Austria is often considered a hotspot for Cold War espionage. A research project at the University of Graz, running until August 2024, has addressed this topic. The role that our country specifically played for the intelligence services from Czechoslovakia (ČSR) is the focus of a team led by historian Barbara Stelzl-Marx – because spies from the predecessor state of the Czech Republic and Slovakia are said to have been particularly active here. post-war years.
You shouldn’t imagine working for the secret service as a spy movie. ‘Ordinary people’ often conducted research and passed on information. However, according to Stelzl-Marx, the average spy did not exist: ‘CSR and Western services recruited from all levels and in all social circles.’ Only members of the government or board members of large commercial companies were rarely, if ever, involved – although they also had assistants who were often successfully spied on. Public figures such as the former mayor of Vienna and ORF journalist Helmut Zilk, who also worked for the secret service under the code name ‘Holec’, were the exception.
Using material from, among others, two archives in Brno and Prague and files from the then American counterintelligence service, the British secret service and the ‘Intelligence Organization Austria’, the team follows a comparative approach. According to the historian, many espionage studies previously only looked at files from individual services. “This usually resulted in a one-sided picture with many gaps.” Simply reviewing documents from various institutions, such as intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, would reduce the number of incorrect assessments of Secret Service activities.
Vienna and Salzburg were important centers
The services often reported small pieces of the puzzle, for example which trains ran via Austria to the Soviet Union. But according to Stelzl-Marx, not only Vienna was interesting. As part of the American zone during the ‘occupation period’, Salzburg was an important center and Linz was especially important for technological and industrial espionage. In addition, there was interest in any information that would facilitate operations in the country – that is, about the Austrian police and armed forces or border protection and diplomacy.
Why people work for secret services
Using the “MICE model” – an acronym for “Money”, “Ideology”, “Coercion” (blackmail), “Ego” – historians try to identify common motivations that lead people to flee from Czechoslovakia and to go to the secret service. According to previous results, ideology was less important than expected and money played only a partial role. Ego was essential, especially in “people who felt left behind or ignored, for example when it came to promotions.” Blackmail would hardly have played a role in the beginning, but sometimes later, when some people wanted to quit their jobs.
A publication for the project, funded by the FWF Science Fund, is in preparation, as is a special edition of the American journal “International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence”, expected to appear later this year or next year, edited by the historian Dieter Bacher, who is also involved in the project.
Source: Krone
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