"We salute America, whose sons have liberated our land and taken up the watch atop our mountains..."

"It is now one year since Hitler's armies have capitulated. The victorious march of the allied troops has freed the western half of Austria and made possible the rebirth of our Fatherland.

On the anniversary of this historic occasion, we men and women of the Alps can offer no better thanks than to repeat what we wrote in the first issue of our newspaper: We salute America, whose sons have liberated our land and taken up the watch atop our mountains. We salute all the other free nations of the world and, along with them, our friends who, year after year, made pilgrimage to our Groáglockner and to the valleys of our Alpine paradise until this terrible war tore apart those people of good will as well. We express our heartiest welcome to the American army and military government! We wish them all the best. May they stand by us in word and in deed in this darkest hour of the long and glorious history of Austria. For this we will be most obliged.

Needless to say, during these last 12 months, some Austrians have been by no means sparing in their words of criticism of the occupation methods of the Allies in Austria, and there are doubtlessly many Austrians who would say that they had imagined liberation far differently. Our fellow citizens who argue this case may possibly have forgotten the words contained in the first proclamation issued to the Austrian people: `The Allied Armed Forces are occupying Austria as victors, since Austria, as an essential part of the Third Reich, waged war against the United Nations.'

Austrians now have the opportunity to contribute to the liberation of their country by offering their full cooperation to the Allied Armed Forces and providing them with all possible help and support in combating the Hitlerian German oppressor."

"Pongauer and Pinzgauer Post", May 4, 1946.