740.00119 Control (Austria)/12–1646: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Smith)
2147. You requested, after consultation ur Brit colleague, who instructed take parallel action, deliver note following lines to Sov Fon Off and press for early reply:70
“Reference is made to the Resolution on Post-UNRRA Relief adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on Dec 11 which recognizes that some countries will continue to need assistance after the cessation of UNRRA operations and calls upon members of [Page 386] the United Nations to assist in furnishing relief when and where needed and to coordinate their respective relief programs and activities as far as possible.
The Allied Commission for Austria has in effect recognized that Austria will continue to need a considerable measure of relief. It is evident that there is special need to coordinate relief for Austria in view of fact that this country is still under quadripartite occupation. US Govt therefore approaching all occupying powers in order to ascertain whether they are prepared to contribute to post-UNRRA relief of Austria.
UK Govt has already indicated willingness to make £10,000,000 available for such relief. For its part US Govt prepared to make substantial contribution.
US Govt desires to see adoption of relief program for Austria as a whole. It believes that such a program can be adopted and carried out if all occupying powers agree to make appropriate contributions, to permit the free flow of indigenous and imported supplies throughout Austria, to abstain from consuming foodstuffs needed by the Austrian people and to create conditions enabling Austria to pay, by maximizing the export of Austrian products, for as large a portion as possible of its import requirements. The US Govt is convinced that such a program will greatly assist in achieving a “free and independent Austria” and attaining the “economic security” for the Austrian people to which the occupying powers pledged themselves in the Moscow Declaration of November 1, 1943.
In this connection US Govt notes with satisfaction Allied Commission for Austria agreed on Dec 13 on food distribution plan for Austria as a whole, but acknowledged at same time that indigenous food supplies together with assured imports would be insufficient to maintain the present ration in Austria until the 1947 harvest.
The US Govt is therefore confident that the foundation has now been laid for the adoption of a relief import program for Austria as a whole and that the Sov Govt, as well as the govts of other occupying powers, will now agree to instruct its authorities in Austria to participate in the formulation and implementation of such a program under the conditions noted above. Since the present UNRRA supply arrangements will be terminated in the near future, the US Govt trusts that this matter will receive the urgent attention of the Sov Govt.”
If Fon Off objects that UN Resolution mentioned above established Special Technical Committee to study relief import requirements, you should stress need to have requirements assessed first by AC on spot which could then inform Technical Committee.
Sent to Moscow, repeated to Paris as Dept’s 6486; to Vienna as Dept’s [1070] for info only.
[The termination of UNRRA’s operation in Austria had been planned for December 31, 1946. Long before this date, officers in the [Page 387] Department of State and in the War Department considered ways and means of continuing aid to Austria beyond this date.
In September 1946, Ludwig Kleinwaechter, the Austrian Political Representative in the United States, in a conversation with Mr. Clayton, expressed his Government’s concern about the Austrian situation upon termination of the UNRRA program. Whereupon Mr. Clayton assured him that the Department had the problem under consideration and was actively studying ways and means of alleviating the situation when UNRRA ceased.
The main problem was how to obtain financial assistance for Austria for 1947. There were several possibilities: a loan by the Export-Import Bank, the unfreezing of Austrian assets in the United States, the return of the pre-1938 gold holdings to Vienna. The Department of State explored and supported all these possibilities. In addition, it entered into discussions with other governments to secure contributions from them for a rehabilitation program for Austria. It also sponsored a request to Congress for a financial grant to help meet the balance of payment deficit that was likely to occur in Austria in 1947.
By December it had been established that the total import requirements of Austria for the calendar year 1947 would come to about $323.3 million. By that time, too, Great Britain had decided to extend up to £10 million in credits to Austria. France, the Soviet Union, Sweden, and Switzerland had likewise been approached to contribute to Austrian relief. Plans were also made for enabling legislation for global relief appropriations to be presented to Congress in January 1947.
Parallel to these plans were those of the War Department. As early as July 23, 1946, the Commanding General of the United States Forces in Austria inquired of Washington about supply plans for Austria after the termination of UNRRA. After much correspondence and serious consideration by the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee, the War Department agreed to assume responsibility for the civilian supply program for Austria for the first four months of 1947. Thus the immediate danger of a collapse of relief for Austria had been averted.]
- In telegram 4427, December 20, from Moscow, Ambassador Smith informed the Department that he had delivered the note to the Soviet Foreign Office on December 19 (740.00119 Control (Austria)/12–946).↩