The idea of anAnschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany")[b] arose after the1871 unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominatedGerman Empire. It gained support after theAustro-Hungarian Empire fell in 1918. The newRepublic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany, but the 1919Treaty of Saint Germain andTreaty of Versailles forbade both the union and the continued use of the name "German-Austria" (Deutschösterreich); they also stripped Austria of some of its territories, such as theSudetenland. This left Austria without most of the territories it had ruled for centuries and amid economic crisis.
By the 1920s, theAnschluss proposal had strong support in both Austria and Germany,[4] particularly to many Austrian citizens of the political left and center. One vehement supporter was prominent Social Democrat leaderOtto Bauer, who served as Austria's Foreign Minister 21 November 1918 – 26 July 1919.[5]Support for unification with Germany came mainly from the belief that Austria, stripped of its imperial land, was not viable economically.[6] Popular support for the unification faded with time, although it remained as a concept in the contemporary Austrian political discourse.[7]
In January 1933,Adolf Hitler (bornin Austria)rose to power in Germany. From then on, desire for unification could be identified with theNazi regime, for whom it was an integral part of the Nazi "Heim ins Reich" ("back home to the realm") concept, which sought to incorporate as manyVolksdeutsche (ethnic Germans outside Germany) as possible into a "Greater Germany".[8] Nazi Germany's agents cultivated pro-unification tendencies in Austria, and sought to undermine the Austrian government, which was controlled by theFatherland Front, which opposed unification. During anattempted coup in July 1934, Austrian chancellorEngelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis. The defeat of the coup prompted many leading Austrian Nazis to go into exile in Germany, where they continued their efforts to unify the two countries.
On 5 November 1937, Hitler informed his military aides that he would annex Austria andCzechoslovakia to the German Reich. When Austrian chancellorKurt Schuschnigg met Hitler inBerchtesgaden on 12 February 1938, he was presented an ultimatum and forced to appointArthur Seyss-Inquart as minister of the interior and security. On the eve of 9 March 1938, Schuschnigg announced that there would be a referendum to be held on 13 March to decide between a possible union with Germany or the maintenance of Austria's sovereignty. Schuschnigg expected to win a clear majority to face the Nazi challenge, but the Nazis refused and demanded the appointment of a new cabinet under Seyss-Inquart. Under the threat of military occupation, Schuschnigg resigned and Hitler had theGerman Army cross the border into Austria on 12 March, unopposed by the Austrian military. Aplebiscite was held on 10 April, resulting in 99.7% approval.[9]
The idea of grouping allGermans into one nation-state had been the subject of debate in the 19th century from thedissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the break-up of theGerman Confederation in 1866. Austria had wanted aGroßdeutsche Lösung (greater Germany solution), whereby the German states would unite under the leadership of the AustrianHouse of Habsburg. This solution would have included all the German states (including the non-German regions of Austria), but Prussia would have had to accept a secondary role. This controversy, calleddualism, dominatedPrusso-Austrian diplomacy and the politics of the German states in the mid-nineteenth century.[10]
In 1866 the feud finally came to an end during theAustro-Prussian War in which the Prussians defeated the Austrians and thereby excluded theAustrian Empire and German Austrians from Germany. The Prussian statesmanOtto von Bismarck formed theNorth German Confederation, which included most of the remaining German states, aside from a few in the southwestern region of the German-inhabited lands, and further expanded the power of theKingdom of Prussia. Bismarck used theFranco-Prussian War (1870–1871) as a way to convince southwestern German states, including theKingdom of Bavaria, to side with Prussia against theSecond French Empire. Due to Prussia'squick victory, the debate was settled and in 1871 the "Kleindeutsch"German Empire based on the leadership of Bismarck and Prussia formed—this excluded Austria.[11] Besides ensuring Prussian domination of aunited Germany, the exclusion of Austria also ensured that Germany would have a substantialProtestant majority.
TheAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, theAusgleich, provided for a dual sovereignty, theAustrian Empire and theKingdom of Hungary, underFranz Joseph I. This diverse empire included various different ethnic groups including Hungarians, Slavic ethnic groups such as Croats, Czechs, Poles, Rusyns, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as Italians and Romanians ruled by a German minority.[12] The empire caused tensions between the various ethnic groups. Many Austrian pan-Germans showed loyalty toOtto von Bismarck[13] and only to Germany, wore symbols that were temporarily banned in Austrian schools and advocated the dissolution of the empire to allow Austria to rejoin Germany, as it had been during the German Confederation of 1815–1866.[14][15] Although many Austrians supported pan-Germanism, many others still showed allegiance to theHabsburg monarchy and wished for Austria to remain an independent country.[16]
Erich Ludendorff wrote to theFederal Foreign Office on 14 October 1918 about the possibility of conducting an Anschluss with the German areas ofAustria-Hungary as itsdissolution removed the problem of the country's numerous ethnic groups. SecretaryWilhelm Solf opposed the proposal, stating that it "would provide theEntente with justification for demanding territorial compensations". During theParis Peace Conference the French sought to forbid a union between Austria and Germany, with French Minister of Foreign AffairsStephen Pichon stating that they "must see that Germany is not given an opportunity to rebuild her strength by utilizing the Austrian populations which remain outside of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Jugoslavia". A compromise was reached and Article 80 of theTreaty of Versailles stated that "Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly the independence of Austria, within the frontiers which may be fixed in a Treaty between that State and the Principal Allied and Associated Powers; she agrees that this independence shall be inalienable, except with the consent of the Council of theLeague of Nations."[17]
Elite and popular opinion in the rumpRepublic of German-Austria after 1918 largely favored some sort of union with Germany.[18] An Austrian provisional national assembly drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German Austria is a component of the German Republic" (Article 2). Later plebiscites in the Austrian border provinces ofTyrol andSalzburg yielded majorities of 98% and 99% in favor of a unification with theWeimar Republic. Further plebiscites were then forbidden. However,Erich Bielka noted that the plebiscites were marred by electoral fraud and voter manipulation, and therefore did not reflect what the general Austrian opinion was at that time:[19][20]
