MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON USIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002400340004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 7, 1998
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 2, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

FORM NO. 51-4A f
SEPT.1948
. ,
? - Approved
2-0045g
CD N
zoAlAzg
COUNTRY Auqtria SR sppl4T e 7 t
SUBJECT miscellaneous' Motes on
711
PLACE 4
ACQUIVED nth: j4,
Date i frin,
DATE OF I q5X1
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25X1A2g
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I-- 0Aghttiotember 1948
01)
4
-92 Following is a collection of unrelated items on USIA activities 0~ g a
4[1.
period of several months. Each item is separately dated and evaluated.
-
1. The Commercial Bureau of USIA requested quotations on 9,500 ball bearings
from the Swiss export firm of Albert Geser Ltd., St. Gallen, Switzerland.
The quotation on bearings, manufactured by AF Goeteborg and VIF Schweinfurt,
was 338,000 Swiss francs; individual prices ranged from 19 francs each for
/'Ll' number 30308 bearings, to 82 francs for stock number 30316. Delivery of the
entire etdek was guaranteed within sixty daysend payment was to be made by
means of an irrevocable credit established with the Schweizerische Kreditan?
stalt, Zurich, in Swiss francs or dollars. The prices quoted were too high,
however, and USIA did not accept the ?filter.
6 i ' ,
,4
Mfmgber 1948
2. Sometime during the latter part of October 1948, the Czechoslovak Central
Iron and Steel Administration offered the Central Administration of Soviet
Oil Companies in Austria (CASOCA) $600,000 wprth of extruded pipelwhich is
allegedly of Bizonia origin. The material is to be delivered toMSOCA
shortly, and compensation scrap iron, figured at $26. per metric ton, will be
sent to Czechoslovakia for e ale in Switzerland. The remaining amount not
paid in sera unnamed Swiss financial firm. (Field
Comme t: Si 1 for ?urchasin e o
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?In the zaddle &1 SePten;ber, Engr. APPEL of the USIA-controlled Siemens-
.
Schuckert Engerthstrasse plant approached Director ZEHETNER of Siemens-
Schuckert Ni_ ? , t
betungengasse n an attempto obtain large supplies of
lacquered silk 'bands (Lackeeidenbaidde3)),oiled linen (Oelleinen), enamel
virrash 'wire (Emaillackdraht)jand other materials needed for Engerthstrasse
rerUeed " n -
Ttoduc,ionofro7,the Nibeluneerigasse plant s ERP allotment . Director ZEHETN
to agOtiate
340 Noy. 1?48
"44 OsraM/ USIA-controlled light bulb factory in Vienna.A erpdo
been
-*etely renovated and is operating according
The factory has been cleaned, productiOn lines reorg?1ied9 and new
rig ng inita.liect Large numbers of Soviet citizens are employed at?the
4114' a'S foremen, technicians, and senior office personnel. Many of the So-.
'" 1 ies- us
ari ir, Austria iws industrial instructors or students. The
_24"03-t-- iotdi3L:riffactory reciiiv-es large shipments of vapor light tubes (Licht-
froia *Ole debam plant in Western Germany and evorts the ,tubes to the
Or
Or the-i4ent far hard crntig'?:. WillEMOMMENhow the ship.
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rrlae s are made from Gei-rps.riy hovr ya t.
t446- 25X1X6
5. Th?as been a steady exChange 'Of Pereoffierb" ween e emns.; chUckert,
Engerthstrasse plants, and Magyar Siemeni-Schuckert, Ituvek, Budapest VI, Terez
Xoritt .6 which his its factory at Budapest X, Gyomroi ut. 128. Director TUPY
, $
and Director SOFpnIN, both of
. have traveled to the Budapest
lant several times recently.
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6. On 17 November 1948, two power shovels which had been overhauled and re-
paired by'Bahnbedarf on orders f om the o.lructien Division of USIA were
nd
V-, WY USSA.,? - ed by Juschwneschtraris to II- ,.,. 1 ?Iri: : t. Both were caterpillar ex-
. ..i
ear, s; olirifaeitiltdfactured by Ohrenstiin it'appell Type DI No. 860, cubic
' meter shovel capacity, weight 30 tons, and powered by a 95 hp engine; the
ether was manufactured by DEMAG, Type E 30, No. 407, i cubic meter shovel
capacity, weight 30 tons, and powered by a 95 hp engine. Four additional
e v rs at Bahnbedarf by
hese shovels is
i ?
