Omcx or Strategic Services Research and Analysis Branch
36
POEN AND THE AUSTRIAN UNDERGROUND
The terroristic Nazi rule in Austria hashief factor inthe growthation-wide Austrian underground, subjecting any Individual oppositionist to grave personal risks and hinderingbetween resistance cells Moreover, the Incompatibilities ofpolitical groups and their fear that one party might dominate any united front long delayed coordinated action.
The following summary of available information on tho present state of Austrian resistance has been obtained chiefly from one source but ls believed to be reliable. Confirmation from other sources must await the liberation of Austria itself.
In the first years of Nazi rule, the Austrian underground consistedew scattered and Independent resistance units, the remnants of party leadershipeterogeneous group of persons who had gone underground to avoid arrest by the German authorities. Active resistance was largely confined to the maquis in Eastern Austria.
3 the first coalition of underground units was achieved but only on the operational level. This organization, the Freiheitsfront Oesterretch (FFOE; Austrian Freedomeadership coalition representing operational cellsumber of the political groups, but lt did not Include the Communists. By the summer4 the Allied Moscow Declaration with respect to Austria and the certainty thatdefeat was approaching apparently convinced Austrianleadership that the future of the Austrian state depended on the extent to which Austria participated In her own liberation. By this time, also, the length and harshness of Nazi rule had persuaded many divergent elements of the Austrian population to subordinateommon fight against the ruling power.
Under the stimulus of the politically weak bourgeois-democraticroad leadership coalition was effected in4 and was named the Provisorischta OesterreiclionalkommUee (POEN; the Provisional Austrian Nationalhis congress of resistance leaders, which now Includes representatives of all Austrian political groups, was charged with the central direction and coordination of underground activities, both political and activist. It assumed control over the FFOE, which It renamed OS (derived from.
The central organ of the POEN Is an executive Council of Seven,two Social Democrats, one Communist, one Christian Social
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ne Wehrmacht officer, one bourgeois-conservative, and one non-party professional man. Subordinate to the Councilonsultative Committee ofncluding representatives of all political and activist affiliates of the POEN and persons with special technical qualifications. One-fourth of the members reportedly are Social Democrats.
Theenera! Staff, responsible to the Council of Seven, composed of activist groups of Social Democrats, Christian Socialshristian Democrats, Communists, Monarchists, members of the Austrian police, and Austrians in the Wehrmacht.5 General Staff Is divided Into threelanning, presentation, andofntelligence, security, communications, billeting, and supplies,ropaganda (which always is credited, never to POEN).
While the structure of the central organs of POEN is clear, the lower organizations of resistance remain obscure even to POEN itself. Security considerations haveecentralized structure ofcells which, If interrelated at all, are connected through the personalities of leaders. This organizational system provides someof protection against the Gestapo which is thereby prevented from uncovering the whole movement through the apprehensioningle cell unit. On the other hand, completely separate underground cells frequently exist in one small factory or Wehrmacht unit, resultingangerous duplication of resistance effort.
The relative political strengths within POEN vary from area to area. In the Vienna region the Social Democrats appear to be dominant, while Christian Socials reportedly predominate in the Innsbruck: region. The various political groups, established for the most part in factories and workshops around former party and labor union members, have been permitted to retain their basic character under POEN.
Very little Is known of the strength and organization of thein Austria. The Communists, accordingeliable report,entral directing body inhich wasame very similar to that of the PFOE and for some time was confused outside Austria with the FFOE itself. POEN sources, which on this point may be somewhat prejudiced, state that onlyer cent of the Austrian resistance is Communist. According to POEN, the Communists have operated as individuaJs or as small Communist groups rather thanommunist Front. POEN claims that the Communist representatives in POEN Joined "under orders."
POEN claims that its activist groups (OS) are engaged chiefly in sabotage and the assassination of Nazi officials. Several small-scaleappear in recent months to have occurred between OS members and the Nazis, generallyesult of SS raids on resistanceThese activist groups also carry out propaganda and inteltl-
gence functions, and seek to expand their strength among the Austrian police and in the Wehrmacht. The politically organized groups claim as their chief activity the organization of strikes and demonstraUons.
