The Republic of Austria Historical Commission was set up on 1 October 1998 with the following mandate: ". . . to investigate and report on the whole complex of expropriations in Austria during the Nazi regime and on restitution and/or compensation (including other financial or social benefits) after 1945 by the Republic of Austria." The reports are to be submitted to the Federal Chancellor (prime minister) and the Vice-Chancellor and to the Presidents of the Nationalrat (National Council)) and of the Bundesrat (Federal Council). After the presentation of its working programme, the Historical Commission received its definitive assignment on 28 April 1999. By early 2000, two reports had been presented, on the subjects of "forced labour" and "withdrawal of rental rights".
On 6 June 2002, the Historical Commission submitted reports on the following subjects:
- Restitution and compensation in international law. The obligations of the Republic of Austria after 1945 in the light of its foreign-policy practice;
- Citizenship and expulsion. Austria's 1938 citizenship law and expulsion. Expulsion, return, and citizenship;
- The emergence of restitution and compensation legislation. The Republic of Austria and the assets expropriated during the Nazi period;
- Austrian restitution legislation. A legal analysis;
- The processes before the Austrian restitution commissions. An investigation of the practice of the proceedings of the restitution commissions. The restitution commissions at the Civil Law Court of the Federal Province of Vienna.
- Austrian financial administration and the restitution of expropriated assets. The provincial finance directorates [Finanzlandesdirektion] for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. The Federal Law Office [Finanzprokuratur]. The federal ministries for the protection of property, for economic planning and for finance.

The partial report thus presented, approximately a fifth of the total report, concentrates on interrelated, predominantly legal and administrative historical aspects of the restitution process and the restitution of Austrian citizenship.
Apart from this, the reports and expert findings have by and large been completed and are at the moment the object of intensive discussions and work within the Historical Commission. The presentation of the final report is to be expected in the course of 2002.
It should be emphasised that currently there are only partial results, and indeed, with regard to the sphere of restitution, more far-reaching conclusions will be presented in the final report. The complex of "citizenship" and "international law" can be regarded as having been concluded.
Together with the comprehensive report, the Historical Commission will present its assessment and interpretation of the collected results in a clearly understandable form. However, the Historical Commission did not want to delay the presentation of the already completed parts, which to a certain extent represent a unit. This was above all with regard to the connection between the investigations into the restitution laws and the current proceedings under federal law on the establishment of a general restitution fund for victims of Nazism and on restitution measures (Federal Law Journal I. No. 12/2001).
The following remarks should by no means be seen as a substitute for a reading of the reports; this is particularly so with regard to the complexity of the subject. It is thus offered as a first orientation, as a kind of "introductory assistance" to the material.