When the Russians occupy Graz for 75 days

The former “City of the People’s Survey” comes under the Soviet crew for a total of eleven weeks, to the horror of a large part of the population, who had expected the British. Units of the 8th “British army” only take over during the Zone exchange on 23/24. July 1945 the administration of the entire Styria. But this short phase left in -depth tracks: 75 days Red Star over Graz.

The book, written by Barbara Stelzl-Marx, head of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for War consequences and professor in contemporary history, was founded against the background of the memorial year on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Based on the first to have more evaluated archive documents, newspaper articles and specially held interviews with 80 people who have experienced this dramatic post -water weeks as children and adolescents, the daily life of the Graz is devoted to this compact period of 75 days or eleven weeks – a short but formative time.

The daily regulation of the individual chapters, each preceded by a typoscript of a police report, offers a calendar of social, infrastructure, political, cultural and personal challenges and changes. They reflect the state of emergency in which all people were during these first post -war weeks: quarters, looting, arrests or rapes are also discussed, as well as the precarious care situation, the housing shortage, the resumption of school activities, denazification measures or the new start of a cultural company. Personal experiences with Soviet occupancy soldiers who were considered a very child are also enlightened.

Local children drove through the city with red armymists
There are always stories, such as domestic children with red armymists driving through the city. A grazer remembers: “You put us on a jeep or on a military vehicle and did a city tour.” He and some friends drove to the Graz Trade Fair with the Red Armymists. But when they returned, there was a great excitement: “The entire Maanlichtstraat was full of parents because we were not there. […] “You will never go there again!” But who is prohibited? “Only two days later the children went back, were even tasted with a bread with sugar.” I can remember this sugar! “

The shortage of offer immediately after the end of the war played an important role. An interview partner remembers how her mother went to farmers by bike, the car was seized: ‘That was adventurous. [sie] Then moves things, for example a fur coat or something. Or a brilliant ring or a camera that you have as valuables. And then the farmers exchanged this for lard and for bread. And my mother said she always trembled when she[en] Laib -Bread cut off [hat]If it’s enough. “

Challenge shops with Soviet Occupation Soldiers
The Soviet occupation soldiers themselves are also an essential source for exchange transactions. “New vocabulary: race 1, DWA 2, TRI 3, Caroscha (good)”, Hanns Hermann Gießauf notes in his diary and adds how many cigarettes, bread, meat and tobacco he got from “his Russians” on this day: “I came too late with the late …”

Another contemporary witness also remembered how her mother traded with the Red Armymists who cooked on the sports field next to her garden: “And there the Russians came in with large buckets, with Kaša, ie meat and things. And with large makers. […] And my mother gave a piece of jewelry every time. And then we got. And so we cheated on the most bad time. For the good that the Russians were there. “

Designed as a narrative non-fiction book, Stelzl-Marx chose the perspective of the interpreter of the Soviet City Commander, Mrs. Herzog to illuminate the central themes of the Soviet occupation. This runs through the entire text like a thread. As an identification rate, Johanna Herzog should allow the most direct, lively and multiple insight into daily life under the red star, as it were “from below”. Cited O-tones from interview partners who remember almost eight decades, newspaper articles and first-person documents trigger these access. “You can’t get that off anymore, you have a lifetime,” emphasizes one of the interview partners.