Though the largest concentration of POEN strength is reported to be in the Vienna area, POEN claims Important centers of strength at Innsbruck. Oraz. Vlllach. Klagenfurt. Salzburg, and the industrial towns of southern Austria. Regional headquartersre said to be located at Unz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Oraz and Klagenfurt. The POEN Isweak In northern Austria. POEN contacts with French and other foreign worker groups in Austria appear to be good.
The highly decentralized character of the Austrian undergroundeliable estimate of its numerical strength. POEN sources estimatedarchembers of resistance groups in the Vienna area,ersons politically organized Into groups throughout Austria, andoguls were affiliated with POEN.dditional but unaffiliated resistance members were said by POEN sources to be in the Vienna area.
Nazi terror has inflicted serious losses on Austrian resistance. POEN estimates that priorarch death sentences in tbe Vienna area aloneer month. Since that time they have been even higher. The problem of maintaining or increasing POEN strength has been further complicated by the precautionary arrests which the Nazis have made sincehese arrests, primarily directed againstofficers, former Social Democratic leaders, prominent Catholics, and aristocrats, according to POEN estimates, have0 in number.
The POEN recently appears to have been approached by dissident members of tbe SS anxious to save themselves, and seems to have received Important help from some of the higher Gestapo offices which it has infiltrated.
Maquis groups In Austria consist chiefly of deserters from the Wehrmacht, foreign workers, and escaped prisoners of the Germans The majority of the maquis fighters are believed to be non-Austrian. The largest and most active maquis units are apparently located in southern parts of Styria and Carinthia, where the Slovene population has been waging warfare on the Germans for several years. POEN relations with these Slovene maquis are admittedly poor, since the Slovenes oppose the Incorporation of this region into any future Austrian state. Maquis units also are reported to be operating in the Judcnburger Geblrge area, the lower Tauern region, the southeastern part of the Burgenland, the Lelthageblrge area, the Voralberg, the Tirol, and the vicinity of Berchtes-gaden These maquis units, hampered by shortages of food and arms, and repeatedly attacked by SS and Wehrmacht units, have concentrated on attacks against power and communications.-raids on supply columns.
interruptions of work on fortifications, and attacks on SS patrols and rural police. The effectiveness of their operations remains almost as obscure as their numerical strength.
The POEN is said to be regarded by Its affiliated groupsempo-ran- body with no official program and with no pretensions to post-war power in Austria. It gives itself no publicity In Austria and ls apparently unknown to the rank and file of the underground. POEN's activist, however, is widely publicised In order to promote resistance among passive elements of the population and Is expected by Its leaders toopularity similar to that of the FPI in France.
Though POEN apparently has no formal platform, the political groups which lt unites appear to have four basic and commonhe re-establishment of Austria on the basis of0 democratiche nationalization of key Industries, transportation, banking, andhe punishment of war criminals by the Austrian resistance,he expulsion of all Germans from Austria. POEN groups plan to execute speedily those Austrian and Oerman Nazis who might otherwise escape punishment later because of generalor "connections."
Shortly after its formation POEN initiated efforts to establish foreign representation. The primary aim was to establish contact with the Western Allies and the USSR in order to inform them officially of the existence of organized resistance, to prepare the basis for activeto obtain material aid, and to arrange for the dispatch of Allied officers toecond Important motive was to heighten POEN prestige and authority in Austria and thus further to unify Austrian resistance. POEN representatives have been established In Switzerland and France and arc shortly to be established in London. POENin the United States la also contemplated for the nearorking relationship apparently waa established with the Soviets, prior to the Red Army's entry into Vienna. POEN's foreign representatives are not intereated in forming new emigre units abroad, but hope, by their example at home, to encourage unity among the existing emigre groups.
Recent unverified reports have indicated that the Nazi rule of terror In Austria has reached an eleventh-hour peak Intensity. If th* figures of thousands of oppositionists executed are correct, the POEN may be substantially liquidated prior to Allied occupation. If not, lt appears probable that the POEN will serve as an Important nucleus for theof political life in the Austrian state.
Original document.
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