In addition to the massive propaganda campaign and not insignificant Reich German influence, 'Ja' ballot papers were pre-printed and provided at the polling stations and ballots were to be handed to an election official, undermining voter confidentiality. In addition, voter eligibility rules were liberally conceived and, therefore, open to abuse. Not only were those registered for the Nationalrat elections of October 1920 permitted to vote, but also those who registered themselves as living in Tyrol before April 1921, that is, less than a fortnight before going to the polls, as were all those Tyroleans who lived outside of the state; a train was even chartered from Bavaria to mitigate the financial burden of travelling 'home'.[19]
In the aftermath of a prohibition of an Anschluss, Germans in both Austria and Germany pointed to a contradiction in the nationalself-determination principle because the treaties failed to grant self-determination to the ethnic Germans (such as German Austrians andSudeten Germans) outside of the German Reich.[21][22]Hugo Preuss, the drafter of the GermanWeimar Constitution, criticized efforts to prevent an Anschluss; he saw the prohibition as a contradiction of theWilsonian principle of self-determination of peoples.[23]
The constitutions of theWeimar Republic and theFirst Austrian Republic both included the political goal of unification, which parties widely supported. In the early 1930s, the Austrian government looked to a possiblecustoms union with the German Republic in 1931. However, ultimately regional patriotism was stronger than pan-German sentiment.[19] In the Austrian Empire, eachKronland had its own functional government and enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy fromVienna, with "each looking to their own capital" instead.[19] According to Jody Manning, the idea of unification with Germany was not overwhelmingly popular among the Austrian population in 1919, which is one of the reasons why no nationwide referendum was held, even before it was forbidden by the Entente:
Despite the initially compelling statistics, overall, it appears doubtful that a qualified majority of Austrians would have supported Anschluss with Germany. From the sparse evidence available, it appears that the pro-Anschluss movement could only hope for a slim majority in the event of a plebiscite, and not the 75 per cent necessary, and that the number of Anschluss supporters in 1919 was not more than 50 per cent of the population. Even Otto Bauer, leader of the Social Democratic party, had to admit that both thebourgeoisie and the peasantry wanted 'an independent Austria fully capable of a national life of its own'. Also telling is Bauer's admission that, because of the strength of the conservative opposition to Anschluss and the real possibility that the majority would have voted against the Anschluss, the Socialists did not dare to hold a referendum in 1919.[19][24]
Poincarés third government attempted to prevent an Anschluss by incorporating Austria into a Danubian Confederation in 1927. German Minister of Foreign AffairsGustav Stresemann opposed it, as he saw it as an attempt to re-form the Austro-Hungarian Empire and offered to form acustoms union with Austria. Austrian ChancellorIgnaz Seipel, an Anschluss opponent, rejected the offer. In September 1929, Seipel was replaced byJohannes Schober, who pursued a pro-Germany policy and attempted to form a customs union. A political andeconomical crisis led to Schober losing power (30 September 1930) and Seipel returning to the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Negotiations were restarted afterOtto Ender became chancellor and were finalized with German Foreign Affairs MinisterJulius Curtius on 5 March 1931, before being approved by Germany on 18 March. France opposed the customs union, stating that it was in violation of Article 88 of theTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[25]
German military map during the Second World War, with no border between Germany and Austria (top right; also showing Alsace as part of Germany because it was directly incorporated into the Reich)
When theNazis, led byAdolf Hitler, rose to power in the Weimar Republic, the Austrian government withdrew from economic ties. Like Germany, Austria experienced the economic turbulence which was a result of theGreat Depression, with a high unemployment rate, and unstable commerce and industry. During the 1920s it was a target for German investment capital. By 1937, rapidGerman rearmament increased Berlin's interest in annexing Austria, rich in raw materials and labour. It supplied Germany withmagnesium and the products of the iron, textile and machine industries. It had gold and foreign currency reserves, many unemployed skilled workers, hundreds of idle factories, and large potential hydroelectric resources.[26]
Hitler, an Austrian German by birth,[27][c] picked up hisGerman nationalist ideas at a young age. Whilst infiltrating theGerman Workers' Party (DAP), Hitler became involved in a heated political argument with a visitor, a Professor Baumann, who proposed thatBavaria should break away fromPrussia and found a newSouth German nation with Austria. In vehemently attacking the man's arguments he made an impression on the other party members with his oratorical skills and, according to Hitler, the "professor" left the hall acknowledging unequivocal defeat.[29] Impressed with Hitler,Anton Drexler invited him to join the DAP. Hitler accepted on 12 September 1919,[30] becoming the party's 55th member.[31] After becoming leader of the DAP, Hitler addressed a crowd on 24 February 1920, and in an effort to appeal to wider parts of the German population, the DAP was renamed theNational Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).[32]
As its first point, the 1920National Socialist Program stated, "We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the people's right to self-determination. Hitler argued in a 1921 essay that theGerman Reich had a single task of, "incorporating the ten million German-Austrians in the Empire and dethroning the Habsburgs, the most miserable dynasty ever ruling."[33] TheNazis aimed tore-unite all Germans who were either born in theReich or living outside it in order to create an "all-GermanReich". Hitler wrote inMein Kampf (1925) that he would create a union between his birth country Austria and Germany by any means possible.[34][non-primary source needed]
TheFirst Austrian Republic was dominated from the late 1920s by theChristian Social Party (CS), whose economic policies were based on the papal encyclicalRerum novarum. The First Republic gradually disintegrated in 1933, when parliament was dissolved and power was centralized in the office of thechancellor, who was empowered torule by decree. Rival parties, including the Austrian National Socialists, were banned, and government evolved into acorporatist, one-party government that combined the CS and the paramilitaryHeimwehr. It controlled labor relations and the press. (SeeFatherland Front).[citation needed] The new regime emphasized the Catholic elements of Austria's national identity and staunchly opposed union withNazi Germany.
Engelbert Dollfuss and his successor,Kurt Schuschnigg, turned toBenito Mussolini'sItaly for inspiration and support. Mussolini supported the independence of Austria, largely due to his concern that Hitler would eventually press for the return of Italian territories which had once been ruled by Austria. The pro-Austrian policy of Italy was such that it was sometimes compared that while a century before (pre-unification) Italy was Austria‘s puppet, now rump state Austria was Italy‘s, and Mussolini mobilised Italian troops sent to theBrenner Pass after the attempted coup that included the murder of Dollfuss in 1934. Afterwards Italy had formed a common front with Great Britain and France opposed to German rearmament in early 1935 in the context of German withdrawal from the International Disarmament Conference, theStresa Front.[35]
However, the Stresa Front collapsed after French foreign ministry signed apact with the USSR in early 1935, and Britain reacted by signing anaval agreement with Germany. As such, when the Stresa Pact ministers’ (Samuel Hoare for Great Britain andPierre Laval for France)attempt to appease Italy with part of Ethiopia after Mussolini‘s invasion in October 1935 was leaked to an indignant press and thereby retracted, Mussolini now needed support elsewhere in Ethiopia (seeSecond Italo-Abyssinian War), and from Germany he had it readily. After receivingHitler's personal assurance that Germany would not seek territorial concessions from Italy, Mussolini entered into a relationship with Berlin that began with the formation of theBerlin–Rome Axis in 1936 which was formalised into a military alliance in thePact of Steel in 1939. By 1938 there was little Italian dismay at the annexation of Austria given her preoccupation in the Spanish Civil War and relative reconciliation with Germany, especially with pro-German foreign minister CountGaleazzo Ciano in office, whose appointment in 1936 is cited as the “death-knell for independent Austria”.[36]
TheAustrian Nazi Party failed to win any seats in theNovember 1930 general election, but its popularity grew in Austria after Hitler came to power in Germany. The idea of the country joining Germany also grew in popularity, thanks in part to aNazi propaganda campaign which used slogans such asEin Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer ("One People, One Empire, One Leader") to try to convince Austrians to advocate for anAnschluss to the German Reich.[37]Anschluss might have occurred by democratic process had Austrian Nazis not begun a terrorism campaign. According toJohn Gunther in 1936, "In 1932 Austria was probably eighty percent pro-Anschluss".[38]
When Germany permitted residents of Austria to vote[clarification needed] on 5 March 1933, three special trains, boats and trucks brought such masses toPassau that theSS staged a ceremonial welcome.[39] Gunther wrote that by the end of 1933 Austrian public opinion about German annexation was at least 60% against.[38] On 25 July 1934, chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in a failed coup. Afterwards, leading Austrian Nazis fled to Germany but they continued to push for unification from there. The remaining Austrian Nazis continued terrorist attacks against Austrian governmental institutions, which caused 164 deaths and 636 injuries between 1933 and 1938.[40]
Dollfuss's successor wasKurt Schuschnigg, who followed a political course similar to his predecessor. In 1935 Schuschnigg used the police to suppress Nazi supporters. Police actions under Schuschnigg included gathering Nazis (and Social Democrats) and holding them ininternment camps. Austria between 1934 and 1938 focused on the history of Austria and opposed the absorption of Austria into Nazi Germany (according to the philosophy Austrians were "superior Germans"). Schuschnigg called Austria the "better German state" but struggled to keep Austria independent.
In an attempt to put Schuschnigg's mind at rest, Hitler delivered a speech at theReichstag and said, "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria or to conclude an Anschluss."[41]
In summer 1936, Schuschnigg told Mussolini that his country had to come to an agreement with Germany. On 11 July 1936 he signed an agreement with German ambassadorFranz von Papen, in which Schuschnigg agreed to the release of Nazis imprisoned in Austria and Germany promised to respect Austrian sovereignty.[38] Under the terms of the Austro-German treaty, Austria declared itself a "German state" that would always follow Germany's lead in foreign policy, and members of the "National Opposition" were allowed to enter the cabinet, in exchange for which the Austrian Nazis promised to cease their terrorist attacks against the government. This did not satisfy Hitler and the pro-German Austrian Nazis grew in strength.
