January 2001, Washington

Austria had been slow to take responsibility for compensating the victims of National Socialism, whether it was returning stolen property or honouring pension entitlements. Austria’s approach to the problematic changed after the Waldheim scandal, which revealed the attempt of Kurt Waldheim, who should be president of Austria later nonetheless, to cover up his role under the Nazi regime. Towards the end of the twentieth century, many countries began to establish mechanisms for addressing past state crimes. In Austria, for instance, a historical commission was set up. Wolfgang Schüssel’s conservative coalition government commissioned Maria Schaumayer, former President of the Austrian National Bank and the first woman worldwide to head a National Central Bank, to negotiate over compensation payments to former forced labourers and Jewish victims of the Nazi regime. This initiative made settlements with victims’ organisations and the US administration, including the 2001 Washington Agreement, possible.