[101] The West erroneously thought that the Soviets valued Austria primarily as a military asset, when in reality it was a purely political issue.[102] Austria's military significance had been largely devalued by the end of the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict and the upcoming signing of the Warsaw Pact.[103]

These fears did not materialize, and Raab's visit to Moscow (12–15 April) was a breakthrough. Moscow agreed that Austria would be free no later than 31 December.[104][105] Austrians agreed to pay for the "German assets" and oil fields left by the Soviets, mostly in kind;[106][107] "the real prize was to be neutrality on the Swiss model."[104][108] Molotov also promised the release and repatriation of Austrians imprisoned in the Soviet Union.[97][page needed]

Western powers were stunned. British diplomat and signatory to the treaty, Geoffrey Wallinger reported to London that the deal "was far too good to be true, to be honest".[104] But it proceeded as had been agreed in Moscow and on 15 May 1955 Antoine Pinay, Harold Macmillan, Molotov, John Foster Dulles, and Figl signed the Austrian State Treaty in Vienna. It came into force on 27 July and on 25 October the country was free of occupying troops.[109] The next day, Austria's parliament enacted a Declaration of Neutrality, whereby Austria would never join a military alliance such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, or allow foreign troops be based within Austria. The Soviets left in Vienna the large Soviet War Memorial and to the new government a symbolic cache of small arms, artillery, and T-34 tanks; the Americans left a far greater gift of "Stockpile A" assets.[110] The only political spokesperson who was publicly upset about the outcome was West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who called the affair die ganze österreichische Schweinerei ("the whole Austrian scandal") and threatened the Austrians with "sending Hitler's remains home to Austria".[109]

High commissioners

Main article: List of administrators of Allied-occupied Austria

American zone:

British zone:

French zone:

Soviet zone:

Military Commander

High Commissioners

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Soviet Interior Ministry

References

  1. ^ Conference delegates 1944, pp. 3–8.
  2. ^ a b Eisterer 2009, p. 190.
  3. ^ a b c Bordjugov 2005.
  4. ^ a b c d e Bischof 2009, p. 174.
  5. ^ Eisterer 2009, p. 196.
  6. ^ Petrov 2009, p. 259.
  7. ^ a b c Bischof 2009, p. 175.
  8. ^ Petrov 2009, p. 260.
  9. ^ Petrov 2009, p. 263.
  10. ^ Petrov 2009, pp. 252–253.
  11. ^ Petrov 2009, p. 255, provides a roll of NKVD troops stationed in Austria.
  12. ^ "The Soviet Occupation of Austria". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  13. ^ Petrov 2009, p. 258.
  14. ^ Eisterer, p. 194.
  15. ^ Petrov 2009, pp. 266–268.
  16. ^ Lewis, pp. 145, 153, wrote that Tolbukhin "was reported to have been relieved of his command in the summer of 1945 because of the behaviour of his troops."
  17. ^ Berg 2000, p. 162.
  18. ^ Berg 2000, pp. 161–162, reviews the studies and sources on alcoholism in Soviet troops.
  19. ^ Carafano 2002, p. 177.
  20. ^ History 11th Armored Division http://11tharmoreddivision.com/
  21. ^ a b Eisterer 2009, p. 197.
  22. ^ a b c d Bischof 2009, p. 177.
  23. ^ Antoine Béthouart (France), Richard McCreery (UK), Mark W. Clark (US), and Ivan Konev (USSR) – Eisterer 2009, p. 197.
  24. ^ a b c Bischof 2009, p. 176.
  25. ^ Agreement on the occupation zones in Austria and the administration of the City of Vienna (9 July 1945)[1] & [2]
  26. ^ The coalition of ÖVP and SPÖ has been since known as the Grand Coalition – Wilsford, p. 378 or, alternatively, the Great Coalition – Wollinetz, p. 93.
  27. ^ a b Wollinetz 1988, p. 94.
  28. ^ Bischof 2009, pp. 176–177.
  29. ^ Bischof 2009, pp. 177–178.
  30. ^ a b c Bischof 2009, p. 172.
  31. ^ Bischof 2009, p. 173.
  32. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 139.
  33. ^ a b Bischof 2009, p. 178.
  34. ^ a b c d Eisterer 2009, p. 201.
  35. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 75
  36. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 76.
  37. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, pp. 76–77.
  38. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 80; Komlosy 2000, p. 124.
