# What Was The Status of Austria in 1945? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408 "2010-09-28T23:37:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/1 "2010-09-28T23:37:49Z")
Did the US government recognize the annexation of Austria (by Germany) in 1938? I’m wondering if Austria was accorded some special treatment because it was never acknowledged to be a part of the 3rd Reich? I know that the Russians insisted on a rather long occupation, and Austria had to be a neutral nation after the war. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/2 "2010-09-28T23:43:57Z")
See wiki: > **[Allied Commission | Austria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_Commission_for_Austria#Austria)** > > The creation of an Allied Commission for Austria was envisaged by Allied leaders at the various sessions of the European Advisory Commission in 1944. The matter became more pressing following the Soviet takeover of Vienna from German control on April 13, 1945. The Soviet authorities in Vienna decided to establish a new Austrian government without prior consultation with the other Allied leaders, and on April 27, the Austrian socialist leader Karl Renner formed a government in Vienna. The British,... Also, as to the first part of your question, wiki says: > [@](#): > > Austria, in general, was treated as though it had been originally invaded by Germany and liberated by the Allies.[50] > **[Austria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria)** > > Austria,\[e\] formally the Republic of Austria,\[f\] is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, of which the capital Vienna is the most populous city and state. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country occupies an area of 83,879 km2 (32,386 sq mi) and has a ... ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/3 "2010-09-28T23:50:58Z")
Also, according to this, _Newsweek_ at the time said that the US had basically recognized Anscluss, but it appears that the government was deliberately vague in its statements, although they eventually acknowledged the reality of the result. > **[Austria in World War II](https://books.google.com/books?id=I7dhlsGPtyMC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=did%2Bthe%2Bus%2Brecognize%2Banschluss&source=bl&ots=U5fcnG0Q4_&sig=EmO8KP1W_NzIXEOwd30kpZggLRc&hl=en&ei=pH6iTI2cIYSglAfxudn-BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=did%20the%20us%20recognize%20anschluss&f=false)** > > Not only does Keyserlingk show that Great Britain and the US recognized the Anschluss both in fact and in law throughout the war, he also reveals the growing importance of propaganda as a tool of government. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/4 "2010-09-29T01:29:03Z")
The Allies – and this includes the Soviets – decided (I think at Yalta) that Austria would be treated as an early victim of Nazi aggression, not as a participant, and this of course suited the Austrians extremely well in the post-war years. Austria, like Germany, was divided into four occupation zones, as was Vienna. There was, however, a multiparty Austrian government, established effectively by the Soviets (who got there first) and later recognised by the Western Allies. The Austrian government declared an annulment of the _Anschluss_ and claimed to govern under the pre-Anschluss Austrian constitution, but subject to the four-power military occupation. This government concluded a treaty with the Allies in 1955 which ended the occupation and completed the restoration of Austrian independence. As to whether the US “recognised” the annexation in 1938, diplomatic recognition is mostly not so much a question of pontificating about what ought to have happened as of discerned what has actually happened. The Anschluss was a practical reality and the international community, including the US, acknowledged it as such. The US did not, for example, attempt to continue to send ambassadors to Vienna, or instruct its consular staff in Berlin not to afford consular services to Americans in the former Austrian territory. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/5 "2010-09-29T07:19:08Z")
The film _The Third Man_ shows how Vienna was divided up between the four Allied powers. There is one shot showing a Jeep with American, British, French and Soviet military policemen riding round the town together. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/6 "2010-09-29T08:02:39Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > The film _The Third Man_ shows how Vienna was divided up between the four Allied powers. They could take Austria’s self-determination but they could never take her zithers! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-status-of-austria-in-1945/555408/7 "2010-09-29T12:26:25Z")
Thanks for the replies. I was wondering, because the US government never recognized the annexation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (by the USSR). But I never heard of an Austrain ambassador still in Washington, in 1944.