The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1945. A TRIPLE BOND.

Evening Star, Issue 25619, 20 October 1945, Page 6

The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1945. A TRIPLE BOND.

America and Britain have now recognised Dr Renner's Government in Austria, and it is expected that France will soon follow their example. It is not clear why the representative character of this Government, recognised at first by Russia alone, should have been suspected by the Western Allies. Dr Ronner had been long known as a Social-Democrat, and his nine Ministers included three members of the old Christian Socialist Party, two Socialists, two Communists, and two without party affiliations. Both Socialist and Christian Socialist members vigorously denied that the Government was formed under pressure from either Austrian Communists or Russians. It looked bad for tho Government's bona fides when Russia knew of its formation long before anyone else, but the explanation has been given that its leader sent the customary notification of its establishment to London, Washington, and Moscow at the same time, but for some mysterious reason the messages to the Western Powers did not get through tho Russian censorship. With the recognition now given it may be hoped that Austria has entered on a new era after all its troubles. With a salary of fifteen dollars a month Dr Renner might claim to be the.worstpaid Prime Minister in the wortd, and that starvation wage would appear symbolical of the present state of Austria. Nor is a new era most hopefully i suggested by a Prime Minister who is seventy-five. The gayest, most carefree people of Europe, as they had the reputation of being, haye paid cruelly for the follies that helped to bring them under the German yoke. Hunger ruled in Vienna when the Russians entered it; for months that had been endured. A Viennese woman is reported as saying wearily to an American Pressman: " I suppose it will be impossible for even America to send us all tho food we need to But the least the Allies can do is to distribute poison to those who want it." Though the city was not such a wreck as Berlin and some others, it bore sad marks of destruction and damage. According to American" correspondents, the Russians looted anything and everything in their first days of occupation, but Americans and Russians did not get on together in Austria any better than they have done in the Far East. Within less _ than a fortnight, however, the Viennese were doing their best to revive their old gaiety. On one day the Government newspaper announced the attractions of 15 concerts or plays, 14 cabarets and variety shows, and 54 motion picture theatres. Vienna is now divided into British, Russian, French, and American zones of .occupation. Control should be bpth efficient and considerate, but a new danger is threatened by the hundreds of thousands of Germans driven from Germany and the Sudetenland and seeking a refuge within Austria's narrow borders.

They %vould not be welcomed there, apart from food shortage. The Austrian Government, it was reported recently, has come to a decision that may well have the utmost importance for all Europe. Through its official newspaper it suggests that tho Austrian people turn their backs upon the Germans and ally themselves econefmically and culturally with the Czechoslovaks and Hungarians. The article declares that " to-day each Austrian knows that he has more in common with the Czecho-Slovaks than with the Germans. The language may be different, but the way of life is the same, The outlook on life, the joy of living, and tho striving toward individual freedom are the same in Prague as in Vienna. Austrian s and Czecho-Slovaks will never again become toys of panGerman intrigue." An exchange of coal and oil that has been made between the two countries is hailed as the beginning of a new co-operation. The article, officially inspired, no doubt, points out that both Austria and Czecho-Slovakia were equally victims of Prussia's desire to extend its sway over all Europe and tho_ world. It declares that the German seizure of Vienna doomed Prague, whereas had Germany first taken Prague, this would have been equally disastrous for Vienna. The paper admits that Austria's early " flirtation " with Germany and statements about " Austria's Germanic mission" naturally made Czecho-Slovakia suspicious and that it was due from Austria to prove its sincerity to its democratic neighbours. But Czechs, as well as Austriaiis, have welcomed the new rapprochement, which offers the best promise for Central Europe's peace.