Austria · 50 years State Treaty

After the “Anschluss” of Austria to the National Socialist German Reich in March 1938, Austria no longer existed as an independent state until the end of the Second World War. The Republic was re-established in April 1945. However, the country initially remained occupied by the four Allied powers and was divided into occupation zones; Vienna was also divided into four sectors. An Allied Commission exercised control rights, meaning that the Austrian federal government could act with only limited sovereignty.

Negotiations on a treaty-based restoration of state independence dragged on for years. One major reason was the beginning of the Cold War: the Western Allies and the Soviet Union were unable to reach agreement for a long time on the political and security-policy conditions. The breakthrough came in 1955 through an Austrian government delegation in Moscow. Austria held out the prospect of permanent neutrality based on the model of Switzerland. However, this was not laid down in the State Treaty itself, but was later adopted through a separate Federal Constitutional Law.

The treaty restored Austria as a sovereign, independent and democratic state. Among other things, it regulated the withdrawal of the occupation forces, prohibited a political or economic union with Germany and contained provisions against National Socialist organisations. It also guaranteed certain rights to the Slovenian and Croatian minorities. After it entered into force, the last Allied soldiers left the country in October 1955.

Leopold Figl was initially Federal Chancellor of the re-established Republic and later Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, he was involved in the final negotiations. The presentation of the treaty at Vienna’s Schloss Belvedere is associated with the statement “Austria is free!”

The anniversary lent itself to a commemorative coin because, in Austria’s understanding of its history, the State Treaty stands for the end of the occupation period and the regaining of full freedom of action as a state. In Austria, the year 2005 was also used for extensive public discussion of the anniversaries of 1945 and 1955.