  39. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 146.
  40. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 77.
  41. ^ Steininger 2003, pp. 79–80.
  42. ^ Steininger 2003, pp. 81–82.
  43. ^ Steininger 2003, p. 83.
  44. ^ Lewis 2000, pp. 141–142, used 1937 as a base year, and wrote that "1937 itself was a poor year".
  45. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 142.
  46. ^ Bailey, p. 148, wrote "65% of pre-war yield", not actual post-war output.
  47. ^ a b c d Lewis 2000, p. 143.
  48. ^ Gimbel 1976, p. 163.
  49. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 149.
  50. ^ For a review of evolution of Austrian Social Partnership see Bischof et al. 1996.
  51. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 147.
  52. ^ a b c Lewis 2000, p. 148.
  53. ^ Berg 2000, p. 165.
  54. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 145.
  55. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 144.
  56. ^ Bader, p. 160.
  57. ^ Steininger 2008, p. 77.
  58. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 82.
  59. ^ Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 83.
  60. ^ Lewis 2000, p. 138.
  61. ^ Bader, p. 160, uses 1937 as the base year (100%).
  62. ^ Bader, pp. 160–161.
  63. ^ Williams, p. 122.
  64. ^ Bader, p. 157.
  65. ^ Tweraser 1995, p. 93.
  66. ^ As cited in Tweraser 1995, p. 93. See Hogan, p. 415 for the original text.
  67. ^ Tweraser 1995, p. 96: the 1951 Benton Amendment to the Mutual Security Act required "to encourage free enterprise and trade unions and to discourage restricting trade practices."
  68. ^ Tweraser 1995, p. 94.
  69. ^ Tweraser 1995, pp. 92–93.
  70. ^ Tweraser 1995, p. 106.
  71. ^ Tweraser 1995, p. 98.
  72. ^ Tweraser 1995, p. 105.
  73. ^ Bischof 2009, p. 179.
  74. ^ Lewis, p. 144: "962 million dollars in Marshall Aid".
  75. ^ a b c Eisterer 2009, p. 202.
  76. ^ Berg, p. 169. The Netherlands and Ireland were the second and third with 10.8% and 7.8%.
  77. ^ a b Fraberger, Stiefel 2000, p. 85.
  78. ^ Eisterer 2009, p. 201: 2 to 2.5 billion U. S. dollars.
  79. ^ Carafano 2002, pp. 177–178.
  80. ^ Bischof 2009, pp. 181–182.
  81. ^ a b c d Bischof 2009, p. 181.
  82. ^ Carafano 2002, p. 180.
  83. ^ a b Carafano 2002, pp. 185–186, 187.
  84. ^ Eisterer 2009, p. 210.
  85. ^ Bischof 2009, p. 180.
  86. ^ Carafano 2002, p. 183.
  87. ^ Steininger 2008, p. 96.
  88. ^ Bader, p. 165; Williams, p. 115; Carafano 2002, pp. 196–197.
  89. ^ For a detailed account of the 1950 strikes see Bader, pp. 155–180.
  90. ^ Williams, p. 126.
  91. ^ Carafano 2002, p. 184.
  92. ^ Eisterer 2009, p. 202: UK – single battalion, France – 400 men in Vienna and "a few officers and gendarmes" in Tyrol. Carafano 2002, p. 188 – "reduced to skeletal commands."
  93. ^ Carafano 2002, p. 173.
  94. ^ Eisterer 2009, pp. 202–203.
  95. ^ Steininger 2008, pp. 110–111.
  96. ^ Steininger 2008, p. 101, cites Eisenhower's letter to Winston Churchill dated 22 July 1954. Full text in Boyle, p. 163
  97. ^ a b c d Sergeev 2001.
  98. ^ Steininger 2008, pp. 112–113.
  99. ^ Steininger 2008, pp. 117–119.
  100. ^ Steininger 2008, p. 123, refers to chancellor Schuschnigg's visit to Berchtesgaden on the eve of the Anschluss, 12 February 1938.
  101. ^ Steininger 2008, p. 126.
  102. ^ Carafano 2002, p. 189.
  103. ^ Carafano 2002, pp. 193–194.
  104. ^ a b c Steininger 2008, p. 128.
  105. ^ Molotov at first demanded six months to withdraw the troops, while Raab pressed for three months. In the end they agreed on "three months from signing the Treaty, but no later than December 31" – Kindermann 1955, p. 110.
  106. ^ $150 million for German assets paid with goods, plus 10 million tons of oil and $2 million in cash – Steininger 2008, p. 128. The Kremlin proposed to spread oil shipments over six years through 1961, taking 50% of Austrian output, but at the request of Austria the schedule was extended to 10 years (to 1965) – Sergeev.
  107. ^ See Bailey, p. 163, for a contemporary Western assessment of the final settlement as "self-ransom" and "extortion".
  108. ^ According to Sergeev, who was present at the negotiations, Molotov's phrase about the Swiss model was a quote from a speech delivered by John Foster Dulles in Berlin on 13 February 1954.
  109. ^ a b Steininger 2008, p. 131.
  110. ^ Carafano 2002, pp. 190–191.