In September 1936, Hitler launched theFour Year Plan that called for a dramatic increase in military spending and to make Germany asautarkic as possible with the aim of having theReich ready to fight a world war by 1940.[42] The Four Year Plan required huge investments in theReichswerke steel works, a programme for developingsynthetic oil that soon went wildly over budget, and programmes for producing more chemicals and aluminium; the plan called for a policy of substituting imports and rationalizing industry to achieve its goals that failed completely.[42] As the Four Year Plan fell further and further behind its targets,Hermann Göring, the chief of the Four Year Plan office, began to press for anAnschluss as a way of securing Austria's iron and other raw materials as a solution to the problems with the Four Year Plan.[43] The British historianIan Kershaw wrote:
[A]bove all, it was Hermann Göring, at this time close to the pinnacle of his power, who far more than Hitler, throughout 1937 made the running and pushed the hardest for an early and radical solution to the 'Austrian Question'. Göring was not simply operating as Hitler's agent in matters relating to the 'Austrian Question'. His approach differed in emphasis in significant respects...But Göring's broad notions of foreign policy, which he pushed to a great extent on his own initiative in the mid-1930s drew more on traditional pan-German concepts of nationalist power-politics to attain hegemony in Europe than on the racial dogmatism central to Hitler's ideology.[43]
Göring was far more interested in the return of the formerGerman colonies inAfrica than Hitler was, believing up to 1939 in the possibility of an Anglo-German alliance (an idea that Hitler had abandoned by late 1937), and wanted all Eastern Europe in the German economicsphere of influence.[44] Göring did not share Hitler's interest inLebensraum ("living space") as for him, merely having Eastern Europe in the German economic sphere of influence was sufficient.[43] In this context, having Austria annexed to Germany was the key towards bringing Eastern Europe into Göring's desiredGrossraumwirtschaft ("greater economic space").[44]
Faced with problems in the Four Year Plan, Göring had become the loudest voice in Germany, calling for anAnschluss, even at the risk of losing an alliance with Italy.[45] In April 1937, in a secret speech before a group of German industrialists, Göring stated that the only solution to the problems with meeting the steel production targets laid out by the Four Year Plan was to annex Austria, which Göring noted was rich in iron.[45] Göring did not give a date for theAnschluss, but given that Four Year Plan's targets all had to be met by September 1940, and the current problems with meeting the steel production targets, suggested that he wanted anAnschluss in the very near-future.[45]
Supporters of Schuschnigg campaigning for the independence of Austria in March 1938, shortly before theAnschluss
Hitler told Goebbels in the late summer of 1937 that eventually Austria would have to be taken "by force".[46] On 5 November 1937, Hitler called a meeting with the Foreign MinisterKonstantin von Neurath, the War Minister Field MarshalWerner von Blomberg, the Army commander GeneralWerner von Fritsch, theKriegsmarine commander AdmiralErich Raeder and theLuftwaffe commander Hermann Göring recorded in theHossbach Memorandum. At the conference, Hitler stated that economic problems were causing Germany to fall behind in the arms race with Britain and France, and that the only solution was to launch in the near-future a series of wars to seize Austria andCzechoslovakia, whose economies would be plundered to give Germany the lead in the arms race.[47][48] In early 1938, Hitler was seriously considering replacing Papen as ambassador to Austria with either ColonelHermann Kriebel, the German consul inShanghai, orAlbert Forster, theGauleiter of Danzig.[49] Significantly, neither Kriebel nor Forster was a professional diplomat, with Kriebel being one of the leaders of the1923 Munich Beerhallputsch who had been appointed consul in Shanghai to facilitate his work as an arms dealer in China, while Forster was aGauleiter who had proven he could get along with the Poles in his position in theFree City of Danzig; both men were Nazis who had shown some diplomatic skill.[49] On 25 January 1938, the Austrian police raided the Vienna headquarters of the Austrian Nazi Party, arrestingGauleiter Leopold Tavs, the deputy to CaptainJosef Leopold, discovered a cache of arms and plans for aputsch.[49]
Following increasing violence and demands from Hitler that Austria agree to a union, Schuschnigg met Hitler atBerchtesgaden on 12 February 1938, in an attempt to avoid the takeover of Austria. Hitler presented Schuschnigg with a set of demands including appointing Nazi sympathizers to positions of power in the government. The key appointment was that ofArthur Seyss-Inquart as Minister of Public Security, with full, unlimited control of the police. In return Hitler would publicly reaffirm the treaty of 11 July 1936 and reaffirm his support for Austria's national sovereignty. Browbeaten and threatened by Hitler, Schuschnigg agreed to these demands and put them into effect.[50]
Seyss-Inquart was a long-time supporter of the Nazis who sought the union of all Germans in one state. Leopold argues he was a moderate who favoured an evolutionary approach to union. He opposed the violent tactics of the Austrian Nazis, cooperated with Catholic groups, and wanted to preserve a measure of Austrian identity within Nazi Germany.[51]
On 20 February, Hitler made a speech before the Reichstag which was broadcast live and which for the first time was relayed also by theAustrian radio network. A key phrase in the speech which was aimed at the Germans living in Austria and Czechoslovakia was: "The German Reich is no longer willing to tolerate the suppression of ten million Germans across its borders."[52]
TheDollfuss/Schuschnigg regime fought to keep Austria as an independent country.
On 3 March 1938, Austrian Socialists offered to back Schuschnigg's government in exchange for political concessions, such as legalising socialist press, returning confiscated funds and "the lifting of the ban on the wearing of Social Democrat badges, show Social Democrat flags and standards and singing Social Democrat songs."[53] Schuschnigg agreed to these demands and was supported by the united front of socialists and communists, as well as the Heimwehr, monarchist groups and the majority of the Austrian police. The Social Democrats also declared their readiness to support Schuschnigg in the event of a plebiscite under the conditions that immediately after such a plebiscite a definite negotiation be begun to include them in the Government.[54] This support led Schuschnigg to announce the referendum. According to Peter R. Knaur, Germany believed that a defeat in a referendum was likely, and thus dispatched men to Vienna to prevent or modify the plebiscite. Knaur wrote: "The Nazis supposedly admitted that they only had the following of twenty percent, of the potential votes of the country."[55]
On 9 March 1938, in the face of rioting by the small, but virulent, Austrian Nazi Party and ever-expanding German demands on Austria, ChancellorKurt Schuschnigg called areferendum (plebiscite) on the issue, to be held on 13 March. Infuriated, on 11 March, Adolf Hitler threatened invasion of Austria, and demanded Chancellor von Schuschnigg's resignation and the appointment of the NaziArthur Seyss-Inquart as his replacement. Hitler's plan was for Seyss-Inquart to call immediately for German troops to rush to Austria's aid, restoring order and giving the invasion an air of legitimacy. In the face of this threat, Schuschnigg informed Seyss-Inquart that the plebiscite would be cancelled.
