PRESS RELEASE

In yesterday's session, the Historical Commission discussed, inter alia, the new political situation in Austria.

In the first place, the Commission notes with approval certain political statements promising quick compensation for forced labourers, and the appointment of a government commissioner of high standing, as it does the declared readiness to furnish concrete compensation to the victims of the Nazi regime. Equating - especially with reference to questions of compensation policy - Nazi victims with Austrian POWs or displaced persons is inadmissible in the view of the Commission's members and permanent experts and would pose the risk of keeping the victims to be compensated by Austria waiting much longer.

Generally, it should be noted that the Commission's principals on behalf of the Republic of Austria are the Federal Chancellor, the Vice- Chancellor and the Presidents of the National Assembly and the Federal Council, hence the Commission's mandate is not affected a change of the persons filling these offices. The Commission's work must always be based on a consensus that all forms of inhumanity and racism are to be rejected. That is why it is not only essential to come to terms with the past but also to combat all phenomena of inhumanity and racism in the state and in society. Otherwise the Historical Commission would become a mere alibi.

Vienna, 11 February 2000