740.00119 Control (Austria)/12–1446: Telegram
The United States High Commissioner in Austria (Clark) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff68
priority
P–6415
[Received December 15—5:34 a.m.]
Regular session of Allied Council on 13 December was characterized by an unusual spirit of cooperation and desire to reach unanimous agreement on the three major items which comprised the agenda and by complete reversal by the Soviet member of the positions previously taken by his element on these highly controversial matters. It was [Page 384] the most successful meeting of the Council in many months, as is evidenced by the fact that a communiqué was issued for the first time since 28 June 1946.
On the question of denazification of Austrian higher institutions of learning, the Council agreed on resolution taking cognizance of the action already taken by the Federal government and declaring that denazification of such institutions was a matter to be carried out by the Federal government under supervision of the Allied Commission. The Council instructed the Internal Affairs and Education Directorates of the Allied Commission to hasten the denazification of faculty members and asked the Federal government to submit a report by 15 February on the results achieved in the denazification of students under the provisions of a decree promulgated by the Federal Minister of Education on 6 December.
That part of the original Soviet proposal which called for the closing of the institutions until denazification could be completed was not raised again by the Soviet member and was not adopted. The Council’s action this question followed a recent disturbance at the University of Vienna in connection with student elections.
Final agreement was reached on the new denazification law passed by the Austrian Parliament on 24 July and which, for many months, has been the subject of much discussion and controversy in the lower echelons of the Allied Commission. A considerable number of amendments, many of which tend to make the law more strict, had already been agreed by the Executive Committee. These were accepted by the Council. Complete agreement was accomplished when all elements adopted a United States-proposed provision requiring that implicated Nazis considered dangerous to the security of Austria and who might be arrested and confined in detention camps have the right to habeas corpus proceedings, hearing before a proper tribunal and other rights guaranteed under existing Austrian law. The United States High Commissioner had held out alone against a Soviet proposal which was supported by the British and French, that would have deprived individuals thrown into detention camps of their personal liberty without the right of trial or judicial hearing.
The denazification law now goes back to the Austrian Government for implementation of the Allied Council decisions. Its promulgation will constitute a major step toward the completion of denazification in Austria, and, since there was unanimity on the question, should remove one of the Soviet objections to the consideration of an Austrian peace treaty.
With respect to the question of food supply in Austria, the long standing deadlock caused by the uncompromising attitude of the [Page 385] Soviets was finally broken when the Soviet member joined with the other three elements in agreeing to a resolution which included substantially all the points which the United States High Commissioner has been insisting upon for many months. The resolution provides for a complete pooling of Austrian indigenous food resources with unhampered access to such resources guaranteed to the Federal government by all the occupying powers.
The resolution provides also that food imported from any source will be pooled and placed at the disposal of the Austrian Government for distribution throughout all of Austria in accordance with monthly food plans formulated by the Federal government and approved by the Allied Council. It was further stipulated that the food ration scale would be uniform throughout Austria so long as the scale remains above 1200 calories daily and that if the scale drops below that figure the food situation will be reconsidered by the Allied Council. This provision was proposed by the United States High Commissioner but had been heretofore strongly opposed by the Soviets, British and French.
As a result of these agreements it is hoped that the Austrian food problem can now be solved so as to assure a fair and equitable distribution of food throughout all the occupation zones and the city of Vienna. The maintenance of a ration scale not only up to the existing 1550 calorie level but also higher than a 1200 calorie level is still, however, absolutely dependent on my having control of the 60,000 tons of wheat, as previously pointed out in my cables November P–6174 and P–6311 and December P–6380.69