To secure a large majority in the referendum, Schuschnigg dismantled the one-party state. He agreed to legalize theSocial Democrats and their trade unions in return for their support in the referendum.[8] He also set the minimum voting age at 24 to exclude younger voters because the Nazi movement was most popular among the young.[56] In contrast, Hitler had lowered the voting age for German elections held under Nazi rule, largely to compensate for the removal ofJews and other ethnic minorities from the German electorate following enactment of theNuremberg Laws in 1935.[citation needed]
The plan went awry when it became apparent that Hitler would not stand by while Austria declared its independence by public vote. Hitler declared that the referendum would be subject to major fraud and that Germany would never accept it. In addition, the German ministry of propaganda issued press reports that riots had broken out in Austria and that large parts of the Austrian population were calling for German troops to restore order. Schuschnigg immediately responded that reports of riots were false.[57]
Seyss-Inquart and Hitler with Himmler and Heydrich to the right in Vienna, March 1938
Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March, demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazis or face an invasion. The ultimatum was set to expire at noon, but was extended by two hours. Without waiting for an answer, Hitler had already signed the order to send troops into Austria at one o'clock.[58] Nevertheless, the German Führer underestimated his opposition.
As journalistEdgar Ansel Mowrer, reporting from Paris forCBS News, observed: "There is no one in all France who does not believe that Hitler invaded Austria not to hold a genuine plebiscite, but to prevent the plebiscite planned by Schuschnigg from demonstrating to the entire world just how little hold National Socialism really had on that tiny country."[59]
Schuschnigg desperately sought support for Austrian independence in the hours following the ultimatum. Realizing that neither France nor Britain was willing to offer assistance, Schuschnigg resigned on the evening of 11 March, but PresidentWilhelm Miklas refused to appoint Seyss-Inquart as Chancellor. At 8:45 pm, Hitler, tired of waiting, ordered the invasion to commence at dawn on 12 March regardless.[60] Around 10 pm, a forged telegram was sent in Seyss-Inquart's name asking for German troops, since he was not yet Chancellor and was unable to do so himself. Seyss-Inquart was not installed as Chancellor until after midnight, when Miklas resigned himself to the inevitable.[58][8] In the radio broadcast in which Schuschnigg announced his resignation, he argued that he accepted the changes and allowed the Nazis to take over the government "to avoid the shedding of fraternal blood [Bruderblut]".[61] Seyss-Inquart was appointed chancellor after midnight on 12 March.
It is said that after listening toBruckner's Seventh Symphony, Hitler cried: "How can anyone say that Austria is not German! Is there anything more German than our old pure Austrianness?"[62]
Clip from UFA newsreel "German Entry into Austria"Cheering crowds greet the Nazis in Vienna.Hitler crosses the border into Austria in March 1938.Hitler announces theAnschluss on theHeldenplatz, Vienna, 15 March 1938.
On the morning of 12 March 1938, the8th Army of the GermanWehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers.[d] The "invasion" without shots fired was therefore dubbed the Blumenkrieg ("Flower War"). Some contemporary observers doubted the authenticity of this ecstatic welcome:Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, an anti-Nazi German conservative, recorded in his journal that
Swarms of Berlin League of German Maidens girls have been directed here for the moment, and they wave ecstatically at the tank columns rattling through the old streets. In the next issue of theBerliner Illustrierte Zeitung they will be pictured as ‘Local Inhabitants, Who Greeted Their German Liberators with Wild Ovations’.... We know all about the talent for stagecraft of Goebbels....[64]
For theWehrmacht, the invasion was the first big test of its machinery. Although the invading forces were badly organized and coordination among the units was poor, it mattered little because the Austrian government had ordered the AustrianBundesheer not to resist.[65]
That afternoon, Hitler, riding in a car, crossed the border at his birthplace,Braunau am Inn, with a 4,000 man bodyguard.[59] In the evening, he arrived atLinz and was given an enthusiastic welcome. 250,000 Austrians gathered in Linz to meet Adolf Hitler and supportAnschluss.[66] The enthusiasm displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people had believed that a majority of Austrians opposedAnschluss.[67][68] Many Germans from both Austria and Germany welcomed theAnschluss as they saw it as completing the complex and long overdue unification of all Germans into one state.[69] On 13 March Seyss-Inquart announced the abrogation ofArticle 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which prohibited the unification of Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of theAustrian states withReichsgaue.[67] The seizure of Austria demonstrated once again Hitler's aggressive territorial ambitions, and, once again, the failure of the British and the French to take action against him for violating the Versailles Treaty. Their lack of will emboldened him toward further aggression.[70]
Hitler's journey through Austria became a triumphal tour that climaxed inVienna on 15 March 1938, when around 200,000 cheering German Austrians gathered around theHeldenplatz (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler say that "The oldest eastern province of the German people shall be, from this point on, the newest bastion of the German Reich"[71] followed by his "greatest accomplishment" (completing the annexing of Austria to form a Greater German Reich) by saying "As leader and chancellor of the German nation and Reich I announce to German history now the entry of my homeland into the German Reich."[72][73] Hitler later commented: "Certain foreign newspapers have said that we fell on Austria with brutal methods. I can only say: even in death they cannot stop lying. I have in the course of my political struggle won much love from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier (into Austria) there met me such a stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators."[74]
Hitler said as a personal note to theAnschluss: "I, myself, as Führer and Chancellor, will be happy to walk on the soil of the country that is my home as a free German citizen."[75][76]
Hitler's popularity reached an unprecedented peak after he fulfilled theAnschluss because he had completed the long-awaited idea of a Greater Germany.Bismarck had not chosen to include Austria in his 1871unification of Germany, and there was genuine support from Germans in both Austria and Germany for anAnschluss.[69]
