The 1955 Austrian State Treaty: Neutrality and Rebirth

In April 1945, Vienna fell to the Red Army. Ten years later, the last Allied soldier left Austrian soil. How did a country crushed by war, divided into four occupation zones, and branded a 'perpetrator nation' negotiate its way back to independence? This episode of The History of Austria follows the twisting road from the Moscow Declaration of 1943, which called Austria Hitler's 'first victim,' through the grueling state treaty negotiations in the Cold War's shadow. We meet Foreign Minister Leopold Figl on the balcony of the Belvedere Palace, waving the treaty and crying 'Österreich ist frei!' We unpack the price of freedom: permanent neutrality, modeled on Switzerland, which Austria swore to uphold in its constitutional law. Along the way, we examine the controversial post-war narrative of victimhood, the unresolved burden of denazification, and the Südtirol question that Austria refused to trade. From the starving years of the occupation to the economic miracle of the 1950s, this is the story of how a small Alpine republic rebuilt itself and found a new identity — not as a great power, but as a neutral bridge between East and West. #AustrianStateTreaty #LeopoldFigl #BelvederePalace #MoscowDeclaration #ColdWar #Neutrality #ÖsterreichIstFrei #AlliedOccupation #SovietUnion #USA #Britain #France #SouthTyrol #Denazification #MarshallPlan #1950s #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo