Red-White-Red Book

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The Red-White-Red Book, 1946

The Red-White-Red Book (subtitle: Justice for Austria! ) Is a collection of documents from the period from 1933 to 1945 commissioned by the Austrian Foreign Ministry in 1946. It represents the role of the State of Austria before the annexation to the German Reich and the events during the Second World War and should thereby support the foreign policy position of the then government towards the Allied occupying powers . The book was also aimed at the Austrian population and wanted to strengthen patriotism towards the young Second Republic. Today it is a highly controversial work in history and political science because it depicts the state of Austria as a country that was forcibly occupied by the German Reich and fails to mention the involvement of many Austrian citizens in the crimes of National Socialism.

Emergence

In April 1946, Foreign Minister Karl Gruber (ÖVP) sent a circular to all authorities and offices in all federal states to send documents and statistical material from the period from 1933 to 1945 to the Ministry in Vienna, as it was very urgent to the world public and the to be able to present to the allied occupying powers a documentation of the role of Austria during this time, provided with scientific evidence. This circular would be sent to the provincial governors, who then commissioned the authorities subordinate to them. In the received letter from Vorarlberg Governor Ulrich Ilg to the departments subordinate to him, he also describes quite openly the intention behind this work, which is to be created as quickly as possible (quote):

" The purpose of this presentation is to substantiate the facts and to consolidate your general knowledge that Austria was overwhelmed by acts of violence and terror and, as an occupied territory deprived of all free will, was forced into the service of the National Socialist aggression and war policy and therefore, like all of them other occupied states cannot be held responsible for the actions and effects of this policy . "

- Vorarlberger Landesarchiv (henceforth: VLA): District Administrator Feldkirch 021/0: Circular LH Ilg, Bregenz April 8, 1946, Zl. Prs-PR 86/2

Within just a few weeks, as many documents and statistical material as possible, as well as statements from witnesses and former resistance fighters, were collected in order to publish this book in the same year. Originally it was to be printed under the title Red Book , referring to a tradition of administration from the time of the monarchy. At that time the various great powers had published certain specialist books with documents of their secret diplomacy for political purposes, the slang name often being based on the color of the cover. Great Britain published "blue books" at that time, France "yellow books", the German Empire "white books" and Austria-Hungary published "red books" from 1868 onwards. A series of red books printed in 1915 to justify the outbreak of the First World War was also published in a “popular edition” and the aim was to build on this tradition.

This “Red Book” was published, probably to avoid any associations with communism, finally as a red-white-red book with the subtitle Justice for Austria! Representations, documents and evidence on the prehistory and history of the occupation of Austria (based on official sources) . The envelope was in the colors of the Austrian flag in red-white-red. The purpose of this work published by the State Printing Office was, according to the preface:

“ To portray the fate and attitude of Austria during the twelve-year period of the Third Reich and to justify its claim to the status and treatment as a 'liberated state' in the sense of the Moscow Declaration. "

- Red-White-Red Book. Justice for Austria! Representations, documents and evidence on the prehistory and history of the occupation of Austria (based on official sources). Vienna 1946, p. 3 (foreword)

Originally this work, which had been compiled in a hurry, was supposed to appear in the summer of 1946, but the state printing house's lack of electricity and paper delayed printing by a few months. This gave the responsible authorities the opportunity to incorporate additional documents and, above all, to design the text even more in line with the interests of the federal government, because since the second control agreement of June 28, 1946, the parliament and the authorities had a little more leeway from the allies Occupying powers and were able to act somewhat more freely.

content

The coat of arms of the Republic of Austria, which has been valid in this form since 1945

The "Red-White-Red Book", which was printed as the first volume in a series that never came into being, finally appeared in December 1946. It comprises 224 pages and contains a number of different documents from the period from 1933 to 1945, which were printed in facsimile , as well as narrative texts that should bring the reader closer to the perspective of the federal government on the past few years. The new national coat of arms is also depicted on the cover of the book, the federal eagle with the broken chains added in 1945.

With reference to the Moscow Declaration, the book provides a number of arguments and reasons why the state of Austria should be seen as a victim of National Socialism, which was forcibly occupied by the German Reich. The Red-White-Red Book also contains a specifically Austrian presentation of the events of the past few years , which are explained in more detail using individual points highlighted. In addition, there is a detailed documentation of the various resistance groups that existed in Austria during National Socialism, with particular mentioning of the O5, which were more bourgeois-minded people and groups close to the socialists. Soldiers who deserted from the Wehrmacht, who were able to hide successfully or who partly joined partisans, as well as communist resistance groups are not mentioned in the book, or only very marginally.

