Die sowjetische Besatzung in Österreich 1945–1955 und ihre politische Mission (review)

This book is a major contribution to the historiography of the Allied occupation of Austria in 1945–1955, especially to our understanding of Soviet goals, policies, and behavior in the immediate aftermath of World War II and during the initial decade of the Cold War. Until recently, scholars interested in this fascinating period of twentieth-century history had to depend almost entirely on Western sources to gain insights into the Soviet Union’s erratic behavior in Austria. This limitation made it nearly impossible to acquire any deep sense of the interactions between Soviet officials and the leaders of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) or of the exchanges between the Soviet occupation authorities and Moscow. Until the 1990s, the Soviet archives remained closed to ordinary researchers. Even now, some of the most important archives pertaining to Soviet foreign policy—the Russian Presidential Archive, the foreign intelligence archive, and the Federal Security Service archive—are off-limits. Nonetheless, sizable collections of declassified documents were made available at other archives in Moscow in recent years, and these materials have enabled Wolfgang Mueller to shed valuable light on important aspects of the Soviet occupation of Austria.

Mueller began his research in Russia in 2001 while working on his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Vienna. From then until he finished the dissertation in 2004, he spent three to four months each year in Moscow working in the archives. The specific archives in which he unearthed useful material were the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVPRF), the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO), the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI), and the Russian State Archive for Social and Political History (RGASPI).

With the help of file-level finding aids in RGASPI, Mueller was able to locate declassified documents on Austrian affairs from senior Communist Party officials, including Vyacheslav Molotov, Andrei Zhdanov, Georgi Dimitrov, Mikhail Suslov, and even Josif Stalin. With these new sources, Mueller has considerably enriched the historiography by recounting heretofore unknown events and filling in some gaps in our knowledge. The book deepens our understanding of how the Soviet Union and the KPÖ interacted in their continuing attempts to weaken the West and establish a Soviet-friendly “People’s Front.” Mueller provides useful examples of how Moscow and the KPÖ collaborated to strengthen the Communist movement and to discredit non-Communist political parties and other influential segments of Austrian society (p. 70).

The book consists of an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusion. Although the book regrettably has no index, the comprehensive bibliography demonstrates the thoroughness with which Mueller has pursued his work. In an appendix, he includes the translation of several interesting documents, including a summary blueprint outlining the immediate objectives of the Political Group for Austrian Affairs. Another document summarizes the 1952 decisions by the Soviet Council of Ministers setting forth the role and functions of the Soviet Element to the Allied Council. The composition of the Soviet Element is detailed in another document, dated November 1948, supplementing a list of key officials and a chart laying out the organizational structure and key staff members. Another document provides a list of Soviet High Commissioners and political commissars during the entire period of the occupation, 1945–1955.

The questions posed in the introduction alert the reader to Mueller’s interest in the political goals of the Soviet occupation forces when they first entered Vienna in 1945, and in the political motivations that governed Soviet behavior over the ensuing decade of tense ties with the Western powers. He is quick to warn readers that many of the most important and revealing documents pertaining to the Soviet occupation are still not available and that some important questions can still not be answered in full. For example, nearly all of Stalin’s personal files concerning foreign policy, military affairs, and...