Minutes of the Cabinet Meetings Figl I, Volumes 3-5

The complete annotated edition of the Minutes of the Cabinet Meetings Figl I (Protokolle des Ministerrates der Regierung Figl I) will provide fundamental source material concerning the first years of the Second Republic. Members of the Government dealt - often in great openness - with problems of foreign, domestic and economic policy. Therefore the Minutes of the Cabinet Meetings constitute an important contribution to the research work on the reconstruction and renewal of state and political organs of the Second Republic. In a hitherto unavailable measure both opposition and consensus in discussions among the Members of the Government concerning particular problems can be pursued on the basis of the Minutes; this is especially useful since the archival sources are still not accessible to the general public. In the framework of the research project it is intended to prepare the volumes 3 to 5 out of ten volumes of the projected edition for publication: Volume 3 - Minutes of Cabinet Meetings No.41 of 22 October 1946 to No.56 of 11 February 1947; Volume 4 - Minutes of Cabinet Meetings No.57 of 18 February 1947 to No.70 of 3 June 1947. Volume 5 - Minutes of Cabinet Meetings No.71 of 13 June 1947 to No.85 of 29 October 1947. The edition of the Minutes of the Figl Cabinet (Ministerratsprotokolle der Regierung Figl) would not only present new knowledge and insights about the difficult reconstruction phase of the Second Republic but it would also open up further aspects of research work. Also the edition of these sources would constitute a fund for scholarly research and provide researchers with references to available archive material and point them to missing/unavailable sources. This would save time not only for the staff of the archives, but also for users/researchers who would otherwise conduct extensive individual searches. At the same time, this edition gains in importance in view of the fact that more attention is now being paid to the Austrian economy system after 1945 as a subject for research work. Last but not least, the planned research project would present an essential, long overdue basis for international comparison of the political, social and economic position in Europe after the Second World War.

The complete annotated edition of the Minutes of the Cabinet Meetings Figl I provides fundamental source material concerning the first years of the Second Republic. It quiete clearly illustrates how the Members of the Government dealt with various problems of foreign, domestic and economic policy (often in a very open and frank way). Therefore the Minutes of the Cabinet Meetings constitute an important contribution to the research work on the reconstruction and renewal of state and political organs of the Second Republic. On the basis of the Minutes, both opposition and consensus among the Members of the Governement can be followed to a hitherto unavailable degree, which is especially useful since the archival sources are still not accessible to the general public. The transcription of the shorthand notes (written in Gabelsberger shorthand) often provides additional information not available in the fair copy. In the framework of the research project, the manuscripts of volumes 3 to 5 have now been completed: Volume 3 - Minutes of Cabinet Meetings No. 35 of 22 August 1946 to No. 51 of 7 January 1947; Volume 4 - Minutes of Cabinet Meetings No. 52 of 14 January 1947 to No. 65 of 23 April 1947. Volume 5 - Minutes of Cabinet Meetings No. 66 of 29 April 1947 to No. 78 of 2 September 1947. Volume 1 was published in 2004, volumes 2 and 3 will be published in 2005. The edition of the Minutes of the Figl Cabinet (Ministerratsprotokolle der Regierung Figl) does not only provide new knowledge and insights about the difficult reconstruction phase of the Second Republic but it also opens up further possibilities of research. Also, the edition of these sources constitutes a fund for scholarly research and provides researchers with references to available archive materials as well as information about missing/unavailable sources. This does not only save time for the staff of the archives but also for researchers who would otherwise have to conduct extensive individual searches. Providing information on all the historical participants of the source materials in question is an extensive biographical index which constitutes an important addition to the research of social elites in Austria, a matter very often neglected. Last but not least this project presents an essential and long overdue basis for an international comparison of the political, social and economic situation in Europe after the Second World War.