Austrian-Soviet Relations 1945-1955

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty in 2005 the Austrian State Archives plan in cooperation with the Federal Archival Service of the Russian Federation and the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences the preparation of an extensive documentary collection on the Austrian-soviet relations in the period of 1945 - 1955 using new austrian and russian archival materials in German and Russian. The existing editions are due to the hitherto very strong restricted access to the sources fragmentary, relate only to official statements or show a one-sided soviet view. Only in the last time russian archival material could be used in research work. The continuous declassification (release) of informative documents of the Soviet State and Party Apparatus in russian archives (Archive of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Archive of the Russian Federation, Russian Archive of Socio-political History, Russian Archive of Contemporary History, if possible the Central Military Archive) and the analysis of the recently accessible documents in the Austrian State Archives let expect new interesting research results in this very important field of austrian contemporary history. The edition will contain among others the following aspects: the planning of the situation after the war since 1941, (re)construction of democratic structures, the course of the negotiation of the Austrian State Treaty, the USSR as occupying power, the planned non-implemented trade agreement with the USSR, early Cold War in Austria 1945- 47, the beginning of bilateral diplomatic relations 1946, reopening of the austrian legation, negotiations about the former german assets and the problem of the prisoners of war 1945-55. The documentary collection includes a annotated publication of the key documents, scientific introductions to each chapter as well as a chronology, an annotated list of documents, biographical notes of politicians and diplomats, an index and a bibliography.

The project "Austrian-Soviet Relations 1945-1955" aimed to prepare a documentary edition of documents from the Russian and Austrian archives in varous hitherto neglected aspects of these relations. Starting with plans for Soviet concepts of post war Austria 1941 - 1945, the edition emphazises the role of the Soviet authorities during the rebuilding of the political and administrative structures and discusses the Soviet perception of Austrian internal politics. The detailed reports of the Soviet Element of the Allied Commission show the Soviet mistrust of the work of the Austrian authorities. The Soviet perception of the Austrian government as a reactionary force caused a delay in the establishment of full diplomatic relations. It was only in 1953 - two years later than the Western Allies, that the USSR appointed an ambassador for Austria. Besides this history of diplomacy the edition points out some measures in the field of culture, sport events, representative visits and ceremonies as instruments to improve the political relationship between the Soviet Union and Austria. Here appears a certain reserve of the Austrian government after a first open-minded phase (until about 1948). Austria refused any activites before signing the State Treaty, but also the attitude of the USSR to proposals of directe exchange was similar from time to time. The complex theme of the development of the Soviet position towards the Austrian State Treaty and neutrality is also examined by hitherto unkown documents of Russian archives. In a close connection stand the questions about the economic relations between Austria and the USSR, above all the discussions about the "German Assets". As well known the negotations about the Austrian State Treaty were strongly influenced by the Cold War. In Austria a propaganda war between the Western Allies and the USSR broke out. The repatriation of the soviet displaced persons from the western zones of Austria also became an issue of the Cold War. Furthermore the history of the repatriation of the austrian prisoners of war and internees from the USSR to Austria was documented. The documentary edition will include more than 300 documents from the Austrian State Archives, the State Archives of the Russian Federation - GARF, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History - RGASPI, the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History - RGANI, the Russian State Archive of the Economy - RGAE, the Historico-Documentary Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - IDD MID. About 200 come from the archives of the Russian Federation.