863.00/12–1045
Memorandum of Conversation Between General Mark W. Clark and Ing. Leopold Figl 44
Ing. Figl, who had been entrusted by the Political Cabinet with the formation of a new Austrian Government following the national elections of November 25, 1945, presented himself at General Clark’s office without previous announcement and was immediately received by the General. He handed the General a signed copy of a letter dated December 8, 1945, which he had sent to the Allied Council giving the names of the members of the new Cabinet together with a brief covering letter of the same date addressed to General Clark. (Translations of these communications are attached.)45
Mr. Figl started in by saying that he hoped the Allied Commission, at its meeting on December 10, would approve the Cabinet so that it could get to work. He stressed the point that he hoped that the Nationalrat and the Bundesrat could be called together by December 17, and proceed with the election of a President so that the Government could be officially installed and operating by Christmas. He asked for [Page 677] General Clark’s support to this end, and the General said that he would do everything that he could to help. General Clark pointed out, however, that the Allied Council itself would only have authority to give its approval to the Cabinet and make a recommendation to the Governments of the occupying powers that recognition be extended to the new government.
In response to a question, Mr. Figl stated that it had been agreed that Dr. Renner would be elected President, and he had no doubts that he would accept.
General Clark said that he could give no assurances, of course, as to what action the Council would take because there was the definite possibility that the Soviets might object to one or more names on the list. The General added that the Soviets were surprised and disappointed at the result of the elections and they would probably scan carefully the list of the new Cabinet. He furthermore stated that a few days ago he had visited Marshal Koniev at Baden where the matter of the new government had been discussed and at that time he had assured Marshal Koniev that if there were any Nazis or Fascists proposed as members of the new government he would certainly support action looking toward their removal. Mr. Figl said that there were no such people in the new Cabinet and that nearly all of them had long concentration camp records.
General Clark said that he wanted to speak quite frankly with Mr. Figl about certain matters, and one of them was that it must be clearly understood that the Allied Council would remain the supreme authority in Austria. Mr. Figl agreed, but he pointed out that the Government must have power in administrative and economic matters throughout Austria so that it could go ahead with its work. To this General Clark replied that he was in accord and furthermore said his position was that the Government should be given more and more authority as it showed that it was capable of efficient functioning. In this connection, General Clark pointed out that he was quite certain that there would be a change in Soviet policy as follows: During the life of the Renner Government the Soviets had constantly supported the idea of giving the Government more authority and the Allied Council less, whereas now he felt that the Soviets would want to give the Government less authority and the Allied Council more.
General Clark told Mr. Figl that he was doing everything he could in the way of working out an agreement for the reduction of Allied troops. This pleased Mr. Figl very much. Mr. Figl estimated that there were between 700,000 and 800,000 Soviet troops in the country and said that it would be so much better for Austria if the total number of troops of all powers were reduced to 100,000. Mr. Figl made it quite clear that he did not expect the reduction to take the form of each power having the same number of troops in Austria. The most that [Page 678] he hoped for was a percentage reduction which would bring the total number down without equalization.
There followed a discussion of the food situation in Austria and Mr. Figl described the situation in Lower Austria as catastrophic. General Clark said that he fully realized this and that he had sent a personal message to Governor Lehman46 and was working constantly to the end of getting an adequate UNRRA program started in Austria. The General said that in the British, French, and American zones conditions were better than in Lower Austria but even in the three western zones the people had a very low standard of living, barely sufficient to get them through the winter. He said it was no solution to the problem to pull food out of the west and give it to Lower Austria as this would only have the effect of pulling everybody down to extremely low living standards. The General frankly stated that he would not lower the standards in the American zone in order to provide food for Lower Austria because the United States felt a responsibility for its zone and he was going to meet this responsibility.
General Clark said confidentially to Mr. Figl that if at times he might appear to be critical of the Soviets it was only because he was trying to be helpful and that to get anywhere he had to employ different strategies on different occasions. He said that it was his practice to talk just as frankly with Marshal Koniev as he talked with Mr. Figl and he said that this had resulted in the development of the very best of relations between him and the Marshal. General Clark emphasized that one must bear in mind at all times that four-power cooperation and unity were absolutely essential in the interests of Austria, and he told Mr. Figl that the Austrian Government on its part should do everything to make such cooperation easier and not harder. Mr. Figl indicated 100% understanding of this viewpoint, and said that such would be the policy of the Government.
The conversation closed on an extremely cordial note by General Clark’s saying that his door was always open to Mr. Figl and that he wanted Mr. Figl to come and see him any time and tell him about the Government’s problems. The General said that he would always be disposed to help in any way that was in his power. Mr. Figl expressed deep appreciation and made some extremely complimentary remarks to General Clark about the latter’s great prestige in Austria and the feeling of high respect and admiration possessed by all Austrians for the General’s outstanding work and accomplishments.