Encampment in the Soviet Occupation Zone in Austria

At the end of World War II in 1945, at least 1.4 million displaced persons (DPs), refugees and expellees were located in Austria. In order to provide accommodation, Allied forces established various types of camps. Although initially planned as a simple, temporary solution, the camps often became long-term institutions as a stopgap measure which in fact lasted for a long time. The Soviet zone of occupation in post-war Austria the present-day states of Lower Austria and Burgenland, the northeastern part of Upper Austria, and several districts in Vienna was no exception here. The provision of accommodation for DPs, refugees, and expellees remains a largely unexplored research desideratum to this day. Different types of camps intended for DPs, Soviet repatriates and German-speaking expellees emerged here. The official Soviet plan saw these measures as strictly temporary all foreign-language DPs should be repatriated as quickly as possible, and German-speaking expellees should be moved to post- war Germany. Alternatives, such as emigration to a third country or staying in Austria, were seen as being out of the question. Nonetheless, some of these facilities seem to have existed far longer than expected. The research project Encampment in the Soviet Occupation Zone in Austria aims to fill this gap in existing research. By combining the fields of historiography of forced migrations during and after World War II and historiography of the Soviet occupation zone, the project will focus not on particular groups housed in camps, but on the places and practices of camp accommodation itself as well as the subsequent use of camp infrastructure. A systematic topographical survey of camps and barracks usage being documented will form the basis of the project. This will be followed by a typological analysis of the characteristics, functions, and social/(bio-)political order of the selected camps and an examination of processes and procedures connected to these types of accommodation, as for example ways to and out of the camps. In a third step, the traces left by these camps and their subsequent use in the local memory of the places selected will be analyzed. This study thus makes a key contribution to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the empirical diversity of camp orders in the context of a transnationally entangled post-war history, beyond prior thematic constructions and with a consistently interdisciplinary orientation. Barbara Stelzl-Marx, Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War and Professor of European Contemporary History at the University of Graz, is overseeing this project. Dieter Bacher (LBI for Research on Consequences of War) is responsible for coordinating the project and collecting and analyzing Soviet materials in particular. Anne Unterwurzacher (Ilse Arlt Institute for Social Inclusion Research) will provide input from a social sciences perspective, focusing especially on commemorative culture. Two more researchers will conduct studies on Austrian and international archival documentation, as well as carrying out oral history interviews. The three-year project is based at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War, Graz Vienna Raabs. The Ilse Arlt Institute for Social Inclusion Research of the FH Pölten and the University of Graz are national research partners. www.bik.ac.at

At the end of the war in 1945, around 1.4 million "displaced persons" (DPs), refugees, and expellees lived in Austria. In order to provide accommodation, the Allied forces established several types of camps with different functions. Initially conceived as a "provisional" and simple solution, these camps often developed into "long-term" institutions. The Soviet occupation zone in postwar Austria-today's federal states of Lower Austria and Burgenland, the northeastern part of Upper Austria, and several districts of Vienna-was no exception. For a long time, the accommodation of DPs, refugees, and expellees remained a largely unexplored research gap in contemporary historical studies. The project "Encampment in the Soviet Occupation Zone" aimed to close this gap. As a first step, existing archival documentation and other sources-such as gendarmerie chronicles, private records, and oral history interviews-were identified and systematically analyzed for references on camps between 1945 and 1955. The information gathered was recorded in a digital "camp list" according to categories defined in the course of the research. This was followed by a analysis of the characteristics and functions of the camps-for instance, which groups of people were accommodated in each camp, which organization established and managed the camp, under what conditions individuals entered or were assigned to the camp, and under what conditions they were able to leave. A total of 247 camps were identified and documented. It became clear that camps had to be established in the Soviet zone for a wide variety of groups. They served both as short-term temporary accommodation (for example, in the case of Soviet "repatriates" or German-speaking expellees) and also functioned as longer-term housing (for example, for the socially disadvantaged or as internment camps for former National Socialists). It also emerged that the camp infrastructure was subject to constant adjustments, with camps being relocated multiple times or repeatedly closed and reopened. For the publication of the project results, a web platform was designed and set up (www.encampment.bik.lbg.ac.at). Using a digital interactive map, search functions, and filters, it provides both an overview of the 247 identified and located camps and detailed information on each individual camp. In addition to the website, the project results have also been prepared for the academic community- a special issue on the project is expected to be published in 2026 in the Austrian academic journal "zeitgeschichte". The project was led by Barbara Stelzl-Marx and coordinated by Dieter Bacher (both LBI for Research on Consequences of War / University of Graz). The research was primarily carried out by Katharina Bergmann-Pfleger (Research on Consequences of War) in cooperation with Anne Unterwurzacher (University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten) and Hannes Leidinger (Research on Consequences of War).