Austria's Post-Wwii Borders: A Complex Geopolitical Puzzle

Austria was divided into four zones after World War II, with the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France each controlling a portion of the country. This division lasted from 1945 until 1955, when the Austrian State Treaty was signed, restoring the country's sovereignty and independence. The Soviet Union pushed the Nazis out of Austria in April 1945, and by July of that year, the Four Powers agreed to demarcate the occupation zones, with Vienna split among all four. The Soviets occupied parts of Austria, including the capital, while Anglo-American troops entered from Germany and Italy.

The Soviet Occupation of Austria

Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, with the support of the Austrian population. In 1941, Hitler's regime launched a genocidal war against the Soviet Union, with the aim of eliminating the Soviet Union as a potential military threat and turning it into a German colony. After almost four years of brutal combat, Soviet troops from the 3rd and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts approached Austria's border from Hungary in the winter of 1945. The fighting in Hungary was some of the most brutal of the war, with around 1 million Soviet troops suffering heavy losses.

In March 1945, the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war at Lake Balaton, aimed at stopping the Soviet march into Austria. However, the Soviet troops regrouped and launched a counterattack, resulting in the elimination of the bulk of German forces in the south and the capture of Vienna. After taking Vienna, the Soviet troops advanced towards Linz and Graz in early May. Skirmishes between the Red Army and the German soldiers continued into late May, even after the fighting had ceased elsewhere in Europe. The Red Army suffered 94,185 casualties in Austria, with 26,006 killed and 68,179 wounded.

Soviet occupation policies in Austria were shaped by the Moscow Declaration of 1943, in which the British, Americans, and Soviets proclaimed that Austria was Germany's first victim but would also have to pay the price for its participation in Nazi aggression. The declaration ultimately meant that Austria would emerge as an independent state. The Red Army occupied only parts of Austria, including the capital Vienna, while Anglo-American troops entered from Germany and Italy. Thereafter, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union divided Austria into four occupation zones, similar to the division of Germany.

Although Moscow treated Austria as a defeated Axis power, it maintained that Austria was primarily a victim of Germany. As a result, Austria avoided some of the harsh consequences faced by Germany, such as territorial loss and the expulsion of ethnic Germans. Additionally, the Western Allies opposed the Kremlin's plans to impose heavy war reparations on Austria. However, Moscow demanded entitlement to German assets in Austria within its zone of occupation, resulting in a significant financial burden for Austria.

The Soviet Union did not attempt to impose a communist dictatorship in Austria, and the scale of political violence experienced by Austrians was more limited compared to other countries occupied by the Red Army. Soviet military tribunals arrested around 800 Austrian civilians during the initial eight months of occupation, with charges ranging from belonging to the Nazi resistance to espionage and war crimes. By 1955, when the Red Army withdrew from the country, approximately 2,400 Austrians had been arrested, with 1,250 prosecuted for various crimes. Around 150 individuals were executed, while others received lengthy prison sentences.

During the war, the Soviet leadership used vicious anti-German hate propaganda to sustain the morale of its troops. However, as the Soviet soldiers closed in on the Third Reich, the tone of the propaganda changed abruptly. The new propaganda differentiated ordinary Germans and Austrians from the Nazis and encouraged troops to treat civilians correctly. Soviet commanders issued orders discouraging criminal conduct as soon as their troops entered Austria, emphasizing the need to respect Austrian traditions, families, and private property.

Despite these orders, Soviet troops engaged in widespread looting and sexual violence against Austrian civilians. According to estimates, the Red Army raped between 70,000 and 100,000 women in Vienna alone. The wild looting and sexual assaults violated standing policies, and officers struggled to contain desertion and plunder within their ranks. The assaults undermined Soviet rule in their occupation zone and delegitimized their Austrian allies, the Communist Party of Austria.

Gradually, order was restored in the Soviet zone, with the number of troops decreasing over time. The occupation troops became more disciplined and better trained, and sexual relations between Soviet men and Austrian women became less physically violent and more transactional. According to research, there were around 8,000 "soldier's children" born in Austria between 1946 and 1953, although the real number may have been higher. Austrians tended to blame the Soviets for the difficult post-war conditions, including food shortages and housing destruction.

The Austrian Independence Treaty

The Austrian State Treaty, also known as the Austrian Independence Treaty, was signed on the 15th of May 1955 in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere. The treaty was signed by the Allied occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union) and the Austrian government. The treaty re-established Austria as a free, sovereign, and democratic state.

The basis for the treaty was the Moscow Declaration of 1943, in which the British, Americans, and Soviets proclaimed that Austria was Germany's first victim and would have to pay the price for its participation in Nazi aggression. However, it was also recognised that Austria's involvement in the war had not been voluntary. As a result, the Allies agreed that the treaty was not to end a war but to re-establish an independent state.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Austria was jointly occupied by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, with the country and its capital, Vienna, divided into four zones. This occupation lasted far longer than anticipated due to the emergence of the Cold War and tense relations between the occupying powers.

