On 1 November 1943, in the Tripartite Declaration made in Moscow, the British, Soviet and US Allies assert that ‘Austria, the first free country to fall a victim to Hitlerite aggression, shall be liberated from German domination’ and regain full and complete independence.

On 13 April 1945, the Soviet army publishes a poster celebrating the liberation of Vienna and draws the Austrian people’s attention to their country’s political future.

In 1945, Allied Army Generals in Austria inspect the troops. From left to right: Soviet Marshal Ivan S. Konev, US General Mark W. Clark, British Colonel Gordon Smith and French General Antoine Bethouart.

On 27 June 1945, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sends a Directive to General Mark Clark, Commander-in-Chief of the US occupation forces in Austria, defining the tasks and the prerogatives of the Allied Council in Austria.

On 9 July 1945, representatives of the US, British, French and Soviet Governments agree on the division of the various occupation zones in Austria and their control.

Poster outlining the results of the first session of the Allied Council for Austria, held on 11 September 1945 in Vienna and attended by representatives of the four occupying forces in Austria (France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States).

The guard of the Allied military police, made up of US, British, French and Soviet troops, is changed by an officer of the Red Army in the streets of Vienna (1945).

Soviet army checkpoint at the Enns Bridge, on the demarcation line between the Allied and Soviet occupation zones, Upper Austria.

Austrian poster illustrating the role of the Allied military police in Vienna in 1946.

Le 27 janvier 1947, le gouvernement belge expose ses vues quant à la question de la préparation d'un traité reconnaissant l'indépendance de l'Autriche.

On 30 January 1947, during the Four-Power Conference in London, Leopold Figl, Austrian Chancellor, gives an address on the political future of Austria and announces the expectations of his fellow citizens regarding the establishment of a State Treaty.

In January 1947, the Dutch government drafts a memorandum detailing the position of the Netherlands on the question of the settlement of the future Austrian statute.

In 1947, members of the French, British, US and Soviet military police conduct a joint patrol in the streets of Vienna.

In 1948, during the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ), Ernst Fischer, member of the KPÖ, gives an address to the National Council in Vienna on the end of the military occupation of Austria and, in particular, accuses the Western Allies of attempting to slow down the implementation of a State Treaty for the re-establishment of an independent, democratic Austria.

In October 1951, the poster for the film ‘Four in a Jeep’, by the Swiss Director, Leopold Lindtberg, gives a romantic portrayal of the daily life of the Allied military police during the occupation of Austria.

In August 1953, Alfred Mozer, General Secretary of the Dutch Socialist Party Partij van de Arbeid, travels to Austria, a country occupied by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, and assesses the Austrian political situation.

On 30 October 1953, Bruno Pittermann, a Viennese Socialist MP, gives an address to the Austrian National Council in which he protests against the limits to sovereignty imposed on the country by the Allies before making a fervent plea in favour of Austrian independence.

On 19 February 1954, the Austrian daily newspaper Wiener Kurier outlines the positions of the various negotiators at the Berlin Conference, attended by delegates from the four powers occupying Austria.

Map showing the occupation zones controlled by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France in Austria and Vienna between 1945 and 1955.