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Further reading

January 09, 2023
allied, occupied, austria, allied, occupation, austria, started, april, 1945, when, austria, under, allied, control, claimed, independence, from, germany, result, vienna, offensive, ended, with, austrian, state, treaty, july, 1955, republic, austriarepublik, ö. The Allied occupation of Austria started on 27 April 1945 when Austria under Allied control claimed independence from Germany as a result of the Vienna Offensive and ended with the Austrian State Treaty on 27 July 1955 Republic of AustriaRepublik Osterreich German 1945 1955Flag Coat of armsOccupation sectors in AustriaStatusMilitary occupation by the Allied Control CouncilCapitalViennaCommon languagesGerman Austrian German Austro Bavarian Alemannic Burgenland CroatianReligionChristianity Catholic Eastern Orthodox Protestant Demonym s AustrianGovernmentDependent federal parliamentary republicGovernors British zoneRichard McCreery American zoneMark W Clark French zoneAntoine Bethouart Soviet zoneIvan Konev Soviet Military OccupationFyodor TolbukhinPresident 1945 1950Karl Renner 1951 1955Theodor KornerChancellor 1945Karl Renner 1945 1953Leopold Figl 1953 1955Julius RaabHistorical eraAftermath of World War II Cold War Capture of Vienna13 April 1945 Established27 April 1945 Austrian State Treaty27 July 1955 Last Allies left25 October 1955Population 19456 793 000 19556 947 000CurrencyAustrian schillingISO 3166 codeATPreceded by Succeeded byNational Socialist AustriaMittelbergJungholz Second Austrian RepublicToday part ofAustriaAfter the Anschluss in 1938 Austria had generally been recognized as part of Nazi Germany In 1943 however the Allies agreed in the Declaration of Moscow that Austria would instead be regarded as the first victim of Nazi aggression but did not deny Austrian role in Nazi crimes and treated as a liberated and independent country after the war In the immediate aftermath of World War II Austria was divided into four zones and jointly occupied by the United Kingdom the Soviet Union the United States and France Vienna was similarly subdivided but the central district was collectively administered by the Allied Control Council Whereas Germany was divided into East and West Germany in 1949 Austria remained under joint occupation of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union until 1955 its status became a controversial subject in the Cold War until the warming of relations known as the Khrushchev Thaw After Austrian promises of perpetual neutrality Austria was accorded full independence on 15 May 1955 and the last occupation troops left on 25 October that year Contents 1 Background 2 1945 1946 first year of occupation 2 1 Soviet rule and reestablishing Austrian government 2 2 French British and American troops 2 3 Occupation zones 2 4 First general elections after the war 3 Mounting losses 4 Hunger 5 Marshall Plan 6 Cold War 7 Detente 8 Independence 9 High commissioners 10 See also 11 Footnotes 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 Further readingBackground EditFurther information Moscow Conference 1943 At the 1943 Moscow Conference the Soviet Union United States and the United Kingdom had jointly decided that the German annexation of Austria would be considered null and void As well all administrative and legal measures since 1938 would be ignored The conference declared the intent to create a free and independent Austria after the war but also stated that Austria had a responsibility for participation in the war at the side of Hitlerite Germany which could not be evaded 1 1945 1946 first year of occupation EditSoviet rule and reestablishing Austrian government Edit Further information Eastern Front World War II Soviet occupations and Austrian resistance On 29 March 1945 Soviet commander Fyodor Tolbukhin s troops crossed the former Austrian border at Klostermarienberg in Burgenland 2 On 3 April at the beginning of the Vienna Offensive the Austrian politician Karl Renner then living in southern Lower Austria established contact with the Soviets Joseph Stalin had already established a would be future Austrian cabinet from the country s communists in exile but Tolbukhin s telegram changed Stalin s mind in favor of Renner 3 On 20 April 1945 the Soviets without asking their Western allies 4 instructed Renner to form a provisional government Seven days later Renner s cabinet took office declared the independence of Austria from Nazi Germany and called for the creation of a democratic state along the lines of the First Austrian Republic 4 Soviet acceptance of Renner was not an isolated episode their officers re established district administrations and appointed local mayors frequently following the advice of the locals even before the battle was over 5 Soviet troops in the Schonbrunn Palace gardens 1945 Renner and his ministers were guarded and watched by NKVD a bodyguards 6 One third of State Chancellor Renner s cabinet including crucial seats of the Secretary of State of the Interior and the Secretary of State for Education was staffed by Austrian Communists 4 The Western allies suspected the establishment of a puppet state and refused to recognize Renner 4 The British were particularly hostile 4 even American President Harry Truman who believed that Renner was a trustworthy politician rather than a token front for the Kremlin denied him recognition 7 But Renner had secured inter party control by designating two Under Secretaries of State in each of the ministries appointed by the two parties not designating the Secretary of State As soon as Hitler s armies were pushed back into Germany the Red Army and the NKVD began to comb the captured territories By 23 May they reported arrests of 268 former Red Army men 1 208 Wehrmacht men and 1 655 civilians 8 In the following weeks the British surrendered over 40 000 Cossacks who had fled to Western Austria from Soviet authorities and certain death 9 In July and August the Soviets brought in four regiments of NKVD troops to mop up Vienna and seal the Czechoslovak border 10 11 Soviet commanders on the ground ordered the troops to stop the crime as soon as they entered Austria On April 4 1945 the command issued a directive that was read to all soldiers on the front lines The directive declared that Austria was Hitler s first victim and that the Red Army had entered the country to liberate it and annihilate the German Army For years it said Propaganda in Nazi Germany terrorized Austrians with atrocities committed by Soviet soldiers The directive called Nazi propaganda a lie and called on the military not to confuse Austrian civilians with German occupiers The