Another line of argument in the book points to the massive, politically motivated layoffs and forced retirement in the public service immediately after the Anschluss. It is reported that six out of eleven officers and 154 out of a total of 1,281 civil servants in the Styrian government were dismissed in March 1938 and a further 587 were transferred to other posts. For the whole of Germany, the Red-White-Red Book gives the following numbers of layoffs after the Anschluss:

  • in the Federal Chancellery 238
  • in the security service 3,600
  • in the judicial service 1.035
  • in education 2.281
  • in financial services 651
  • in the postal service 1,467

These not inconsiderable figures were partially confirmed by later studies, although the Red-White-Red Book does not mention that a certain number of civil servants were later re-employed due to the difficulty of finding competent replacements. It is admitted, however, that in the Styrian administration in 1940, 70% of the civil servants from the First Republic still made up the core of the public servants.

Another detailed point is the German economic policy during the Second World War and the expropriations of Austrian state property and the property of individual citizens carried out during this period. This was intended to prevent the Soviet occupying power from taking over former property of the German Reich (see USIA ). The narrative parts of the book appeal to the Austrian patriotism of the citizens and provide them with arguments and perspectives in order to understand the past events. However, some statements in the book are more than euphemistic in this regard, such as: B .:

“ The attitude of the Austrian population towards the Hitler War was negative from the very beginning, unless they hoped that its outcome would be the only way to get rid of the Nazi yoke. "

- Red-White-Red Book. quoted from Heidemarie Uhl

The Red-White-Red Book provides the following explanation on the role of former Austrian citizens in the German Wehrmacht and other armed organizations, which is based on the text of the Austrian Declaration of Independence:

" That the National Socialist Reich government of Adolf Hitler led the powerless and willless people of Austria into a pointless and hopeless war of conquest that no Austrian has ever wanted ."

- Red-White-Red Book. quoted from Heidemarie Uhl

All in all, the main aim of the book is to prove and document the Austrian participation required by the Moscow Declaration and, in the opinion of the authors, also carried out in order to provide the government with political arguments that can be used directly against the Allies.

rating

The Red-White-Red Book is an important contemporary document, the content and effect of which, however, are sometimes highly controversial today. At the time of its creation, it was conceived as a political work that wanted to give more weight to certain arguments through documents and historical explanations, but at the same time claimed scientific or at least official quality, see the subtitle: Representations, documents and evidence on the prehistory and history of the occupation Austria (according to official sources) . At the same time it tried to strengthen the Austrian patriotism in the population and to offer the people explanations for the terrible events of the past years, but from a shortened and specifically Austrian point of view. Although the red-white-red book was created by the bourgeoisie under the patronage of Foreign Minister Karl Gruber (ÖVP), it also reflects the view of the SPÖ at the time and even takes up arguments from the Austrian communist Alfred Klahr . It was part of a series of measures taken by the government at the time to deliberately delimit the new state from the German Reich and also to work out an ideological differentiation. For example, at that time the subject of German was officially referred to as the “language of instruction” in schools in order to avoid the term “German” as much as possible.

Despite the scientific claim of the book, however, it cannot be regarded as a comprehensive historical review of the period between 1933 and 1945. On the one hand, the printed documents and texts were deliberately selected in order to meet the political requirements, and on the other hand, the research time of a few months alone was not sufficient to create a well-rounded documentation that would be comparable to the result of a historian's commission. In addition, at the time of publication, just a year and a half had passed since the end of World War II.

The contemporary criticism at that time came most likely from parts of the Austrian communists who had not yet given up hope of coming to power in Austria in a democratic way. The main intention of the book at the time was to provide political arguments for the state treaty negotiations that began in January 1947, with the aim of making Austria a sovereign state again, independent of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, it also took up the official positions of the USA and the British Foreign Office , which were interested in an Austrian state that clearly distinguishes itself from Germany.

Most of all, the line of argument in the Red-White-Red Book at that time contradicted the German national perspective, in which it aggressively deconstructed the ethnic unity of the Austrians with the Germans. Due to the prohibition and war crimes law passed in 1945, the government and thus also the authors of the book did not have to take any political consideration of this group, as around 800,000 former members of the NSDAP and other National Socialist military associations were excluded from active and passive voting rights.

Criticism from the right

Above all, the Red-White-Red Book contradicted the views of those Austrians who still felt they were members of the German people. These people saw the book's view as a betrayal of the German nation and suspected political pressure from the Allied occupying powers. However, little public criticism was voiced because these people did not want to expose themselves politically in order not to come to court in the course of denazification . However, this changed in the time after the publication of the Red-White-Red Book. In the next National Council elections in 1949 , a large number of these 800,000 former National Socialists, who had previously been excluded from the right to vote, were eligible to vote again, and the candidate parties began to vie for their votes. One of the effects of this political change was the fact that, contrary to previous announcements, a second part of the Red-White-Red Book was never printed. The first part, published in December 1946, remained, of which, apart from an English translation from January 1947, a reprint was never made.

