‘When the May breeze blows …’ On 5 May 1955, in anticipation of the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in Vienna, the Austrian daily newspaper Neuer Kurier portrays the way in which Austria is cosseted by the United States and the Soviet Union.

On 15 May 1955, the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria is signed at Belvedere Palace in Vienna by Julius Raab, Austrian Federal Chancellor, Leopold Figl, Austrian Foreign Minister, Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister, Harold Macmillan, British Foreign Secretary, John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister, Ivan Ilichev, Soviet High Commissioner in Austria, Sir Geoffrey Wallinger, British High Commissioner in Austria, Llewellyn Thompson, US High Commissioner in Austria, and Roger Lalouette, French Deputy High Commissioner in Austria.

On 15 May 1955, the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria is signed at Belvedere Palace in Vienna by Julius Raab, Austrian Federal Chancellor, Leopold Figl, Austrian Foreign Minister, Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister, Harold Macmillan, British Foreign Secretary, John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister, Ivan Ilyichev, Soviet High Commissioner in Austria, Sir Geoffrey Wallinger, British High Commissioner in Austria, Llewellyn Thompson, US High Commissioner in Austria, and Roger Lalouette, French Deputy High Commissioner in Austria.

On 15 May 1955, the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria is signed at Belvedere Palace in Vienna by Julius Raab, Austrian Federal Chancellor, Leopold Figl, Austrian Foreign Minister, Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister, Harold Macmillan, British Foreign Secretary, John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister, Ivan Ilyichev, Soviet High Commissioner in Austria, Sir Geoffrey Wallinger, British High Commissioner in Austria, Llewellyn Thompson, US High Commissioner in Austria, and Roger Lalouette, French Deputy High Commissioner in Austria.

On 15 May 1955, Leopold Figl (centre), Austrian Foreign Minister, holds aloft to the crowd gathered in front of the Belvedere Palace in Vienna the State Treaty signed that day by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the USSR, officially putting an end to the war in the Alpine state.

On 15 May 1955, Leopold Figl, Austrian Foreign Minister, delivers an address at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna in which he welcomes the signing of the State Treaty which restores full sovereignty to Austria.

On 15 May 1955, the French Foreign Minister, Antoine Pinay, gives an address on the occasion of the signing in Vienna of the State Treaty which returns sovereignty to Austria.

On 15 May 1955, Harold Macmillan, British Foreign Secretary, gives an address at the ceremony to mark the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in Vienna in which he welcomes the fact that Austria has regained its sovereignty and assures the country of British support.

On 15 May 1955, a special edition of the Austrian daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung is devoted to the signing, the same day in Vienna, of the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria.

Ten years after the end of the war, Austria is preparing to regain its freedom through the signing of the State Treaty on 15 May 1955. The Vienna daily newspaper Neuer Kurier comments on the reactions of the international press.

In 1955, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) emphasises its role in the establishment of the State Treaty by referring to a statement made in 1947 by Karl Renner, Austrian Federal President, which compares the four occupying powers to elephants that make it impossible to manoeuvre the Austrian boat.

On 16 May 1955, André François-Poncet, French Ambassador in Bonn, describes to Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister, the mixed feelings in German political circles with regard to the Austrian State Treaty.

The day after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty, the Vienna daily newspaper Neuer Kurier reports on the event.

On 16 May 1955, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera analyses the geopolitical and military implications of the signing of the State Treaty on 15 May 1955 which grants Austria neutrality.

On 10 June 1955, John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, outlines to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations the process that led to the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in Vienna on 15 May 1955.

On 26 October 1955, the Austrian National Council passes the Constitutional Law which lays down Austria’s permanent neutral status.

In his memoirs, Bruno Kreisky, former Austrian Junior Foreign Minister, discusses the negotiations conducted with Soviet leaders in Moscow and Vienna which led to the signing of the Austrian State Treaty on 15 May 1955.

‘The State Treaty: What can the Chancellor be dreaming of?’ In January 1955, the Austrian cartoonist, Ironimus, illustrates the expectations of the Austrian Chancellor, Julius Raab, who dreams of concluding a State Treaty for Austria.

In 1955, the Allied Council meets for the final time in Vienna pursuant to the State Treaty re-establishing an independent, neutral and democratic Austria.

On 27 July 1955, pursuant to the State Treaty re-establishing an independent, neutral and democratic Austria, the Allied High Commissioners for Austria hold their final joint meeting in Vienna. From left to right: François Seydoux de Clausonne (France), Ivan Ilyichev (Soviet Union), James Kedzie Penfield (United States) and Sir Geoffrey Wallinger (United Kingdom).

On 14 September 1955, in front of their headquarters in Vienna, an allied patrol consisting of, from left to right, American, British, French and Soviet officers celebrate the end of the military occupation of Austria.

In 1955, these Soviet soldiers stationed in Vienna prepare to return home after the entry into force of the Austrian State Treaty of 15 May 1955 re-establishing an independent, neutral and democratic Austria.

In 1955, these US soldiers stationed in Vienna prepare to return home after the entry into force of the Austrian State Treaty of 15 May 1955 re-establishing an independent, neutral and democratic Austria.

‘Fifty years of our life.’ In 1968, the Austrian cartoonist, Ironimus, illustrates in his own inimitable style 50 years (from 1918 to 1968) of Austrian political and military life.

In 1974, at a conference held in Austria on the economic and political situation in Europe, Archduke Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen, President of the International Paneuropean Union, emphasises the need for a precise interpretation of Austria’s neutral status, which in no way precludes the country from becoming a member of political or economic organisations.

In 1980, in an interview with the Austrian Federal Press Service, the Austrian Chancellor, Bruno Kreisky, and the former Ambassador, Stephen Verosta, describe the negotiations on the Austrian State Treaty held in Moscow in 1955.

In an article published in the magazine Europäische Rundschau in 1980, Alois Mock, Member of the Austrian National Council and Chairman of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), emphasises the importance of the 1955 State Treaty and of permanent neutrality for Austria, with particular regard to its secure position in international relations, its independence and its national unity.

On the 30th anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty signed by representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Austria on 15 May 1955 in Vienna, the French daily newspaper Le Monde traces the events which led to the neutrality of Austria.