end of the file is Be merciless towards German enslavers but don t offend the Austrian population Respect their traditions families and private property Proudly carry the glorious title of a Red Army warrior let your conduct cause respect everywhere for the Red Army 12 The Red Army lost 17 000 lives in the Battle of Vienna Soviet troops engaged in systematic sexual violence against women beginning in the first days and weeks after the Soviet victory Repression against civilians harmed the Red Army s reputation to such an extent that on 28 September 1945 Moscow issued an order forbidding violent interrogations 13 Red Army morale fell as soldiers prepared to be sent home replacement of combat units with Ivan Konev s permanent occupation force only marginally reduced misbehaviour 14 Throughout 1945 and 1946 all levels of Soviet command tried in vain to contain desertion and plunder by rank and file 15 16 According to Austrian police records for 1946 men in Soviet uniform usually drunk accounted for more than 90 of registered crime in comparison U S soldiers accounted for 5 to 7 17 18 At the same time the Soviet governors resisted the expansion and arming of the Austrian police force 19 French British and American troops Edit The four sectors of occupation in Vienna Further information Allies of World War II and Effects of World War II American troops including the 11th Armored Division crossed the Austrian border on 26 April followed by French and British troops on 29 April and on 8 May respectively 20 2 Until the end of July 1945 none of the Western allies had first hand intelligence from Eastern Austria likewise Renner s cabinet knew practically nothing about conditions in the West 21 Soviet soldiers taking down a Nazi sign in Austria The first Americans arrived in Vienna in the end of July 1945 7 when the Soviets were pressing Renner to surrender Austrian oil fields 22 Americans objected and blocked the deal 22 but ultimately the Soviets assumed control over Austrian oil in their zone The British arrived in September The Allied Council of four military governors 23 convened for its first meeting in Vienna on 12 September 1945 It refused to recognize Renner s claim of a national government but did not prevent him from extending influence into the Western zones Renner appointed vocal anti communist Karl Gruber as Foreign Minister and tried to reduce Communist influence On 20 October 1945 Renner s reformed cabinet was recognized by the Western allies and received a go ahead for the first legislative election 24 Occupation zones Edit On 9 July 1945 the Allies agreed on the borders of their occupation zones 25 Movement of occupation troops zone swap continued until the end of July 21 The French and American zones bordered those countries zones in Germany and the Soviet zone bordered future Warsaw Pact states Vorarlberg and North Tyrol were assigned to the French Zone Salzburg and Upper Austria south of the Danube were assigned to the American Zone East Tyrol Carinthia and Styria were assigned to the British Zone Burgenland Lower Austria and the Muhlviertel area of Upper Austria north of the Danube were assigned to the Soviet Zone Vienna was divided among all four Allies The historical center of Vienna was declared an international zone in which occupation forces changed every month In determining the occupation zones the administrative changes made after the Anschluss were applied in the western zones Steirisches Salzkammergut to Upper Austria and East Tyrol to Carinthia and were disregarded in the Soviet zone Vienna not enlarged and Burgenland re established First general elections after the war Edit The election held on 25 November 1945 was a blow for the Communist Party of Austria which received a bit more than 5 of the vote The coalition of Christian Democrats OVP and Social Democrats SPO 26 backed by 90 of the votes assumed control over the cabinet and offered the position of Federal Chancellor to Christian Democrat Julius Raab 27 The Soviets vetoed Raab 27 because he had been a member of the austrofascist Fatherland Front during the 1930s and the Soviets unlike the West favored a policy of denazification Instead President Karl Renner with the consent of parliament appointed Leopold Figl who was just barely acceptable to the Soviets 24 They responded with massive and coordinated expropriation of Austrian economic assets 24 The Potsdam Agreement allowed confiscation of German external assets in Austria and the Soviets used the vagueness of this definition to the full 28 In less than a year they dismantled and shipped to the East industrial equipment valued at around US 500 million 7 American High Commissioner Mark W Clark vocally resisted Soviet expansionist intentions and his reports to Washington along with George F Kennan s The Long Telegram supported Truman s tough stance against the Soviets 29 Thus according to Bischof the Cold War in Austria began in the spring of 1946 one year before the outbreak of the global Cold War 22 On 28 June 1946 the Allies signed the Second Control Agreement that loosened their dominance over the Austrian government The Parliament was de facto relieved of Allied control From now on its decision could be overturned only by unanimous vote by all four Allies 30 Soviet vetoes were routinely voided by Western opposition 30 For the next nine years the country was gradually emancipated from foreign control and evolved from a nation under tutelage to full independence 31 The government possessed its own independent vision of the future reacting to adverse circumstances and at times turning them to their own benefit 32 The first allied talks on Austrian independence were held in January 1947 and deadlocked over the issue of German assets in Soviet possession 33 Mounting losses EditFurther information USIA and History of South Tyrol In late 1945 and early 1946 the Allied occupation force peaked at around 150 000 Soviet 55 000 British 40 000 American and 15 000 French troops 34 The costs of keeping these troops were levied on the Austrian government At first Austria had to pay the whole occupation bill in 1946 occupation costs were capped at 35 of Austrian state expenditures equally split between the Soviets and the Western allies 34 Coincidentally with the Second Control Agreement the Soviets changed their economic policy from outright plunder to running expropriated Austrian businesses for a profit Austrian communists advised Stalin to nationalize the whole economy but he deemed the proposal to be too radical 3 Between February and June 1946 the Soviets expropriated hundreds of businesses left in their zone 22 On 27 June 1946 they amalgamated these