The parliament's vice president Fritz Neugebauer called the decision an "important political symbol." The bill also officially revokes several other Nazi-era decisions, such as sterilizations and policies against homosexuals.

Austria had already agreed in 2005 to grant deserters equal status with other Nazi-era victims. Yet Austria's Justice Minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner said parliament's decision, made late Wednesday, was an important step in examining Austria's war-time history.

"Laws don't change the hearts of people, but they change the knowledge and examination of one's own history," Bandion-Ortner said.

Opponents say not all deserters war heroes

The bill was supported by the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party as well as the Greens. Yet it was opposed by the rightist Alliance for the Future of Austria. The Alliance's Herbert Scheibner said many of the soldiers who fled were opportunists who did not deserve recognition.

In Germany, a justice ministry review found that the Nazis' treason law was used as an instrument of repression. The law was so vague that it led to arbitrary rulings. That finding led Germany's parliament in September to unanimously approve a law to rehabilitate German deserters.

Austria was annexed by the German Reich in 1938 and 270,000 Austrians fought in Hitler's army. Nazi courts passed down 4,000 death sentences for Austrians who fled the army - the Wehrmacht - of which about 1,300 were carried out.

th/dpa/AP
Editor: Michael Lawton