Hitler's forces suppressed all opposition. Before the first German soldier crossed the border,Heinrich Himmler and a fewSchutzstaffel (SS) officers landed in Vienna to arrest prominent representatives of the First Republic, such asRichard Schmitz,Leopold Figl,Friedrich Hillegeist, andFranz Olah. During the few weeks between theAnschluss and the plebiscite, authorities rounded up Social Democrats, Communists, other potential political dissenters, andAustrian Jews, and imprisoned them or sent them toconcentration camps. Within a few days of 12 March, 70,000 people had been arrested. The disused northwest railway station in Vienna was converted into a makeshift concentration camp.[77] American historian Evan Burr Bukey warned that the plebiscite result needs to be taken with "great caution".[78] The plebiscite was subject to large-scale Nazi propaganda and to the abrogation of the voting rights of around 360,000 people (8% of the eligible voting population), mainly political enemies such as former members of left-wing parties and Austrian citizens of Jewish or Romani origin.[79][80][81][78]
The Austrians' support for theAnschluss was ambivalent; the Austrian population was given no choice and was subjected to extensive intimidation and suppression of the political opposition, as at the time of the plebiscite, the annexation of Austria was a 'fait accompli' as the German army had already occupied Austria and integrated it into Germany.[82] American historian Evan Bukey argues that there was a genuine German nationalist feeling in Austria amongst at least a part of the population, and those holding antisemitic sentiments were more than ready to "fulfill their duty" in the "Greater German Reich".[83] Bukey also states that since theSocial Democratic Party of Austria leaderKarl Renner and the highest representative of the Roman Catholic church in Austria CardinalTheodor Innitzer both endorsed theAnschluss, approximately two-thirds of Austrians might have voted for it.[78] However, Julie Thorpe notes that endorsements of people such as Renner "do not stand on their own as evidence for broad pan-German sympathies amongst Austria’s working population".[84]
British historianDonny Gluckstein notes that Austrian socialists reacted with "disgust" to Renner's endorsement of Anschluss, provoking a split in theSPÖ. Austrian left circles vehemently opposed Anschluss, and Renner's declaration prompted many to defect to Revolutionary Socialists underOtto Bauer or theKPÖ.[85] The relevance of Innitzer's endorsement is also disputed — he was reportedly "despised" by Austrian workers,[86] and the Anschluss sparked Catholic protests in Austria under the slogan "Our Führer is Christ" (rather than Hitler).[85] According to the Austrian historian Alfred D. Low, one of the reasons why Germany did not allow the plebiscite to be held by the Austrian government was that the Nazi regime feared to be defeated at the polls; Low states that in 1938, there was "majority support to Austria's independence".[87]
According to Hungarian historianOszkár Jászi, writing in 1938, the idea ofAnschluss was opposed amongst most political circles in Austria. Jászi noted that "the annihilation of the German labor movement showed to Austrian socialism what it could expect from an Anschluss under Nazi rule", while "Austrian Catholicism realized what its fate would be under a system which crushed the great Catholic Party of Germany,the Centrum".[88] It was also opposed by other groups, such as the Austrian Jews as well as "old Hapsburgist officers and officials and by a considerable part of Austrian capitalism". Most contemporary writers estimated that about two-thirds of Austrians wanted Austria to remain independent.[88]
How many Austrians behind closed doors were against theAnschluss remains unknown, but only one "unhappy face" of an Austrian in public when the Germans marched into Austria has ever been produced.[89] According to someGestapo reports, only a quarter to a third of Austrian voters in Vienna were in favour of theAnschluss.[90] In most rural areas, especially in Tyrol, the support for the Anschluss was even lower.[91] According to Evan Burr Bukey, no more than one-third of Austrians ever fully supported Nazism during the existence of Nazi Germany.[92] According to the estimates of the Austrian government, with thevoting age of 24, about 70% of Austrians would have voted to preserve the Austrian independence.[54] Czech-American historianRadomír Luža estimated that between 65% and 75% of Austrians supported the continuation of Austrian independence.[93] About a quarter of the Austrian population was estimated to be supportive of theNSDAP.[54]
On the contrary, Austrian historian Gerhard Botz argues that the Nazis did not falsify the results of the referendum and assumes that the "yes"-votes were in the range of 90 to 99 percent. In addition to the takeover of power that had already taken place and the intimidation of the population through terror, Botz identifies five further factors as decisive for the outcome of the “plebiscite”. First, Cardinal Innitzer's and Karl Renner's declarations opened the National Socialists inroads to the Catholic-conservative and socialist camps, which together comprised two-thirds of the population. Second, including many unemployed people in the German unemployment insurance program and recruiting them for vacant positions following the expulsion of their Jewish neighbors raised hopes that National Socialism would fulfill its social policy promises. Third, National Socialist propaganda powerfully emphasized that unemployment was all but eliminated in the old Reich and appealed to nationalist sentiments while building up an internal enemy through anti-Semitism. Fourth, the propaganda campaign was highly developed and therefore successful. Fifth, the National Socialists managed to reorganize their party, which helped bring about the plebiscite so quickly. According to Botz, this resulted in a strong mobilization of the population on the broadest possible basis, leading to the 99 percent result.[94]
The newly installed Nazis, within two days, transferred power to Germany, andWehrmacht troops entered Austria to enforce theAnschluss. The Nazis held a controlled plebiscite (Volksabstimmung) in the whole Reich within the following month, asking the people to ratify thefait accompli, and claimed that 99.7561% of the votes cast in Austria were in favor.[95][96]
Although theAllies were committed to upholding the terms of theTreaty of Versailles and those ofSt. Germain, which specifically prohibited the union of Austria and Germany, their reaction was only verbal and moderate. No military confrontation took place, and even the strongest voices against the annexation, particularly,France, and Great Britain remained at peace. The loudest verbal protest was voiced by the government ofMexico.[97]
Germany, which had a shortage of steel and a weakbalance of payments, gained iron ore mines in theErzberg and 748 millionRM in the reserves of Austria's central bankOesterreichische Nationalbank, more than twice its own cash.[67] In the years that followed, some bank accounts were transferred from Austria to Germany as "enemy property accounts".[98]
Immediately after theAnschluss, Vienna's Jews were forced to wash pro-independence slogans (Reibpartie [de]) from the city's pavements.
