1st Edition

The Marshall Plan in Austria

By Anton Pelinka Copyright 2000
    598 Pages
    by Routledge

    588 Pages
    by Routledge

    Perhaps no country benefitted more from the Marshall Plan for assistance in reconstruction of Europe after World War II than Austria. On a per capita basis, each American taxpayer invested $80 per person in the Plan; each Austrian received $133 from the European recovery program, more than any other of the sixteen participating countries. Without the Marshall Plan, the Austrian economic miracle of the 1950s would have been unthinkable. Despite this, contemporary Austria seems to have forgotten this essential American contribution to its postwar reconstruction. This volume in the Contemporary Austrian Studies series examines how the plan affected Austria, and how it is perceived today.The political context of the Marshall Plan in Austria is addressed in essays by Jill Lewis and Matthew Berg. Dieter Stiefer describes the vast Soviet economic exploitation of their Austrian occupation zone. Andrea Komlosy shows how the Marshall Plan helped complete the division of Europe. Siegfried Beer suggests the secret involvement of the CIA in the Marshall Plan, while Hans J³rgen Schr÷der analyzes the effectiveness of Marshall Plan propaganda programs in Germany and Austria.The macroeconomic impact of Marshall Plan funds on Austrian economic policy is outlined by Hans Seidel. Kurt Tweraser, Georg Rigele and G³nter Bischof suggest the microeconomic importance of funds for the steel, electricity and tourist sectors of the Austrian economy. Wilhelm Kohler's sweeping analysis compares the American transfer of funds to postwar Europe with current debates about the cost of European Union enlargement. The legacy of the Marshall Plan is addressed by former Austrian Finance Minister Ferdinand Lacina. Kurt Loffler and Hans Fubenegger summarize the activities of the Economic Recovery Program Fund. Coming on the heels of the fiftieth anniversary of the Marshall Plan, this compelling overview of the Plan and its impact will be important for historians, those interested in international politics, and Austrian scholars.G³nter Bischof is professor of history and associate director of Center-Austria at the University of New Orleans; Anton Pelinka is professor of political science at the University of Innsbruck and director of the Institute of Conflict Research in Vienna; Dieter Stiefel is professor of social and economic history at the University of Vienna and executive secretary of the Schumpeter Society in Vienna.This volume offers a collection of articles, mostly by contemporary Austrian-born historians, touching on various phases of the Marshall Plan administered through the European Recovery Program (ERP) and its successors counterfunds' assistance to the present. A splendid introduction followed by the key thirteen articles on the plan is augmented by several nontopical essays and book reviews, along with a survey of Austrian politics in 1998. A number of articles emanated from a 1998 conference at the University of New Orleans. Both novice and specialist will appreciate this book."-The Historian

    Introduction -- I. ECONOMIC LEGACIES -- Ferdinand Lacina, The Marshall Plan—A Contribution to the Austrian Economy in Transition -- Hans FuGenegger / Kurt Loffler, The Activities of the ERP Fund from 1962 to 1998 -- II. POLITICS, IDENTITY, PROPAGANDA -- Ingrid Fraberger / Dieter Stiefel, “Enemy Images”: The Meaning of “Anti-Communism ” and its Importance for the Political and Economic Reconstruction in Austria after 1945 -- Andrea Komlosy, The Marshall Plan and the Making of the “Iron Curtain” in Austria -- Jill Lewis, Dancing on a Tight-rope: The Beginning of the Marshall Plan and the Cold War in Austria -- Matthew Paul Berg, “Caught Between Iwan and the Weihnachtsmann”: Occupation, the Marshall Plan, and Austrian Identity -- Siegfried Beer, The CIA in Austria in the Marshall Plan Era, 1947-1953 -- Hans-Jiirgen Schroder, Marshall Plan Propaganda in Austria and Western Germany -- III. MACRO- AND MICROECONOMIC IMPACTS -- Hans Seidel, Austria's Economic Policy and the Marshall Plan -- Kurt Tweraser, The Marshall Plan and the Reconstruction of the Austrian Steel Industry 1945-1953 -- Georg Rigele, The Marshall Plan and Austria's Hydroelectric Industry: Kaprun -- Gunter Bischof, “Conquering the Foreigner”: The Marshall Plan and the Revival of Postwar Austrian Tourism -- Wilhelm Kohler, Fifty Years Later: A New Marshall Plan for Eastern Europe? -- NON-TOPICAL ESSAYS -- Alexander N. Lassner, The Invasion of Austria in March 1938: Blitzkrieg or Pfusch? -- Martin Kofler, “Neutral, ” Host, and “Mediator”: Austria and the Vienna Summit of 1961 -- Markus M. L. Crepaz / Hans-Georg Betz, Postindustrial Cleavages and Electoral Change in an Advanced Capitalist Democracy: The Austrian Case -- BOOK REVIEWS -- Stephen Beller, Brigitte Hamann: Hitler's Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators (Munich: R. Piper, 1996) -- Lonnie Johnson, Peter Katzenstein, ed., Mitteleuropa: Between Europe and Germany (New York: Berghahn Books, 1997) -- Volker R. Berghahn, Gunther Nenning: *Forum.' Die beruhmtesten Beitrage zur Zukunft von einst von Arrabal bis Zuckmayer (Vienna: Amaltheaf) -- Peter Thaler, Rigele Georg: Die Grofiglockner-Hochalpen-strafie: Zur Geschichte eines osterreichischen Monuments (Vienna: WUV-Universitatsverlag, 1998) -- Kurt Tweraser, Anton Pelinka: Austria. Out of the Shadow of the Past (Boulder: Westview, 1998) -- Petra Goedde, Ingrid Bauer: “Welcome Ami Go Home” Die Amerikanische Besatzung in Salzburg 1945-1955. Erinnerungslandschaften aus einem Oral History Projekt (Salzburg: Verlag Anton Pustet) -- ANNUAL REVIEW -- Reinhold Gartner, Survey of Austrian Politics Austria 1998 -- LIST OF AUTHORS.

    Biography

    Pelinka, Anton