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Using recently declassified sources from Russian archives, this article discusses the status of the Soviet-controlled eastern zone of Austria during the postwar occupation (1945–1955) as a principal spying ground in Central Europe. The Western occupation powers hired many Austrians to gather information on the deployments of the Soviet Army and the Soviet authorities' exploitation of the "German assets" they had seized at war's end. The Austrians' principal incentive to spy was financial; they were well paid by their Western handlers. Austrian women had love affairs with Soviet soldiers and officers and then served as double agents for the West until the Soviet counterintelligence services caught up with them. From 1947 onward, some 500 Austrians disappeared after being detained by Soviet state security personnel and accused of spying. More than 100 of these Austrians were sentenced to death by Soviet Military Tribunal No. 28990 in Baden from 1950 until Iosif Stalin's death in March 1953, and they were then executed in Moscow. In retrospect the mismatch between the actions of these Austrian "spies" and the penalties meted out to them is striking. The Soviet penal system was exported to occupied areas during the Cold War in intelligence "games" against the West, with tragic consequences for "Stalin's last victims."

As Soviet troops first set foot on Austrian territory on March 29, 1945 near Klostermarienberg, they found themselves in a hostile, perplexing and largely unknown world. The Austrians by no means greeted their Eastern "liberators from the fascist yoke" with open arms. Given the first encounters with the Austrian population a variety of stereotypes developed, supporting images of the enemy and the other. Soviet propaganda together with the war experiences anchored these ideas deep into the sub-conscious. However, also ideas of the West that had been aroused by film and literature were now confronted with reality. The Red Army's glorious and triumphant end of WWII was followed by their ten-year long occupation of Austria, where hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers and officers, their wives and children and also civil occupational personnel were linked to Austria for many months and sometimes even years. Moscow attempted (often in vain) to train their troops in line with a "higher political oversight," to boost their military discipline and to strengthen their "political and moral status." From the Soviet point of view, direct confrontation with the Austrian population, but also the Western occupying forces rescued them from the danger of being a "hostile takeover." Doubts about the superiority of the Communist system, breaches of regulations as well as offences, which were really "only" a matter of criminal law, were considered politically motivated and served as a sign of the ideological and political fickleness of the concerned party. Reprisals for the afore-mentioned infractions could be severe and sometimes meant the death penalty. The Austrian view of occupation, Austrian everyday life in the Soviet occupation zone or the most important Topoi from the Red Army is well documented and preserved. This research is owed largely to the individual experiences, impressions and responses of the occupying forces themselves. This work is focused on the EXPERIENCE of the soviet "lifeworld" in Austria, which includes among other things the occupation organization, the discipline and prosecution, the daily work, the everyday live in the barracks or the leisure activities; the PERCEPTION mirrored in written and oral testimonies and the institutionalized as well as private MEMORY in the former Soviet Union. The beginning depicts the macro-level structure and functioning of the Soviet occupational apparatus as well as the historical background. This meticulous retracing of history offers new insights into the question of the perception of the other and the development of specific Topoi.

Using recently declassified sources from Russian archives, this article discusses the status of the Soviet-controlled eastern zone of Austria during the postwar occupation (1945-1955) as a principal spying ground in Central Europe. The Western occupation powers hired many Austrians to gather information on the deployments of the Soviet Army and the Soviet authorities' exploitation of the "German assets" they had seized at war's end. The Austrians' principal incentive to spy was financial; they were well paid by their Western handlers. Austrian women had love affairs with Soviet soldiers and officers and then served as double agents for the West until the Soviet counterintelligence services caught up with them. From 1947 onward, some 500 Austrians disappeared after being detained by Soviet state security personnel and accused of spying. More than 100 of these Austrians were sentenced to death by Soviet Military Tribunal No. 28990 in Baden from 1950 until Josif Stalin's death in March 1953, and they were then executed in Moscow. In retrospect the mismatch between the actions of these Austrian "spies" and the penalties meted out to them is striking. The Soviet penal system was exported to occupied areas during the Cold War in intelligence "games" against the West, with tragic consequences for "Stalin's last victims.". Adapted from the source document.

Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg kamen in ganz Österreich und Deutschland sogenannte 'Besatzungskinder' auf die Welt: als Folge freiwilliger sexueller Beziehungen zwischen einheimischen Frauen und Besatzungsangehörigen, aber auch als Folge von Vergewaltigungen. Sie galten als 'Kinder des Feindes', obwohl die Väter de jure keine Feinde mehr waren, und waren - gemeinsam mit ihren Müttern - meist unterschiedlichen Formen von Diskriminierung ausgesetzt. Gerade Kinder sowjetischer Besatzungsangehöriger bildeten eine 'ideale' Angriffsfläche für rassische, ideologische und moralische Vorurteile, was zum Teil auch eine Folge der NS-Propaganda darstellte. 'Russenkind' oder auch 'Russenbalg' war noch in den 1960er Jahren ein gebräuchliches Schimpfwort. Gemäß Stalins Politik waren Eheschließungen zwischen sowjetischen Soldaten und österreichischen bzw. deutschen Frauen so gut wie ausgeschlossen. Die meisten Armeeangehörigen wurden sogar zurück in die UdSSR versetzt, sobald eine derartige Liaison publik wurde. Jahrzehntelang war ein Kontakt beinahe unmöglich. Somit wuchs die Mehrheit der 'Besatzungskinder' als eine vaterlose Generation auf. Die Suche nach dem Vater ist für viele der Betroffenen Zeit ihres Lebens ein Thema. Im Vordergrund steht die Ergründung der eigenen Identität, die Frage nach den persönlichen Wurzeln. ; After the Second World War, so-called 'children of occupation' were born all over Austria and Germany: as a result of voluntary sexual encounters between local women and foreign occupation troops, but also as a consequence of rape. They were often regarded as 'children of the enemy' and - together with their mothers - were frequently discriminated against. Especially the children of Soviet occupation troops were confronted with racial, ideological and moral prejudice that can be traced back to the Nazi era. 'Russenkind' ('Russian child') or 'Russenbalg' ('Russian brat') were common abusive words up to the 1960s. In accordance with Stalin's policy, weddings between Soviet soldiers and Austrian or German women were practically impossible. Most soldiers or officers were even sent back to the USSR when their liaisons with local women became known. For several decades hardly any contact was feasible. Thus the majority of 'children of occupation' grew up as a fatherless generation. Many of them have been in search of their biological fathers, regardless of the difficulty of obtaining any reliable information. This is linked with the desire to explore one's own identity and look for one's personal roots.

'Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg kamen in ganz Österreich und Deutschland sogenannte 'Besatzungskinder' auf die Welt: als Folge freiwilliger sexueller Beziehungen zwischen einheimischen Frauen und Besatzungsangehörigen, aber auch als Folge von Vergewaltigungen. Sie galten als 'Kinder des Feindes', obwohl die Väter de jure keine Feinde mehr waren, und waren - gemeinsam mit ihren Müttern - meist unterschiedlichen Formen von Diskriminierung ausgesetzt. Gerade Kinder sowjetischer Besatzungsangehöriger bildeten eine 'ideale' Angriffsfläche für rassische, ideologische und moralische Vorurteile, was zum Teil auch eine Folge der NS-Propaganda darstellte. 'Russenkind' oder auch 'Russenbalg' war noch in den 1960er Jahren ein gebräuchliches Schimpfwort. Gemäß Stalins Politik waren Eheschließungen zwischen sowjetischen Soldaten und österreichischen bzw. deutschen Frauen so gut wie ausgeschlossen. Die meisten Armeeangehörigen wurden sogar zurück in die UdSSR versetzt, sobald eine derartige Liaison publik wurde. Jahrzehntelang war ein Kontakt beinahe unmöglich. Somit wuchs die Mehrheit der 'Besatzungskinder' als eine vaterlose Generation auf. Die Suche nach dem Vater ist für viele der Betroffenen Zeit ihres Lebens ein Thema. Im Vordergrund steht die Ergründung der eigenen Identität, die Frage nach den persönlichen Wurzeln.' (Autorenreferat)