The campaign against the Jews began immediately after theAnschluss. They were driven through the streets of Vienna, their homes and shops were plundered. Jewish men and women were forced to wash away pro-independence slogans painted on the streets of Vienna ahead of the failed 13 March plebiscite.[99][100] Jewish actresses from theTheater in der Josefstadt were forced to clean toilets by theSA. The process ofAryanisation began, and Jews were driven out of public life within months.[101] These events reached a climax in theKristallnachtpogrom of 9–10 November 1938. All synagogues and prayer houses in Vienna were destroyed, as well as in other Austrian cities such as Salzburg. TheStadttempel was the sole survivor due to its location in a residential district which prevented it from being burned down. Most Jewish shops were plundered and closed. Over 6,000 Jews were arrested overnight, the majority deported toDachau concentration camp in the following days.[102] TheNuremberg Laws applied in Austria from May 1938, later reinforced with innumerable antisemitic decrees. Jews were gradually robbed of their freedoms, blocked from almost all professions, shut out of schools and universities, and forced to wear theyellow badge from September 1941.[103]
The Nazis dissolved Jewish organisations and institutions, hoping to force Jews to emigrate. Their plans succeeded—by the end of 1941, 130,000 Jews had left Vienna, 30,000 of whom went to the United States. They left behind all of their property, but were forced to pay theReich Flight Tax, a tax on all émigrés from Nazi Germany; some received financial support from international aid organisations so that they could pay this tax. The majority of the Jews who had stayed in Vienna eventually became victims of theHolocaust. Of the more than 65,000 Viennese Jews who were deported to concentration camps, fewer than 2,000 survived.[104]
Voting ballot from 10 April 1938. The ballot text reads "Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938, and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler?" The large circle is labelled "Yes", the smaller "No".
TheAnschluss was given immediate effect by legislative act on 13 March, subject to ratification by areferendum. Austria became the province ofOstmark, and Seyss-Inquart was appointed governor. Thereferendum was held on 10 April and officially recorded a support of 99.7% of the voters.[81]
While historians concur that the votes were accurately counted, the process was neither free nor secret. Officials were present directly beside the voting booths and received the voting ballot by hand (in contrast to asecret vote where the voting ballot is inserted into a closed box). In the referendum on 10 April, 73.3% of votes inInnervillgraten were in favor of theAnschluss, which was the lowest number of all Austrian municipalities.[105]
Austria remained part of Germany until the end of World War II. A provisional government inAllied-occupied Austria declared theAnschluss "null und nichtig" (null and void) on 27 April 1945.[106] Henceforth, Austria was recognized as a separate country, although it remained divided intooccupation zones and controlled by theAllied Commission until 1955, when theAustrian State Treaty restored its sovereignty.
Austria in the first days of Nazi Germany's control had many contradictions: at one and the same time, Hitler's regime began to tighten its grip on every aspect of society, beginning with mass arrests as thousands of Austrians tried to escape; yet other Austrians cheered and welcomed the German troops entering their territory.
Gate to the garage yard in theMauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
In March 1938 the local Gauleiter ofGmunden,Upper Austria, gave a speech to the local Austrians and told them in plain terms that all "traitors" of Austria were to be thrown into the newly opened concentration camp atMauthausen-Gusen.[107] The camp became notorious for its cruelty and barbarism. During its existence an estimated 200,000 people died, half of whom were directly killed.[107]
Theantigypsy sentiment was implemented initially most harshly in Austria when between 1938 and 1939 the Nazis arrested around 2,000 Romani men who were sent toDachau and 1,000 Romani women who were sent toRavensbrück.[108] Starting in 1939, Austrian Romani had to register themselves to local authorities.[109] The Nazis began to publish articles linking the Romani with criminality.[109] Until 1942, the Nazis had made a distinction between "pure Gypsies" and "GypsyMischlinges" ("mixlings" or "half-breeds").[110] However, Nazi racial research claimed that 90% of Romani were of mixed ancestry. Subsequently, the Nazis ordered that the Romani were to be treated on the same level as the Jews.[110]
After breaking off the negotiations regarding the position of the Catholic Church in Austria, CardinalTheodor Innitzer (a political figure of the CS) was intimidated into supporting the Anschluss after being assaulted.[111]Vatican Radio, however, broadcast a strong denunciation of the German action, andCardinal Eugenio Pacelli, theVatican Secretary of State, ordered Innitzer to report to Rome. Before meeting the Pope, Innitzer met Pacelli, who had been outraged by Innitzer's statement. He told Innitzer to retract his statement; he was made to sign a new statement, issued on behalf of all the Austrian bishops, that stated: "The solemn declaration of the Austrian bishops... was clearly not intended to be an approval of something that was not and is not compatible with God's law".[citation needed] The Vatican newspaper reported that the German bishops' earlier statement had been issued without approval from Rome. The Vatican condemned Nazism in its newspaperL'Osservatore Romano, and forbade Catholics from following their ideas or supporting Anschluss.[112] On 11 March 1938, one day before the occupation of Austria by the Wehrmacht, theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna issued an appeal to Austrians: "As Austrian citizens, we stand and we fight for a free and independent Austria".[113]
"Stairs of Death" atMauthausen-Gusen with prisoners forced to carry a granite block up 186 steps to the top of the quarry
Robert Kauer, president of the minorityLutheran Church in Austria, greeted Hitler on 13 March as "saviour of the 350,000 German Protestants in Austria and liberator from a five-year hardship".[citation needed]Karl Renner, the most famous Social Democrat of the First Republic, announced his support for theAnschluss and appealed to all Austrians to vote in favour of it on 10 April.[91]
The international response to theAnschluss was publicly moderate.The Times commented that 300 years before, Scotland hadjoined England as well and that this event would not really differ much. On 14 March, the British Prime Minister,Neville Chamberlain spoke about the "Austrian situation" in theHouse of Commons. He noted that the British ambassador in Berlin objected to the use of "coercion, backed by force" that would undermine Austria's independence.[114] Within this speech Chamberlain also said, "The hard fact is that nothing could have arrested what has actually happened [in Austria] unless this country and other countries had been prepared to use force."[115] Chamberlain informed theForeign Policy Committee that the Anschluss would not alter theNational Government'sEuropean policy.[116]
On 18 March 1938, the German government communicated to the Secretary General of theLeague of Nations about the inclusion of Austria.[117] And the next day in Geneva, the Mexican Delegate to the International Office of Labor,Isidro Fabela, voiced an energetic protest, stronger than that expressed by European countries,[118] denouncing the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.[119][120]
The wordAnschluss is properly translated as "joinder", "connection", "unification", or "political union". In contrast, the German wordAnnektierung (military annexation) was not used, and is not commonly used now, to describe the union of Austria and Germany in 1938. The wordAnschluss had been widespread before 1938 describing an incorporation of Austria into Germany. Calling the incorporation of Austria into Germany an "Anschluss," that is a "unification" or "joinder", was also part of the propaganda used in 1938 by Nazi Germany to create the impression that the union was not coerced. Hitler described the incorporation of Austria as aHeimkehr, a return to its original home.[121] The wordAnschluss has endured since 1938.