The first attempts to negotiate a treaty were made by the first postwar Austrian government, but they failed as the Allies wanted to see a peace treaty with Germany first. A breakthrough in negotiations was finally achieved in February 1955, following the death of Joseph Stalin and the warming of relations known as the Khrushchev Thaw.

The Austrian State Treaty included provisions for Soviet oilfield concessions and property rights of oil refineries in Eastern Austria, as well as the transfer of assets of the Danube Shipping Company to the USSR. The treaty also expressly detailed the minority rights of the Slovene and Croat minorities and prohibited any future political union between Germany and Austria.

As a result of the treaty, all occupying forces agreed to withdraw from Austria, with the last troops leaving on the 25th of October 1955. Austria declared its neutrality, creating a buffer zone between the East and the West during the Cold War. The restoration of Austrian independence and neutrality was celebrated with a national holiday on the 26th of October, known as the Day of the Flag.

The Marshall Plan

Austria, divided into four occupied zones after the war, was one of the 16 European countries that received aid through the Marshall Plan. The plan played a crucial role in stimulating and accelerating Austria's economic recovery, with the country receiving around $1 billion in interest-free donations. This amounted to approximately $132 per Austrian individual.

The impact of the Marshall Plan extended beyond the immediate post-war period. The ERP Fund established with the plan's proceeds remained active for decades, providing long-term, low-interest loans to Austrian businesses. The plan's role in stimulating European integration and fostering trade relations was also significant, ultimately contributing to the formation of the North Atlantic alliance during the Cold War.

Vienna's post-war political context

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the priority for Vienna was to address basic needs and restore essential services. More than 20% of the city's housing was damaged or destroyed, and critical infrastructure, including bridges, sewers, and water pipes, had sustained severe damage. The political landscape was also in flux, with the re-emergence of political parties and the formation of a provisional city government within days of the war's end.

The first City Council elections were held in November 1945, marking a return to democracy for Vienna. The Socialists, the People's Party (Conservatives), and the Communists secured seats in the Vienna City Council. The new government focused on welfare programmes, repairing city-owned utilities, and rebuilding efforts.

The "Territorial Review Act" was passed in 1946, aimed at reversing the 1938 expansion of the city. However, it did not come into effect until 1954 due to opposition from the Soviet forces. The urban area was reorganised into 23 districts, with the 22nd district north of the Danube and the 23rd district at the southern extremity.

Vienna's economy began to improve, aided by assistance from the Marshall Plan and the cessation of industrial property confiscations by the Soviets. The city's recovery was further bolstered by food aid and other forms of support from the United States and international organisations.

In May 1955, the "Austrian State Treaty" was signed, restoring the country's freedom and sovereignty. This treaty called for the withdrawal of the occupying forces, outlawed any future union with Germany, and banned Nazism. Austria declared its neutrality in the Cold War, and the occupying powers, including the Soviets, withdrew their troops. This marked a significant turning point for Vienna, ending a decade of occupation and setting the city on a path towards rebuilding and reconciliation.

The Austrian resistance movement

The Austrian resistance groups reflected the spectrum of political parties before the war and were often ideologically separated. The groups mainly issued counter-Nazi political leaflets, collected donations for the families of those arrested, and provided the Allies with information. The military resistance was limited to occasional sabotage of key civil and military installations, with most resisting by avoiding postings to the active war fronts.

One notable resistance group was led by the priest Heinrich Maier. This group sought to re-establish a Habsburg monarchy after the war and played a crucial role in providing the Allies with information on the production sites of V-1, V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, and aircraft. They also reported on the mass murder of Jews, utilising contacts at the Semperit factory near Auschwitz. Another group, centred around the miners Martin Michelli, Johann Pech, Siegfried Pichler, and Alexander Soukup, planned to demolish bridges of the Erzbergbahn but was arrested by the Gestapo in late 1941, and most of its members were sentenced to death.

The Austrian resistance also included armed groups, most notably in Carinthia, where Carinthian Slovenes formed a nucleus of the resistance after targeted deportations and forced Germanisation by the Nazi regime in 1942. Another armed group was the Austrian Freedom Front, a partisan group led by the Communist leader Franz Honner and supported by the USSR. By the end of the war, the Austrian Freedom Front had become the only armed movement in Austria.

Overall, the Austrian resistance movement was small but by no means negligible. It was hampered by the political antagonism that had weakened the First Republic of Austria between the two World Wars, which blocked cooperation between Austrian émigrés and the various resistance groups within the country. However, they persisted in their efforts to resist Nazi occupation and played a crucial role in providing intelligence to the Allies.

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