assets into the USIA a conglomerate of over 400 enterprises 35 It controlled not more than 5 of Austrian economic output but possessed a substantial or even monopolistic share in the glass steel oil and transportation industries 36 The USIA was weakly integrated with the rest of the Austrian economy its products were primarily shipped to the East its profits de facto confiscated and its taxes left unpaid by the Soviets The Austrian government refused to recognize USIA legal title over its possessions in retaliation the USIA refused to pay Austrian taxes and tariffs 37 This competitive advantage helped to keep USIA enterprises afloat despite their mounting obsolescence The Soviets had no intention to reinvest their profits and USIA assets gradually decayed and lost their competitive edge 38 The Austrian government feared paramilitary communist gangs sheltered by the USIA 39 and scorned it for being an economy of exploitation in colonial style 40 The economy of the Soviet zone eventually reunited with the rest of the country South Tyrol was returned to Italy The thirty second decision of the Council of Foreign Ministers to grant South Tyrol to Italy 4 September 1945 disregarded popular opinion in Austria and the possible effects of a forced repatriation of 200 000 German speaking Tyroleans 41 The decision was arguably motivated by the British desire to reward Italy a country far more important for the containment of world communism citation needed Renner s objections came in too late and carried too little weight to have effect 42 Popular and official protests continued through 1946 The signatures of 150 000 South Tyroleans did not alter the decision 43 South Tyrol is today an Italian autonomous province Bolzano Bozen with a German speaking majority Hunger EditIn 1947 the Austrian economy including USIA enterprises reached 61 of pre war levels but it was disproportionately weak in consumer goods production 42 of pre war levels 44 Food remained the worst problem The country according to American reports survived 1945 and 1946 on a near starvation diet with daily rations remaining below 2000 calories until the end of 1947 45 65 of Austrian agricultural output and nearly all oil was concentrated in the Soviet zone complicating the Western Allies task of feeding the population in their own zones 46 From March 1946 to June 1947 64 of these rations were provided by the UNRRA 47 Heating depended on supplies of German coal shipped by the U S on lax credit terms 48 A 1946 drought further depressed farm output and hydroelectric power generation Figl s government the Chambers of Labor Trade and Agriculture and the Austrian Trade Union Federation OGB temporarily resolved the crisis in favor of tight regulation of food and labor markets Wage increases were limited and locked to commodity prices through annual price wage agreements The negotiations set a model of building consensus between elected and non elected political elites that became the basis of post war Austrian democracy 49 known as Austrian Social Partnership and Austro corporatism 50 The severe winter of 1946 1947 was followed by the disastrous summer of 1947 when the potato harvest barely reached 30 of pre war output 47 The food shortages were aggravated by the withdrawal of UNRRA aid spiraling inflation and the demoralizing failure of State Treaty talks 47 In April 1947 the government was unable to distribute any rations and on 5 May Vienna was shaken by a violent food riot 51 Unlike earlier protests the demonstrators led by the Communists called to curb the westernisation of Austrian politics 52 In August a food riot in Bad Ischl turned into a pogrom of local Jews 53 In November the food shortage sparked workers strikes in British occupied Styria 52 Figl s government declared that the food riots were a failed communist putsch although later historians said this was an exaggeration 33 52 In June 1947 the month when the UNRRA stopped shipments of food to Austria the extent of the food crisis compelled the U S government to issue 300 million in food aid In the same month Austria was invited to discuss its participation in the Marshall Plan 54 Direct aid and subsidies helped Austria to survive the hunger of 1947 while simultaneously depressing food prices and discouraging local farmers thereby delaying the rebirth of Austrian agriculture 47 Marshall Plan EditAustria finalized its Marshall Plan program in the end of 1947 and received the first tranche of Marshall Plan aid in March 1948 55 Heavy industry or what was left of it was concentrated around Linz in the American zone and in British occupied Styria Their products were in high demand in post war Europe Naturally the administrators of the Marshall Plan channeled available financial aid into heavy industry controlled by the American and British forces 56 American military and political leaders made no secret of their intentions Geoffrey Keyes said that we cannot afford to let this key area Austria fall under the exclusive influence of the Soviet Union 57 The Marshall Plan was deployed primarily against the Soviet zone but it was not completely excluded it received 8 of Marshall plan investments compared to 25 of food and other physical commodities 58 The Austrian government regarded financial aid to the Soviet zone as a lifeline holding the country together This was the only case where Marshall Plan funds were distributed in Soviet occupied territory 59 The Marshall Plan was not universally popular especially in its initial phase 60 It benefited some trades such as metallurgy but depressed others such as agriculture Heavy industries quickly recovered from 74 7 of pre war output in 1948 to 150 7 in 1951 61 American planners deliberately neglected consumer goods industries construction trades and small business Their workers almost half of the industrial workforce suffered from rising unemployment 62 In 1948 1949 a substantial share of Marshall Plan funds was used to subsidize imports of food American money effectively raised real wages the grain price was about one third of the world price while agriculture remained in ruins 63 Marshall Plan aid gradually removed many of the causes of popular unrest that shook the country in 1947 64 but Austria remained dependent on food imports The second stage of the Marshall Plan which began in 1950 concentrated on productivity of the economy 65 According to Michael J Hogan in the most profound sense it involved the transfer of attitudes habits and values as well indeed a whole way of life that Marshall planners associated with progress in the marketplace of politics and social relationships as much as they did with industry and agriculture 