De-nazification in Austria

Barbara Stelzl-Marx

the role of the Soviet occupying forces

From the outset the Soviet occupying forces went their own, sometimes inconsistent, way with their de-nazification policy in Austria, which swung to and fro between mercy and persecution. Implementation of de-nazification was entrusted almost solely to Austrian agencies, but after the elections of November 1945 they also criticised both the Austrian government and the western occupying powers for their mild stance on the “Nazi question”.

Arrests of real or supposed Austrian war criminals as well as of Adolf Hitler's relatives was characteristic of the Soviet policy of de-nazification in Austria. These apparently arbitrary abductions to the Soviet Union have imprinted themselves deeply on the collective memory of the Austrian population.