In 1977 Federal Chancellor Dr. Bruno Kreisky, Ambassador Dr. Karl Schober, Ambassador Dr. Peter Jankowitsch, and the members of the Kuratorium des Nationalfonds "200 Jahre USA," accompanied by a number of other Austrians, braved the rigors of March in Minnesota to come to Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota. Their extraordinarily generous purpose was to bestow upon the University a gift of one million dollars to endow a Center for Austrian Studies. This was the manner in which the people of Austria and their government chose to recognize and help celebrate the Bicentennial Anniversary of the United States. Such things are unusual in any case, but this was an especially touching and unusual occasion, for the money had been gathered by popular subscription first and then matched by a governmental appropriation. This was not just a calculated act of state, but rather the result of a people's generosity. The fact that the Austrians described the gift as an expression of gratitude for American assistance after World War II only makes the deed more generous and graceful.
The Center for Austrian Studies was established soon thereafter and, among its first activities, inaugurated a series of annual symposia on Austria. The first of the symposia was held on May 19 and 20, 1978, and had as its theme Austria since 1945. This publication is composed of the papers delivered at that symposium. The Center intends to publish the papers of all the symposia, and other works from time to time, as an accompanying series to the Center's other publication, the Austrian History Yearbook, which Professor R. John Rath brought into being and nurtured to its present vigor. This, the first of the publications of the Center for Austrian Studies, is made possible by a subvention from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, for which we at the Center are very grateful, indeed. We owe a debt of thanks also to Dr. Fritz Cocron, Director of the Austrian Cultural Institute in New York, for his always kind and gracious assistance.