66 The program as intended by American lawmakers 67 targeted improvement in factory level productivity labor management relations free trade unions and introduction of modern business practices 68 The Economic Cooperation Administration which operated until December 1951 distributed around 300 million in technical assistance and attempted steering the Austrian social partnership political parties labor unions business associations and government in favor of productivity and growth instead of redistribution and consumption 69 Their efforts were thwarted by the Austrian practice of making decisions behind closed doors 70 The Americans struggled to change it in favor of open public discussion They took a strong anti cartel stance appreciated by the Socialists and pressed the government to remove anti competition legislation 71 But ultimately they were responsible for the creation of the vast monopolistic public sector of the economy and thus politically benefiting the Socialists 72 According to Bischof no European nation benefited more from the Marshall Plan than Austria 73 Austria received nearly 1 billion through the Marshall Plan and half a billion in humanitarian aid 34 74 The Americans also refunded all occupation costs charged in 1945 1946 around 300 million 75 In 1948 1949 Marshall Plan aid contributed 14 of national income the highest ratio of all involved countries 76 Per capita aid amounted to 132 compared to 19 for the Germans 34 But Austria also paid more war reparations per capita than any other Axis state or territory 77 Total war reparations taken by the Soviet Union including withdrawn USIA profits looted property and the final settlement agreed in 1955 are estimated between 1 54 billion and 2 65 billion 77 Eisterer 2 to 2 5 billion 78 Cold War EditFurther information Cold War 1947 53 and Wiederbewaffnung The British had been quietly arming gendarmes the so called B Gendarmerie since 1945 and discussed the creation of a proper Austrian military in 1947 79 The Americans feared that Vienna could be the scene of another Berlin Blockade They set up and filled emergency food dumps and prepared to airlift supplies to Vienna 80 while the government created a backup base in Salzburg 81 The American command secretly trained the soldiers of an underground Austrian military at a rate of 200 men a week 82 The B Gendarmerie knowingly hired Wehrmacht veterans and VdU members 83 the denazification of Austria s 537 000 registered Nazis had largely ended in 1948 84 Austrian communists appealed to Stalin to partition their country along the German model but in February 1948 Andrei Zhdanov vetoed the idea 3 Austria had more value as a bargaining chip than as another unstable client state The continuing talks on Austrian independence stalled in 1948 but progressed to a near breakthrough in 1949 the Soviets lifted most of their objections and the Americans suspected foul play 85 The Pentagon was convinced that the withdrawal of Western troops would leave the country open to Soviet invasion of the Czechoslovak model Clark insisted that before their departure the United States must secretly train and arm the core of a future military Serious secret training of the B Gendarmerie began in 1950 81 but soon stalled due to US defense budget cuts in 1951 86 Gendarmes were trained primarily as an anti coup police force but they also studied Soviet combat practice and counted on cooperation with the Yugoslavs in case of a Soviet invasion 83 Although in the fall of 1950 the Western powers replaced their military representatives with civilian diplomats 30 strategically the situation became gloomier than ever The Korean War experience persuaded Washington that Austria might become Europe s Korea 81 and sped up rearmament of the secret ally 87 International tension was coincident with a severe internal economic and social crisis The planned withdrawal of American food subsidies spelled a sharp drop in real wages The government and the unions deadlocked in negotiations and gave the communists the opportunity to organize the 1950 Austrian general strikes which became the gravest threat since the 1947 food riots 88 The communists stormed and took over OGB offices and disrupted railroad traffic but failed to recruit sufficient public support and had to admit defeat 89 The Soviets and the Western allies did not dare to actively intervene in the strikes 90 The strike intensified the militarization of Western Austria with active input from France and the CIA 81 Despite the strain of the Korean War by the end of 1952 the American Stockpile A A for Austria in France and Germany amassed 227 thousand tons of materiel earmarked for Austrian armed forces 91 Detente EditFurther information Khrushchev Thaw The death of Joseph Stalin and the Korean Armistice Agreement defused the standoff and the country was rapidly but not completely demilitarized After the Soviet Union had relieved Austria of the need to pay for the cost of their reduced army of 40 000 men 75 the British and French followed suit and reduced their forces to a token presence 92 Finally the Soviets replaced their military governor with a civilian ambassador The former border between Eastern and Western Austria became a demarcation line 75 Chancellor Julius Raab elected in April 1953 removed pro Western foreign minister Gruber and steered Austria to a more neutral policy 93 Raab carefully probed the Soviets about resuming the talks on independence 94 but until February 1955 it remained contingent on a solution to the larger German problem The Western strategy of rearming West Germany formulated in the Paris Agreement was unacceptable to the Soviets They responded with a counter proposal for a pan European security system that they said could speed up reunification of Germany and again the West suspected foul play 95 Eisenhower in particular had an utter lack of confidence in the reliability and integrity of the men in the Kremlin the Kremlin is pre empting the right to speak for the small nations of the world 96 In January 1955 Soviet diplomats Andrey Gromyko Vladimir Semenov and Georgy Pushkin secretly advised Vyacheslav Molotov to unlink the Austrian and German issues expecting that the new talks on Austria would delay ratification of the Paris Agreement 97 page needed Molotov publicly announced the new Soviet initiative on 8 February He put forward three conditions for Austrian independence neutrality no foreign military bases and guarantees against a new Anschluss 97 page needed 98 Independence EditFurther information Austrian State Treaty Molotov left meeting Raab right in Moscow April 1955 In March 1955 Molotov clarified his plan through