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21 November 1948
(C-3) 7. On 19 November 1948, two workers at Baimbedarf, Josef KORAI a shop coun-
cillor, and Roman GROSS, the cultural adviser (Kulturreferent), both des-
cribed as ardent Communists, approached the Austrian director of the firm,
also a Communist, and threatened a strike unless something were done to
Leviate "unbearable working conditions created by repeated demands to
tzcre?e proaittfoil aha cit " ices arid by the ever-present threats of
dismissal";(
resents a c=ge in the labor situation a a n?e?ar
ikrale was good and dismissals infreque
_Robert ROSSAK as mediator in this dispute. ROSSAK is a Moscow-traine
jisfrian Communiatkfwho left.; ass.a liaison man between USIA and workers em
p sYyid ACSTA:caritroIlit -ROSSAK called a meeting and NICKA, as
spokesman for the wor ereaccused the managenent of under-paying thte,workas
era, treating them as slaves, continuously threatening to discharge.
and creating working cenditions "worse than under a Fasciat.mgovern-
' ROSSAK" ther supOn "acen?Ord NICKA d GROSS of harboring anti-
lentlients' ,arier thld them that they could no longer consider them-
Ve:s'C'OMIMAritl; bUtillineficat tern." Both NICKA and GROSS were visibly
a bYttleee atediations iffertropped-th ? complaints against the manage-
* aR9wri, to be dia:chargeTrat-trireliar e and NICKA will be kept under
closeobServitia-by the imariagerelto 11111.10. The ultimate reason
for the distUrbahce it Ihitulicedarf is TIM ROV s insistance that the only
fbr USIA to Corbat the Marshall Kani inatria is for USIA plants to
,Oduce high quality goods faster and more cheaply than the Americans can
r_ AOMIK7 deputy director of USIA, has ordered all plantA
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Clecflmac ine a e o pro i,ice onJ.z ? o
n per day. These machines are be ng manufactured at the
k a Obergrafendorf, Lower Austria and not at J. M. Voith
frv,
24 November J248
(P-3) 9* Weagner-Biro, USIA-controlled machine construction firm in Stadlaul appears
tope,neglected b7 ,the C8/A administration. plant rrianager
RAVVU$S, the chief of production, also a Corn-
niuriist, are all unqualified a7dinici7ent. The m!..1...ndifficU"tY seems to
be in poor price estimates which make competi tive bidding iMpoesibl A325X1A6a
though the Soviets' recognize the plan 4:netfie'lenw' they are nOt!Ma king25X1A6a
effort to relled7 the Situation
gner- ro
Railroads (B
ection of thj
,ir0 despite
andjdirct1
struction con
s on Y ImPor an rem
desbahn). Accordi
Bundesbahn the r
h prices, because
ovie pressure 0
acts for the ramlroa
The Graz 'Branch o
ea, guar ers in Vienna I Margarethenstr
by the Laenderbank. The Vienna heidquart
with the,OSIA-canheolled 11teP.ro
(1 4
24 November 1949
10. Despite constant Soviet pressure work on the Winches ordered by USIA from
e era
e babuilding
h'l*agner-
n er'ComMUnist
prOVes'steel'con-
st sympathizer.
ered by the firm's
Owned to a large extent
ers o aagain' -tiro has no connection
ntralled Stadlau plant.)
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anis le_r9greSling_Slpil
aMIC'OP c nitiudtiOn _
con is4-rimibilaepciTAiIt 'thetdfa7rhumbte,r
r SIA firms is 4.?2,000. liener-Bruecy.enbau has a_911o4.of
41
elf bee.- ring; are' he -blo6k;because
approval fo7r tsef'O"f "'bus' hiiigs-has-nOt.-acirie froirrIlbSaw. -xuai, purchasing
agent for Wiener -Brneckenbau, has been negotiating for ball bearings in
5w4.tzerland with little success. Wiener.Brueckenbau has so far delivered25X1A6a
seven winches,qqd has nineteen ready, the other firths working on the order
are progressing at the same speed,
4 September 194 25X1A6a8
(F.3) 11. Following are some examples of wha4nis apparently a new trend in USIA. 25X1A6a
There seems to be 'a_tendency:to dispose of certalz5A1ABArtant USI A firm25X1A6a
-either through sale to the former bwri rs or by turni the firms over to
00-irative=s (Arbe tsgemeint.
that he considers this rmation i
/-
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INTZILIG
?,,?,, , ? _ _ -, - _
V$TA hae: att cl ne-btiations th the forie tWO-USIA
owners 0
, A., ,
Th3IN,' -la ethi41-A*46iT-iE :
,?,,,....- aild. the
ilng these firms to-their tOr-emr-aiilneri irhO*Or7t=githiih-s-bl,it
4hter ..,rati,og T'actor, Waid4bfen 4n der , 47e,,, .07 _ e purpose of
li
.,...,. . .,. ,... ar&esi-
more than twenty years in Austria.
'has beeQ retorted that the Sohremser Granitmerke Koehler & to.,
rmerly aIJSTA concern had 1?een glien"tO a *Orket!!. COopeative.
e_OoOperat ve pays a month:y token rent (4nerkennungezins) to USIA.
,
.,. - .. . : - ... ..' . !,',.., , ? v, .: .,',: : ..,F,,,,,H--]?,!. 7- i. -,,,-;.77 -H.i,i.:!,1ye7,4:7,1r,rnn..,ti, ,;:lf, ., .:.
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