| Administrative History | Allocations: 1919-1937; 1946-1987; see annual reports for any subsequent allocations.
The republic of Austria was founded in November 1918 following the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The suffering in Vienna caused by the post World War I blockade was the major cause of the foundation of Save the Children (SCF), and Austria was the first country to be aided by the organisation. Although conditions in Germany were equally bad, Austrian press censorship was less severe, and as a result, the degree of distress in Austria was much better known. The first allocation of aid was made on 28 May 1919, nine days after SCF's public launch. By the end of December 1920, SCF had allocated over £134,000 to Austria: almost 22% of the money expended to that date. The money was distributed through a variety of existing organisations, mainly the Society of Friends Emergency and War Victims Relief Committee. Most of the money was expended in Vienna, but there were also grants for relief in the Tyrol and to the Famine Area Children's Hospitality Committee, which took children out of Austria to Britain to recover from the effects of famine. Aid took the form of feeding, improvement of milk supplies, child welfare centres, and clothing depots.
From 1922, most of the work consisted in child feeding and distribution of relief through sponsorship ('adoptions'). Various institutions such as the Blind School at Linz and the Children's Sanatorium at Krems were aided, some through 'adoption' by schools. In 1923 'corbeilles circulantes' or travelling layettes distributed by SCF through UISE seem to have been made at workrooms in Vienna. From 1924 food parcels were distributed, and until 1926 aid was given to the Tyrol in the form of a travelling welfare worker. From 1926 until 1937 aid was mostly confined to 'adoptions' with a small amount of relief work.
In 1938 the country was incorporated into the German Reich until liberation in 1945, when a provisional government was set up (Austria became fully independent in May 1955). In 1938 some of the refugees fleeing from Nazi rule were Austrian. From the Anschluss until liberation, SCF was not involved with Austria. In May 1946, SCF returned to Austria. At first, while the country was under the armies of occupation, the work had to be confined to the British zone in the province of Carinthia. Three welfare workers went to Austria to work with Displaced Persons at Villach and Treffling. The British Red Cross Civilian Relief Organisation withdrew in May 1947 and SCF workers had to change to other camps. The team leader was based in Carinthia, although travelled the country. In 1948 staff numbers had risen to five, in various camps. Clothes and food were distributed, as well as aid for summer holidays. By 1949, the camps were being handed over, and only two SCF workers remained, and by 1950 only one, distributing aid in various places in Austria.
In 1951, SCF gave relief to families hit by avalanches. There was also aid to the Children's Hospital at Hermagor for children suffering from tuberculosis and polio, as well as that at Schloss Heroldeck at Millstatt. SCF continued to distribute clothing and other supplies in southern Austria. In September 1956 the rehabilitation centre at Hermagor was officially opened. At the end of 1956, large numbers of refugees began fleeing Hungary in the aftermath of the uprising. SCF workers helped in the refugee camps. In October 1956, Gesellschaft Rettet das Kind, the Austrian SCF, was officially launched. SCF-UK remained in Austria and offered support and advice to Rettet das Kind until complete withdrawal in 1960. In 1958, SCF was working on training for child probation work and introducing junior clubs. In 1959, World Refugee Year (WRY), SCF donated money to UNHCR for the rehousing of refugees from old camps in Austria. SCF, with a further grant of WRY money plus help from other sources, including Austria, built a children's centre for the re-housed refugees at St Martin's near Klagenfurt (opened in 1962). In April 1960, Rettet das Kind took over full responsibility for the work. SCF allocations continued, largely on the basis of sponsorship, until 1987. |