a series of consultations with ambassador Norbert Bischoff Austria was no longer hostage to the German issue 97 page needed Molotov invited Raab to Moscow for bilateral negotiations that if successful had to be followed by a Four Powers conference By this time Paris Agreements were ratified by France and Germany although the British and Americans suspected a trap 99 of the same sort that Hitler had set for Schuschnigg in 1938 100 Anthony Eden and others wrote that the Moscow initiative was merely a cover up for another incursion into German matters 101 The West erroneously thought that the Soviets valued Austria primarily as a military asset when in reality it was a purely political issue 102 Austria s military significance had been largely devalued by the end of the Soviet Yugoslav conflict and the upcoming signing of the Warsaw Pact 103 These fears did not materialize and Raab s visit to Moscow 12 15 April was a breakthrough Moscow agreed that Austria would be free no later than 31 December 104 105 Austrians agreed to pay for the German assets and oil fields left by the Soviets mostly in kind 106 107 the real prize was to be neutrality on the Swiss model 104 108 Molotov also promised the release and repatriation of Austrians imprisoned in the Soviet Union 97 page needed Western powers were stunned British diplomat and signatory to the treaty Geoffrey Wallinger reported to London that the deal was far too good to be true to be honest 104 But it proceeded as had been agreed in Moscow and on 15 May 1955 Antoine Pinay Harold Macmillan Molotov John Foster Dulles and Figl signed the Austrian State Treaty in Vienna It came into force on 27 July and on 25 October the country was free of occupying troops 109 The next day Austria s parliament enacted a Declaration of Neutrality whereby Austria would never join a military alliance such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact or allow foreign troops be based within Austria The Soviets left in Vienna the large Soviet War Memorial and to the new government a symbolic cache of small arms artillery and T 34 tanks the Americans left a far greater gift of Stockpile A assets 110 The only political spokesperson who was publicly upset about the outcome was West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer who called the affair die ganze osterreichische Schweinerei the whole Austrian scandal and threatened the Austrians with sending Hitler s remains home to Austria 109 High commissioners EditMain article List of administrators of Allied occupied AustriaAmerican zone Mark W Clark 5 July 1945 16 May 1947 Geoffrey Keyes 17 May 1947 19 September 1950 Walter J Donnelly 20 September 1950 17 July 1952 Llewellyn Thompson 17 July 1952 27 July 1955British zone Sir Richard McCreery July 1945 March 1946 Sir James Steele March 1946 October 1947 Sir Alexander Galloway October 1947 1 January 1950 Sir John Winterton 1 January 1950 1 August 1950 Sir Harold Caccia 1 August 1950 5 February 1954 Sir Geoffrey Wallinger 5 February 1954 27 July 1955French zone Antoine Bethouart 8 July 1945 September 1950 Jean Payart September 1950 October 1954 Jean Chauvel October 1954 February 1955 Roger Lalouette February 1955 June 1955 Francois Seydoux de Clausonne 3 June 1955 27 July 1955Soviet zone Military Commander Fyodor Tolbukhin 13 April 1945 July 1945High Commissioners Ivan Konev July 1945 25 April 1946 Vladimir Kurasov 10 May 1946 2 April 1949 Vladimir Petrovich Sviridov 4 May 1949 7 June 1953 Ivan Ilyichev 7 June 1953 27 July 1955See also EditAftermath of World War II Allied occupied Germany American food policy in occupied Germany Soviet occupations The Third ManFootnotes Edit Soviet Interior MinistryReferences Edit Conference delegates 1944 pp 3 8 a b Eisterer 2009 p 190 a b c Bordjugov 2005 a b c d e Bischof 2009 p 174 Eisterer 2009 p 196 Petrov 2009 p 259 a b c Bischof 2009 p 175 Petrov 2009 p 260 Petrov 2009 p 263 Petrov 2009 pp 252 253 Petrov 2009 p 255 provides a roll of NKVD troops stationed in Austria The Soviet Occupation of Austria The National WWII Museum New Orleans Retrieved 9 October 2022 Petrov 2009 p 258 Eisterer p 194 Petrov 2009 pp 266 268 Lewis pp 145 153 wrote that Tolbukhin was reported to have been relieved of his command in the summer of 1945 because of the behaviour of his troops Berg 2000 p 162 Berg 2000 pp 161 162 reviews the studies and sources on alcoholism in Soviet troops Carafano 2002 p 177 History 11th Armored Division http 11tharmoreddivision com a b Eisterer 2009 p 197 a b c d Bischof 2009 p 177 Antoine Bethouart France Richard McCreery UK Mark W Clark US and Ivan Konev USSR Eisterer 2009 p 197 a b c Bischof 2009 p 176 Agreement on the occupation zones in Austria and the administration of the City of Vienna 9 July 1945 1 amp 2 The coalition of OVP and SPO has been since known as the Grand Coalition Wilsford p 378 or alternatively the Great Coalition Wollinetz p 93 a b Wollinetz 1988 p 94 Bischof 2009 pp 176 177 Bischof 2009 pp 177 178 a b c Bischof 2009 p 172 Bischof 2009 p 173 Lewis 2000 p 139 a b Bischof 2009 p 178 a b c d Eisterer 2009 p 201 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 75 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 76 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 pp 76 77 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 80 Komlosy 2000 p 124 Lewis 2000 p 146 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 77 Steininger 2003 pp 79 80 Steininger 2003 pp 81 82 Steininger 2003 p 83 Lewis 2000 pp 141 142 used 1937 as a base year and wrote that 1937 itself was a poor year Lewis 2000 p 142 Bailey p 148 wrote 65 of pre war yield not actual post war output a b c d Lewis 2000 p 143 Gimbel 1976 p 163 Lewis 2000 p 149 For a review of evolution of Austrian Social Partnership see Bischof et al 1996 Lewis 2000 p 147 a b c Lewis 2000 p 148 Berg 2000 p 165 Lewis 2000 p 145 Lewis 2000 p 144 Bader p 160 Steininger 2008 p 77 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 82 Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 83 Lewis 2000 p 138 Bader p 160 uses 1937 as the base year 100 Bader pp 160 161 Williams p 122 Bader p 157 Tweraser 1995 p 93 As cited in Tweraser 1995 p 93 See Hogan p 415 for the original text Tweraser 1995 p 96 the 1951 Benton Amendment to the Mutual Security Act required to encourage free enterprise and trade unions and to discourage restricting trade practices Tweraser 1995 p 94 Tweraser 1995 pp 92 93 Tweraser 1995 p 106 Tweraser 1995 p 98 Tweraser 1995 p 105 Bischof 2009 p 179 Lewis p 144 962 million dollars in Marshall Aid a b c Eisterer 2009 p 202 Berg p 169 The Netherlands and Ireland were the second and third with 10 8 and 7 8 a b