On the other hand, there is practically no criticism of the Red-White-Red Book from the Christian-conservative side. Individual statements and lines of argument from it are still taken up today in political discussions about Austria's recent past. It was not until March 10, 2008, during a commemoration organized by the ÖVP on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, that Otto Habsburg once again expressed his view of history and the role of the state of Austria as the first victim of National Socialism and so that practically the statements of the Red-White-Red Book repeated one to one, which was appreciated by the assembled ÖVP with standing applause and occasional cheers. ÖVP club boss Wolfgang Schüssel relativized the comments somewhat in a subsequent speech.

Criticism from links

The main criticism of the statements in the book today comes from groups that are more left and decidedly anti-fascist. These people see in the Red-White-Red Book the origin of the " victim myth " cultivated to this day , which negates the responsibility of Austria and many Austrians for the crimes of National Socialism. The Red-White-Red Book is rejected as a work of political propaganda and seen as a bad example of the trivialization of history in post-war Austria.

The above-mentioned renewed reference by Otto Habsburg to Austria's victim role in World War II as expressed in the Red-White-Red Book sparked severe criticism from the SPÖ and the Greens. The social democratic Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos strongly condemned the remarks. At the official memorial event of the republic on March 12, 2008 in the parliament building, National Council President Barbara Prammer (also SPÖ) gave an indirect answer to Habsburg's interpretation of history by relentlessly portraying the role of perpetrators of many Austrians, speaking of the Austrians, but Habsburg expressly described the state of Austria as a victim .

Professional criticism

On the part of historical studies, the Red-White-Red Book is rejected as a non-scientific work, as it presents the events in Austria between 1933 and 1945 in a shortened and selective manner. However, the authenticity of the printed documents is not questioned, and therefore the Red-White-Red Book is still frequently quoted in historical and political science papers. As a research object, the red-white-red book has only attracted interest in the last few years, but to date no scientific work has been published that explicitly only deals with the genesis and reception of the red-white-red book employed. Interestingly, some of the historical publications that are partly concerned with the book come from the USA and refer to the English translation " Red-White-Red-Book, Justice for Austria! " Published in early 1947 .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vorarlberger Landesarchiv documentation material from the occupation (PDF; 1.0 MB), page 8
  2. ↑ Vorarlberger Landesarchiv documentation material from the occupation (PDF; 1.0 MB), page 11
  3. ↑ Rot-Weiß-Rot-Buch, page 205f., Quoted from Alexander Mejstrik: Occupational damage in the National Socialist reorganization of work - from Austrian professional life in 1934 to völkisch creativity 1938-1940; Vienna: Oldenbourg, 2004, 703 pp., ISBN 3-7029-0524-3 ; Can be viewed at Google Books, p. 343  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / books.google.at  
  4. ↑ Rot-Weiß-Rot-Buch, page 77, quoted from Alexander Mejstrik: Occupational damage in the National Socialist reorganization of work - from Austrian professional life in 1934 to national work 1938-1940; Vienna: Oldenbourg, 2004, 703 pp., ISBN 3-7029-0524-3 ; Can be viewed at Google Books, p. 311  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / books.google.at  
  5. ↑ Rot-Weiß-Rot-Buch, page 130 ff, quoted from Alexander Mejstrik: Occupational damage in the National Socialist reorganization of work - from Austrian professional life in 1934 to national work 1938-1940; Vienna: Oldenbourg, 2004, 703 pp., ISBN 3-7029-0524-3 ; can be viewed at Google Books, p. 324  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / books.google.at  
  6. ^ A b Alfred Klahr Society, Heidemarie Uhl: The Moscow Declaration and Austria's Dealing with the "Victim Thesis"
  7. ↑ Peter Utgaard: Remembering and Forgetting Nazism , page 29, quote: The victim myth was further elaborated as a political doctrine by both Austria's provisional government and its first postwar elected government in an annotated collection of documents, Justice for Austria! Red-White-Red-Book , published 1946. The Foreign Office had taken the lead in the summer of 1945, arguing against the "annexation" theory of the connection. Instead, it put forth the view that Austria had been "occupied and liberated".
  8. ↑ Habsburg advocates Austria's role as a victim, Ö1 Abendjournal ( Memento from March 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Darabos calls for the ÖVP to distance itself from Habsburg, derstandard.at on March 10, 2008