ABSTRACT
Western reactions to the Soviet fait accompli that set up the Karl Renner government overshadowed it from the start. Renner moved from initial hopes for imminent recognition to increasing frustration. The position of Renner was in line with the legal advice from Ludwig Adamovich, that the constitution had been “demokratisch bis zur Lahmlegung des Parlamentes”. For most of the Cold War the Renner government appeared as the “one which got away” in successfully confronting or evading a Soviet attempt to turn it into a puppet. Renner was more ambivalent, and from Schoner’s diary we know that he had to be cajoled into making the speech marking V-E Day. Renner’s admirers will doubtless see them as proof of his intellectual stature. To Schoner, and presumably Figl, Renner seemed too passive and defensive on the issue of Austria’s status as a victim.