Fraberger Stiefel 2000 p 85 Eisterer 2009 p 201 2 to 2 5 billion U S dollars Carafano 2002 pp 177 178 Bischof 2009 pp 181 182 a b c d Bischof 2009 p 181 Carafano 2002 p 180 a b Carafano 2002 pp 185 186 187 Eisterer 2009 p 210 Bischof 2009 p 180 Carafano 2002 p 183 Steininger 2008 p 96 Bader p 165 Williams p 115 Carafano 2002 pp 196 197 For a detailed account of the 1950 strikes see Bader pp 155 180 Williams p 126 Carafano 2002 p 184 Eisterer 2009 p 202 UK single battalion France 400 men in Vienna and a few officers and gendarmes in Tyrol Carafano 2002 p 188 reduced to skeletal commands Carafano 2002 p 173 Eisterer 2009 pp 202 203 Steininger 2008 pp 110 111 Steininger 2008 p 101 cites Eisenhower s letter to Winston Churchill dated 22 July 1954 Full text in Boyle p 163 a b c d Sergeev 2001 Steininger 2008 pp 112 113 Steininger 2008 pp 117 119 Steininger 2008 p 123 refers to chancellor Schuschnigg s visit to Berchtesgaden on the eve of the Anschluss 12 February 1938 Steininger 2008 p 126 Carafano 2002 p 189 Carafano 2002 pp 193 194 a b c Steininger 2008 p 128 Molotov at first demanded six months to withdraw the troops while Raab pressed for three months In the end they agreed on three months from signing the Treaty but no later than December 31 Kindermann 1955 p 110 150 million for German assets paid with goods plus 10 million tons of oil and 2 million in cash Steininger 2008 p 128 The Kremlin proposed to spread oil shipments over six years through 1961 taking 50 of Austrian output but at the request of Austria the schedule was extended to 10 years to 1965 Sergeev See Bailey p 163 for a contemporary Western assessment of the final settlement as self ransom and extortion According to Sergeev who was present at the negotiations Molotov s phrase about the Swiss model was a quote from a speech delivered by John Foster Dulles in Berlin on 13 February 1954 a b Steininger 2008 p 131 Carafano 2002 pp 190 191 Bibliography EditBader William B 1966 Austria Between East and West Stanford University Press ISBN 0 8047 0258 6 Bailey Thomas A 1977 The Marshall Plan summer an eyewitness report on Europe and the Russians in 1947 Hoover Press ISBN 0 8179 4201 7 Berg Matthew Paul 2000 Caught between Iwan and the Weihnachtsmann Occupation the Marshall Plan and Austrian Identity in Bischof Gunter et al 2000 The Marshall Plan in Austria Transaction Publishers ISBN 0 7658 0679 7 pp 156 184 Bischof Gunter 2009 Allied Plans and Policies for the Occupation of Austria 1938 1955 in Steininger Rolf et al 2009 Austria in the Twentieth Century Transaction Publishers ISBN 1 4128 0854 5 pp 162 189 Bischof Gunter et al 1996 Austro Corporatism Past Present Future Transaction Publishers ISBN 1 56000 833 4 Bordjygov Gennadij et al 2005 in German Sowjetische Politik in Osterreich 1945 1955 Einleitung zu den Dokumenten in Sowjetische Politik in Osterreich 1945 1955 Dokumente aus russischen Archiven Wien The Austrian Academy of Sciences Press ISBN 978 3 7001 3536 4 pp 18 30 Russian edition Boyle Peter 1990 The Churchill Eisenhower Correspondence 1953 1955 UNC Press ISBN 0 8078 4951 0 Carafano James Jay 2002 Waltzing into the Cold War the struggle for occupied Austria Texas A amp M University Press ISBN 1 58544 213 5 Eisterer Klaus 2009 Austria under Allied Occupation in Steininger Rolf et al 2003 Austria in the Twentieth Century Transaction Publishers ISBN 1 4128 0854 5 Fraberger Ingrid Stiefel Dieter 2000 Enemy Images The Meaning of Anti Communism and its Importance for the Political and Economic Reconstruction in Austria after 1945 in Bischof Gunter et al 2000 The Marshall Plan in Austria Transaction Publishers ISBN 0 7658 0679 7 pp 56 97 Kindermann Walter 1955 The intimate Diary of an Ausrian Interpreter at Moscow Treaty Talks Life magazine 11 July 1955 v 39 no 2 pp 108 112 Gimbel John 1976 The Origins of the Marshall Plan Stanford University Press ISBN 0 8047 0903 3 Komlosy Andrea 2000 The Marshall Plan and the Making of the Iron Curtain in Austria in Bischof Gunter et al 2000 The Marshall Plan in Austria Transaction Publishers ISBN 0 7658 0679 7 pp 98 137 Lewis Jill 2000 Dancing on a Tight Rope The Beginning of the Marshall Plan in Bischof Gunter et al 2000 The Marshall Plan in Austria Transaction Publishers ISBN 0 7658 0679 7 pp 138 155 Petrov Nikita 2009 The Internal Troops of the NKVD in the System of Soviet Organs of Repression in Austria 1945 1946 in Bischof Gunter et al 2009 New perspectives on Austrians and World War II Transaction Publishers ISBN 1 4128 0883 9 pp 250 276 Sergeev Rostislav 2001 in Russian Kak byl dostignut proryv v avsriyskom voprose Kak byl dostignut proryv v avstrijskom voprose Sovremennaya Evropa 2001 no 4 Steininger Rolf 2008 Austria Germany and the Cold War from the Anschluss to the State Treaty 1938 1955 Berghahn Books ISBN 1 84545 326 3 Steininger Rolf 2003 South Tyrol A Minority Conflict of the Twentieth Century Transaction Publishers ISBN 0 7658 0800 5 Tweraser Kurt K 1995 The Politics of Productivity and Corporatism The Late Marshall Plan in Austria 1950 1954 in Bischof Gunter et al Austria in the Nineteen Fifties Transaction Publishers ISBN 1 56000 763 X pp 91 115 Wenzl Bernhard 2017 An American in Allied occupied Austria John Dos Passos Reports on The Vienna Frontier in Parker Joshua and Ralph J Poole Austria and America 20th Century Cross Cultural Encounters LIT Verlag pp 73 80 Williams Warren 2007 Flashpoint Austria The Communist Inspired Strikes of 1950 paid access Journal of Cold War Studies Summer 2007 Vol 9 No 3 pp 115 136 Published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wilsford Robert 1995 Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe a biographical dictionary Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 0 313 28623 X Wollinetz Steven 1988 Parties and party systems in liberal democracies Taylor amp Francis ISBN 0 415 01276 7 Conference delegates January 1944 Supplement Official Documents Great Britain Soviet Union United States Tripartite Conference in Moscow The American Journal of International Law Vol 38 American Society of International Law pp 3 8 doi 10 2307 2214037 JSTOR 2214037 S2CID 246003952 Further reading EditHogan Michael J 1989 The Marshall Plan America Britain and the reconstruction of Western Europe 1947 1952 Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 37840 0 Whithan Donald Robert Whithan Florentine 1991 Salzburg under siege U S occupation 1945 1955 Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 0 313 28116 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Allied occupied Austria amp oldid 1131960432, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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