Word: figl
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...hand, Austria hoped for U.S.-British aid and dreaded being left in the lurch by the West. A simple news item like General Mark Clark's confinement to Walter Reed Hospital (because of an ear infection) created a minor sensation. Jittery Chancellor Leopold Figl, formerly a model of imperturbability, inquired whether Clark's illness was not political...
...schillings, about six months' pay for an average Austrian worker. In the center box, filled in the old days with European royalty and U.S. millionaires, the native citizenry could ogle General Mark Clark, his wife and daughter, the Archbishop of Salzburg, and Austria's Chancellor Leopold Figl...
Silently, seriously, Austria's Parliament met in its badly bombed white building near what was lately called the Adolf Hitler Platz. Representatives of one of the weakest nations in Europe, they nevertheless held their ground while Figl read to them what amounted to a Russian attempt to dictate Austrian legislation. The Parliament had before it Figl's bill to nationalize 81 industries, amounting to 50% of the country's production. The Russian note asked for 25 exceptions on the ground that they were "German assets" and therefore could be seized by Russia under the Potsdam agreement...
...Figl made it clear that he was unimpressed by mighty Russia's note. Parliament recessed to give the delegates a chance to think it over. Within 15 minutes the delegates returned, voted unanimously for Figl's bill...
...nationalization issue had forced Austrian parties into unusual positions. Chancellor Figl's own Catholic People's Party, suspected of being cool toward nationalization, warmed to it markedly when it seemed the most direct way of opposing Russian penetration. The Communists, having loudly called for drastic nationalization measures, did not dare back down even under the threat of fierce Russian displeasure...