1945–1955: Austrias “Occupation Period”

Austrian society and politics referred to the Allied administration of Austria as the occupation period, lasting from the shattering of National Socialism in 1945 by Soviet, American, British, and French troops until the signing of the Austrian State Treaty on 15 May 1955. It is true that at least until the Second Allied Control Agreement of 1946, much of the state’s sovereignty was exercised directly or indirectly by the Allied powers. However, the term “occupation period” obscures the fact that Austria was liberated from Nazi terror in 1945. Yet, much of the population does not remember this time as an occupation. Some, on the other hand, also used the term “occupation” to describe the period starting in 1938 until the end of the Allied administration.

The Allied liberation was quickly forgotten. At the same time, it is true that the Soviet administration, above all, had deducted large assets as de facto spoils of war and as compensation for the destruction of the Soviet Union by the German Wehrmacht. It should, however, not be forgotten that hundreds of thousands of Austrians – both willingly and unwillingly – took part in Hitler Germany's wars of aggression.

Only after the Waldheim Affair were the differences between Nazi rule and the period of the Allied administration of Austria increasingly emphasised. Since 2013, the Festival of Joy commemorates Austria’s liberation from National Socialism.