ABSTRACT
The traditional opinions of Austrian postwar economic reconstruction have to be revised. The economic model of a "mixed economy" with a big state-owned sector influenced the quick economic recovery as well. Foreign relief programs such as the generous United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, three quarters of which was financed by the United States, for some time provided the food that would make the critical difference between starvation and survival, especially in the cities. Foreign aid greatly benefited and accelerated Austria's economic recovery after the upheavals of World War II, based on the new and improved industrial base built by the Nazis during the war. The Soviet occupation forces actually managed to get hidden reparations out of Austria, by confiscating the German assets in their zone in June 1946. The counterparts, most importantly, financed the improvements and innovations in the big new nationalized basic industries.
