Diplomatic Games: Sport, Statecraft, and International Relations since 1945

11. Reclaiming the Slopes

11 Reclaiming the Slopes sport and tourism in postwar austria Wanda Ellen Wakefield although the task of fighting and defeating the war machines of nazi Germany and the Japanese empire was daunting for the United states, the struggle to ensure postwar peace and prosperity proved to be a significant challenge as well. when the war ended, both Germany and Japan lay in ruins, and much of the rest of europe had been devastated by long years of combat. although Us authorities might have wished to quickly end the occupations of the conquered countries and bring the troops back home (something that the soldiers and sailors themselves certainly desired ), postwar exigencies required a commitment to an extended american presence. europeans and asians would not be allowed to starve while the United states had the means to feed them. nor would their economies be allowed to founder while washington had the ability to invest in their recovery. in addition, the United states would not sit idly by and allow the expansion of communist influence in western europe while it had the ability to demonstrate the benefits of capitalism and democracy. soldiers, sailors, civilian administrators, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations from the United states therefore became key actors in the postwar recovery and symbols of american resolve. one site for this work was austria, which, like Germany, was divided among the four victorious 361 362 wanda ellen wakefield powers (United states, soviet Union, Great britain, and france) and occupied from 1945 to 1955. sport historian rudolph mullner has recently argued that in many ways skiing was already established as a national sport in austria before world war ii. after the war, the restoration of austria’s ski tourism industry was crucial to the improvement of the postwar economy but also to the development of a national identity replete with optimism about the future. Therefore, the reporting in newspapers and on radio during the late 1940s and 1950s about austria’s ski heroes offered hope where previously there had been none. Then, when anton sailer swept the gold medals at the 1956 winter olympic Games in cortina d’ampezzo, italy, he became the representative of a new forward-thinking austria ready to show the world its finest qualities.1 yet none of this would have been possible absent the work of american occupation authorities who realized the importance of ski tourism to the austrian economy and the austrian people. when american troops arrived in austria at the end of world war ii, they found an enormous task ahead of them. in may 1945 they encountered tens of thousands of displaced persons who needed care immediately . They also discovered nazi troops who needed to be disarmed and repatriated. most important for the future of that alpine country, soldiers from the Us army’s forty-second infantry Division and their comrades faced the enormous challenge of feeding and housing not only themselves but also the austrian people. in the short run, food and housing received the most attention, but as the emergent situation stabilized, american troops—along with their british and french counterparts— began the long project of rebuilding the austrian economy and integrating it into the emerging western economic system. by 1948 the marshall plan would provide funds to the austrian government to accelerate that process. initially, however, the effort to restore and rebuild the country fell to the military forces that had originally been tasked with occupying the defeated country. but as the historian James Jay carafano suggests, the americans who undertook their postwar work in austria in 1945 did so with little direct guidance from washington.2 There has been considerable attention paid recently to the problem of displaced persons in the wake of world war ii.3 They included refugees from the red army and communism; concentration camp survivors and reclaiming the slopes 363 slave laborers from the balkans, france, and other German-occupied territories who had been forced to work for the nazi war machine; and thousands of ordinary citizens affected by the fighting. The displaced persons in the american zone of occupation became the responsibility of the military governments until they figured out where to go now that they were free to make their own decisions. The commander of the forty-second infantry Division, maj. Gen. Harry J. collins, reported after the winter of 1945–1946 that the United states had established 121 large camps offering food and...