East Austria (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Austrian Democratic Republic Österreichische Demokratische Republik Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Eastern Austria
Flag Emblem
Motto:  Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch! (German) ("Workers of the world, unite!")
Anthem:  Die Arbeiter von Wien
Location of East Austria
Capital		Vienna
Official languages		German
Ethnic groups		Austrians; Illyrians
Religion		Christianity; Irreligion
Demonym		Austrian; East Austrian
Government		Unitary state; People's democracy; Semi-presidential republic
-	President
-	Prime Minister
Legislature		Nationalversammlung of East Austria
-	Upper house	Erste Kammer
-	Lower house	Zweite Kammer
Establishment
-	Independence from Austria-Hungary	November 12, 1918
-	Liberation from the Greater German Reich	April 20, 1945
-	Establishment of the Austrian Democratic Republic	August 29, 1948
Population
-	estimate	3,057,316
Currency		Altyn (ALT)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
Internet TLD		.ot
Calling code		+43
Membership international or regional organizations		United Nations; Warsaw Pact

The Austrian Democratic Republic (German: Österreichische Demokratische Republik), or commonly known as East Austria (German: Ostösterreich), is a unitary socialist state and a landlocked country of roughly 3.5 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by Czechoslovakia to the north, Hungary to the east, Illyria to the south, and West Austria and West Germany to the west. In addition to being a member of the United Nations since 1973, East Austria is also a member of WTO and CSCE, a founding member of the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact and participates in cooperation with the European Community through the Helsinki Initiative.

Politics and government

The East Austrian constitution of 1948 has established the Austrian Democratic Republic as a socialist state governed based on the people's democracy (volksdemokratie). Like other Eastern bloc countries, the constitution was modeled closely after the Soviet constitutional framework, the prototype of all Marxist-Leninist states, with several elements adopted from the 1920 constitution of Republic of Austria. Vanguard party of East Austria is the Working People's Party of Austria (Partei der Werktätigen Österreichs, PdWÖ).

History

Soviet occupation of Austria (1945–1948)

On 29 March 1945, Soviet commander Fyodor Tolbukhin's troops crossed the former Austrian border at Klostermarienberg in Burgenland. At the beginning of April 1945, Karl Renner, then living in southern Lower Austria, met the local Red Army commanders in Hochwolkersdorf who have prepared for the Vienna Offensive. On April 20, 1945, the Soviets, without asking their Western allies, instructed Renner to form a provisional government. Renner formed his government a week later, declaring the independence of Austria from Greater Germanic Reich. Despite its formal declaration of Austrian independence, the members of Renner government were closely watched by the Soviet intelligence agents and bodyguards.

Further readings