The division of Europe during the Cold War altered Austria’s traditionally strong economic ties with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Austrian trade shifted westward. However, trade with the Eastern Bloc countries remained important for neutral Austria. In 1963, Austria ranked sixth among 18 European market economies in terms of exports to the European countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In 1968, just a few days after the suppression of the Prague Spring, the Alpine republic became the first Western European country to import Soviet natural gas. In the 1980s, as the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe ran into financial difficulties, Austrian banks financed part of their debt burden. At the same time, Austria’s nationalized industries also ran into serious difficulties due to losses.
Did trade with the East therefore become the last hope for these companies? After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Austrian companies ultimately benefited greatly from the transition of Central and Eastern European countries from a planned to a market economy. For the first time, this study examines the interplay of diplomatic, economic, and corporate history as it relates to Austrian trade with the East. The intertwining of diplomacy and trade between Austria and Czechoslovakia (from 1993: the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, and Poland is analyzed during the period of détente in the Cold War, the crisis-ridden 1980s (the Soviet War in Afghanistan, the U.S. “Star Wars” program), and the period following the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The time frame extends from 1963, with the beginning of the policy of détente, to Austria’s accession to the EU in 1995. Drawing on archival material and oral history, the study aims to provide a multi-perspective view of Austrian trade with Eastern Europe. It examines the historical reasons why Austrian companies expanded into Central and Eastern Europe more rapidly than those from other Western European countries.
Scientific Director: Walter M. Iber, Professor of Economic and Social History, University of Graz
Associate Research Partner: Peter Ruggenthaler, Deputy Director, LBI for Research on the Consequences of War
Project Team: Anna Graf-Steiner (BIK), Mária Hidvégi (Università Bocconi Milano), Wanda Jarzabek (Polish Academy of Sciences), Beáta Katrebová Blehová (Institute of National Memory)
Project Duration: 2025–2028
Funding Agency: FWF
