1998: The Historical Commission

In the spring of 1998, discussion began in Austria too about the need to work through the history of forced labour and the expropriation of property during National Socialism, as well as restitution and compensation in the Second Republic. The then newly-elected president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, Ariel Muzicant, called for the establishment of a historical commission to investigate this subject area.

With the decision of October 1, 1998, the Federal Government acknowledged the joint submission by the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Vice-Chancellor for the establishment of an unsupervised and independent commission. The Historical Commission had the task of “researching and reporting on the entire system of property expropriation on Austrian territory during the Nazi period, as well as restitution and compensation (economic and welfare issues) in the Republic of Austria as of 1945”.

Until 2003, more than 100 scholars were active in the most comprehensive contemporary historical project of the Second Republic. The results are available in the 49-volume publication of the Historical Commission.