I circulate, for consideration by the European Advisory Commission, the
annexed memorandum containing proposals for Control Machinery for
Austria.
[Annex]
Memorandum by the United
Kingdom Delegation to the European
Advisory Commission
Control Machinery for Austria
introduction
1. The present memorandum deals with the machinery of control which
will be required in Austria, and on the relation between such
machinery and that already proposed for Germany (E.A.C. (44) 3, 14
and 17).73
2. The three Powers have declared that they wish to see
re-established a free and independent Austria. It is therefore
desirable that the measures taken for the occupation and control of
Austria should be dissociated at the earliest possible moment from
those taken in regard to Germany.
policy for the control of austria
3. The United Kingdom Delegation propose that the higher control of
Austria shall be on a tripartite basis irrespective of the
nationality and relative strength of the occupying forces.
separation of austria from germany
4. In 1939 Austria ceased to exist as an administrative entity. The
central administrative machine in Vienna has disappeared. There is,
however, a head Criminal Police Office for Austria as a whole.
Mines, Airways, Waterways and Weights and Measures are also
administered centrally from Vienna. The various civil administrative
regions,
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Reichsgaue, into
which the country is divided, are largely self-contained, and
themselves deal with a great many aspects of civil administration.
As regards military organisation, Austria is divided into two
Wehrkreise. There are also two economic regions with the same
boundaries as the Wehrkreise and with headquarters at the same
places, namely, Vienna and Salzburg. Justice, Finance, Railways,
Posts and Telegraphs are administered direct from Berlin through
special local offices in Austria.
5. Since the purpose of the three Powers is to re-establish an
independent Austria, it will clearly be necessary to set up in
Austria, at the earliest practicable moment, a central
administrative machine. It will also be necessary to detach the
Austrian from the German administration, and to disentangle Austrian
life, and especially economic life, from that of Germany. This
latter task is likely to be both complicated and lengthy and
involves the planning of Austrian affairs on new and independent
lines.
6. In order to encourage the spirit of independence in Austria and to
differentiate her treatment from that meted out to Germany, it is
desirable that the Allied control machinery in Austria should be
from the start separate from, and not subject to, that set up in
Germany. For the same reason all contact between the Austrian
Reichsgaue and the German administration in Berlin should be severed
as soon as possible.
stages of control for austria
7. There are likely to be three stages of control in Austria:—
- Stage I.—The period immediately following the cessation of
hostilities.
- Stage II.—The period of Allied central Government.
- Stage III.—When an Austrian Government is
established.
Stage I.—The period
immediately following the cessation of hostilities.
8. For a period, supreme authority must rest with each
Commander-in-Chief in the area occupied by his forces. He would
exercise control of civil administration through his own civil
affairs organisation.
Stage II.—The period of
Allied central Government.
9. As soon as the Allied Commanders consider that conditions in
Austria permit, supreme authority should be transferred to a
tripartite Allied Commission in Vienna. The different civil affairs
organisations of the occupying forces would then be controlled by
this Commission. Initially, the Allied Commission should consist of
the three Allied Commanders. It is desirable, however, that the
military character of the Allied Government should not be emphasised
for longer than necessary, and that, as soon as the military
situation permits,
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the
Allied Commanders should be replaced by civilian commissioners.
10. The Allied Commanders would preserve the right of appeal to their
respective Governments and that of declaring a state of martial law
within their respective zones of occupation.
11. The Allied Commission in Vienna would have four main tasks:—
- (a)
- To enforce in Austria the application of the terms of
surrender.
- (b)
- To ensure that the government of Austria is carried
on.
- (c)
- To build up an Austrian administrative machine as rapidly
as possible.
- (d)
- To disentangle the Austrian from the German
administration.
Initially, the existing autonomy of the Reichsgaue on matters of
civil administration should be utilised, but should not be increased
as this might make it more difficult eventually to centralise
government in Vienna.
12. As soon as any department of a central Austrian administration
has been sufficiently established, it should take over its
particular function in Austria. The Allied Commission would then
work through it. Direct government by the Allied Commission would
thus progressively give place to indirect control. It is desirable
that this control should be relaxed as rapidly as conditions in
Austria allow, in order to encourage Austria to attain her
independence.
13. Organisation.—The proposed layout of the
Allied administrative machine is set out in the Appendix.74 The Commission
would require a number of sections, the heads of which would form an
Executive Committee of Control.
14. Personnel.—To preserve the tripartite
character of the control, it is desirable that the staffs of the
Allied Commission at the higher levels should be provided on a
three-Power basis. Other Allied personnel might also be associated
with the work of control.
15. United Nations Organisations.—The Allied
Commission would give local direction to the operations in Austria
of the various United Nations agencies, e.g., E.I.T.O.75
Stage III.—When an Austrian
Government is established.
16. It will probably take considerably longer for an Austrian
Government to emerge than to establish an Austrian administrative
machine. It may therefore be hoped that, by the time an indigenous
Government is able to function, the Austrian administration will be
in a large measure established. The nature and extent of Allied
control that will be required at this stage cannot be foreseen.
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relationship between the austrian and the
german control machinery
17. There will be a great many problems requiring concerted action in
both Austria and Germany. This will necessitate the closest liaison
between the Military or High Commission for Germany and the Allied
Commission for Austria. Direct contact will be required between the
sections of the control machinery in Austria and their corresponding
sections in Germany, and this will probably have to continue for
some time after the Austrian administration has been
established.
Furthermore, there will be a number of matters, e.g., the elimination
of Nazi laws, in which instructions drafted for Germany could
appropriately be applied to Austria. Such matters could be
transmitted to the appropriate Austrian authorities through the
Allied Commission for Austria.
In the case of disarmament the Control Commission for Germany will
have to co-ordinate the work in Germany and in Austria as may be
necessary.
preparatory planning
18. The United Kingdom Delegation recommend that a
British-American-Soviet planning body, and nucleus staffs, should be
set up at an early date. This body, working within the agreed
directives to the Allied Commanders and, of necessity, in close
co-operation with their staffs, would undertake the detailed
planning for the establishment of a central administrative machine
in Vienna. It is important that it should work in conjunction with
the similar body which it is proposed to set up in London to
undertake similar planning for Germany (see paragraph 19 of
memorandum enclosed in E.A.C. (44) 17).
