v11_2282 - AUTRICHE - RÉPUBLIQUE 5 Schilling 1947 Vienne

AUSTRIA - REPUBLIC

(since 1945)

Reduced to the rank of a German province in 1938, Austria was recognized as independent at the Tehran conference by Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill (Dec. 1943). In April 1945, the Austrian republic was restored and the economy recovered with the help of the Marshall Plan. In 1955, the Allied troops who had divided the country into four occupation zones withdrew to recognize the country's independence. It is experiencing a strong economic boom thanks to tourism and export industries. The government has been made up of socialist-based coalitions since 1945, which did not prevent Kurt Waldheim, former UN secretary, from being elected President of the Republic in 1986, despite revelations about his past. The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the election of the conservative Thomas Klestil to the presidency in 1992 allowed the attachment to the European Union in January 1995.