Back to the future

At the level of everyday consciousness, the idea of ​​the Cold War in most cases is limited to a picture of the confrontation of the USSR and the USA. It happens that this representation is specified by the images of the North Atlantic Alliance and the organization of the Warsaw Treaty. Actually, not only the layman, but also representatives of Soviet historical science concentrated precisely on these moments of the world after the end of World War II. At the same time, the boundaries of attention remained the question of what the relations of the USSR with European countries, which were not included in NATO or the ATS.

Of particular interest in this sense is Austria - the country, which became the first victim of Hitler's aggression (Anschlus Austria in 1938 laid the foundation for the series of "annexes" of independent countries to the Great German Reich), which participated in the Second World War on the side of Germany, and after its end, bordering the so -called Warsaw Pact with several countries.

Clarification of the situation with the development of Soviet-Austrian relations in this saturated and extremely fundamental for understanding modern Europe was dedicated to the international round table "USSR and Austria during the Cold War (1945-1955)", which took place on May 30 at the Russian State Humanitarian University with the participation of representatives of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian State Archive of the latest history and the Institute for the Study of the Wars them. L. Boltsman (Austria).

The last round table is not the first event that speaks of a stable interest in the post-war Soviet-Austrian relations of Russian and Austrian historians. The conference with the countries of Central Europe was dedicated to the reassessment of the prevailing stereotypes about the relations of the USSR, held in Graz (Austria) last year. The round table at the RSUSU, as well as the conference "Soviet Union, Austria and the International Crisis of 1968" (May 31 - June 1, 2007, RSUSU), continued by historians of the innovation in the topic of Soviet -Austrian relations.

Participants in the round table agreed that the position of Austria in the post -war structure of Europe is very specific and is characterized by several positions. Firstly, at the end of the war, most of Austria was occupied by Soviet troops. However, Austria did not suffer the fate of the countries of Eastern Europe: instead of becoming one of the countries of the communist bloc under the pressure of the USSR, Austria gained independence. In July 1945, by agreement on the division of spheres of influence between the allies (USSR, Great Britain, USA, France), Soviet troops were withdrawn from Austria. Moreover, when discussing this issue in the USSR, it was I.V. Stalin, who in historical science has a reputation as an expansionist, a supporter of the unlimited advance of the USSR to the West, insisted on the withdrawal of troops.

Secondly, during the war and shortly after its end among the Soviet leadership, various plans arose regarding Austria: from the idea of ​​preserving Austria in the western sphere of influence (Voroshilov’s conciliation commission) to the idea of ​​dividing Austria between allies into zones of influence following the example of Germany. Meanwhile, during the post -war arrangement of Europe, neither the first nor the second idea was implemented. Austria was given the opportunity to revive their statehood, and not to participate in the Cold War.

Thirdly, the Russian (Alexei Filitov, Alexander Bezborodov) and the Austrian (Stefan Carner, Manfred Wilke, Peter Ruggener) historians unanimously noted the specific attitude of the USSR to Austria in connection with the issue of reparations. On the territory of Germany, as you know, the dismantling of enterprises and the removal of equipment in the USSR was carried out. The same fate, although to a much lesser extent, suffered the allies of Germany in the war. Austria, on the other hand, was given the right to pay through the supply of current products, thereby it avoided a more devastating method for paying reparations.

During the round table, a hot discussion ensued on the reasons for such a specific and, in general, uncharacterly soft for the USSR, the attitude to the country that participated in the war on the side of the opponents. This issue, according to the participants, is related to another issue, namely, with the question of the independence of the Austrian direction in Soviet foreign policy.

Historians expressed two opinions. According to the first, Austria’s policy must be considered in the context of Soviet-German relations and situations around Germany as a whole; Accordingly, it is unlawful to talk about the independence of the Austrian vector of Soviet politics (and this position was expressed by precisely the Austrian historians Stefan Carner and Peter Ruggener). Thus, the Austrian section was disadvantageous of the USSR due to the fact that this could lead to the accession of the western part of Austria to West Germany, which would contribute to the strengthening of the latter. Therefore, Soviet politicians preferred to see Austria with a neutral country.

The second opinion was voiced by Alexander Bezborodov and Olga Pavlenko: Austria was an excellent trading resource with former allies in burning German, Italian and Polish matters. And the USSR managed to successfully use this resource.

In Europe, torn by the confrontation between the "capitalist" and "communist" worlds, Austria was given the opportunity to take a neutral position. And she, having completed the task assigned to her during the Cold War, continues to carry the mission of the intermediary to this day. As you know, as part of the EU, Austria actively opens against the deployment of the American system in Europe, thereby voicing the position of Russia in the European Union.

Apparently, the latest developments of specialists in the Russian-Austrian relations of the Cold War period will give in the near future the conceptual justification of the modern position of Austria in Europe.