Abstract
Autore:
Lorenzini Sara
Titolo:
"L´Austria "incolpevole" e le riparazioni alle vittime ebraiche (a proposito di un risarcimento sofferto)"
Austria never admitted any kind of responsibility for its citizens during the Third Reich’s racial persecution of the Jews. The official statements were based upon the Moscow declaration of 1943, which defined Austria as the first victim of Nazi aggression, i.e. as the first territory occupied by Hitler. The Austrian government stressed the so-called " theory of the victim " and considered it as the main pillar of its foreign policy, in order to sign as quickly as possible a favourable peace treaty with the Allied Powers. In the meantime, the Austrian government tried to overcome the international suspicion of its policy of reintegration of the former Nazis. Normalisation was indeed necessary in order to gain internal support. On the other hand, the Austrian government was reluctant to embark on a reparation policy towards the victims of the Third Reich’s racial persecutions. The victims of political persecution were entitled to a special welfare right after the war, and the " little Nazis "soon got back the rights they had lost after the German defeat. In contrast, the racial victims regained their rights only partially and very late. Only some of the Austrian Jews (first, those who could prove their political activity, and then prisoners in German concentration camps) could get financial assistance from the Austrian government. The others, especially if they had emigrated, had to wait until after the Austrian peace treaty was signed. As far as property claims were concerned, world Jewish organizations (represented by the " Claims Conference against Austria "), insisted on restoration of Jewish property rights. Although they were supported by the Western governments, their efforts did not really achieve much. Only after the financial support agreed upon by Germany, did Austria restore Jewish properties. Part of the responsibility for this delay belongs to the Allies. The US and British opposition to a policy, which aimed at reintegrating ex-Nazis without compensating the victims of Nazi-persecution, weakened progressively. The Allied Powers refused to accept normalisation, but they did not react when Austria declared its refusal to implement a policy of true reparation. Austria’s reparation policy has not yet been completed: its public admission of responsibility and its real conciousness of moral obligation are still absent.
