Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Staatsvertrag von

Saint-Germain, Treaty of: On September 10, 1919, State Chancellor Karl Renner, as head of the Austrian delegation to the peace conference after the First World War at Saint-Germain Palace in Paris, signed the treaty between Austria and the 27 "allied and associated powers"; the treaty contained 381 articles in 14 sections. Section II (Articles 27-35) deals with the Austrian borders: SouthTirol and Val Canale (Carinthia) had to be ceded to Italy, southern Styria and Miestal valley (Carinthia) to Yugoslavia, the area around the town of Feldsberg and 14 municipalities near Gmünd to the ČSR. Austria succeeded in reaching an agreement on holding a plebiscite for the bilingual area in southern Carinthia (Abstimmungsgebiete (Austrian areas subject to the Plebiscite of 1920). The German-language districts of western Hungary (Burgenland) were awarded to Austria. Anschluß with Germany was prohibited, the name of the state (Deutsch-Österreich=German-Austria) was changed to "Österreich" (Austria). According to Section V (Articles 118-159) Austria was not allowed to introduce compulsory military service (it was allowed a professional army consisting of 30,000 men) and had to destroy arms and armaments factories. Sections I (Covenant of the League of Nations) and XIII (Statute of the International Labour Organisation), which were were intended to form the foundations of the future peace order in Europe, are contained verbatim in all the Pariser Vororteverträge (German name for the peace treaties of 1919 etc.). At the preceding negotiations the Austrian delegation was only allowed to raise written objections and the draft text had to be accepted almost unchanged. Austria was treated as a successor state to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (like Hungary) and was to pay compensation for the consequences of the war.

Literature: Vertragstext im Staatsgesetzgründungsblatt der Republik Österreich, 1919; Bericht über die Tätigkeit der deutsch-österreichischen Friedensdelegation in St. Germain, 2 vols., 1919; F. Fellner, Der Vertrag von St. Germain, in: E. Weinzierl and K. Skalnik (eds.), Österreich 1918-1938, Geschichte der Ersten Republik, vol. 1, 1983; St. Germain 1919, Symposion der wissenschaftlichen Kommission des T.-Körner-Stiftungsfonds und des L.-Kunschak-Preises zur Erforschung der Geschichte Österreichs der Jahre 1918-1938, 1979, published vol. 7, 1983.