the creation of an allied commission for austria was envisaged by allied leaders at the various sessions of the european advisory commission and established by the agreement on control machinery in austria in london on july 4, 1945. the agreement mandated the creation of four occupation zones (american, british, french and soviet) in vienna, similar to berlin. perhaps not coincidentally, although several sites were considered for the soviet memorial, ultimately a prominent location in the 3rd district near the palais schwarzenberg was chosen, imposingly within sight of the location used by the four allies to govern vienna. german prisoners of war and austrian construction workers were used to build the site.