Some sources, like theEncyclopædia Britannica, describe theAnschluss as an "annexation"[122] rather than a union.
A map showing the border changes of Germany in the various years 1933 (red), 1939 (pink) and 1943 (orange)
Prior to annexing Austria in 1938, Nazi Germany hadremilitarized theRhineland, and theSaar region was returned to Germany after 15 years of occupation through a plebiscite. After theAnschluss, Hitler targeted Czechoslovakia, provoking an international crisis which led to theMunich Agreement in September 1938, giving Nazi Germany control of the industrialSudetenland, which had a predominantly ethnic German population. In March 1939, Hitler then dismantled Czechoslovakia by recognising the independence ofSlovakia and making the rest of the nation aprotectorate. That same year,Memelland was returned from Lithuania.
With theAnschluss, the Republic of Austria ceased to exist as an independent state. At the end of World War II, a Provisional Austrian Government underKarl Renner was set up by conservatives, Social Democrats and Communists on 27 April 1945 (when Vienna had already been occupied by theRed Army). It cancelled theAnschluss the same day and was legally recognized by theAllies in the following months. In 1955 theAustrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state.
TheMoscow Declaration of 1943, signed by the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, included a "Declaration on Austria", which stated:
The governments of theUnited Kingdom, theSoviet Union and theUnited States of America are agreed that Austria, the first free country to fall a victim to Hitlerite aggression, shall be liberated from German domination.
They regard the annexation imposed on Austria by Germany on 15 March 1938, as null and void. They consider themselves as in no way bound by any changes effected in Austria since that date. They declare that they wish to see re-established a free and independent Austria and thereby to open the way for the Austrian people themselves, as well as those neighbouring States which will be faced with similar problems, to find that political and economic security which is the only basis for lasting peace.
Austria is reminded, however, that she has a responsibility, which she cannot evade, for participation in the war at the side of Hitlerite Germany, and that in the final settlement account will inevitably be taken of her own contribution to her liberation.[125][126]
The Moscow Declaration is said to have a somewhat complex drafting history.[127] The declaration was mostly intended to serve as propaganda aimed at stirringAustrian resistance. Although some Austrians aidedJews and are counted asRighteous Among the Nations, there never was an effective Austrian armed resistance of the sort found in othercountries under German occupation.
Despite the declaration, theNuremberg trials decided against classifying participation in planning of the Anschluss as a crime against peace, stating in the judgement ofErnst Kaltenbrunner (who was nonetheless convicted and sentenced to death for other war crimes) that "the Anschluss, although it was an aggressive act, is not charged as an aggressive war."[128] In most cases this distinction proved a moot point, as the Nazis responsible for planning the Anschluss were either dead by the time of the Nuremberg trials, or were convicted for their roles in planning the invasions of other countries.Arthur Seyss-Inquart[129] andFranz von Papen,[130] in particular, were both indicted under count one (conspiracy to commit crimes against peace) specifically for their activities in support of the Austrian Nazi Party and theAnschluss, but neither was convicted of this count. In acquitting von Papen, the court noted that his actions were in its view political immoralities but not crimes under its charter. Seyss-Inquart was convicted of other serious war crimes, most of which took place in Poland and the Netherlands, was sentenced to death and executed.
"Red-White-Red Book" published by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946 describes the events of Austria between 1938 and 1945 by the Founders of the Second Austrian Republic.
From 1949 to 1988, manyAustrians sought comfort in the idea of Austria as being thefirst victim of the Nazis (Opferthese). Although the Nazi party was promptly banned, Austria did not have the same thorough process ofdenazification that was imposed on Germany. Lacking outside pressure for political reform, factions of Austrian society tried for a long time to advance the view that theAnschluss was "only an annexation at the point of a bayonet".[131]
This view of the events of 1938 has deep roots in the 10 years of Allied occupation and the struggle to regain Austrian sovereignty: the "victim theory" played an essential role in the negotiations for theAustrian State Treaty with the Soviets, and by pointing to the Moscow Declaration, Austrian politicians heavily relied on it to achieve a solution for Austria different from the division of Germany into separate Eastern and Western states. The state treaty, alongside the subsequent Austrian declaration of permanentneutrality, marked important milestones for the solidification of Austria's independent national identity during the course of the following decades.[132]
As Austrian politicians of the left and right attempted to reconcile their differences to avoid the violent conflict that had dominated the First Republic, discussions of bothAustrian Nazism and Austria's role during the Nazi-era were largely avoided. Still, theAustrian People's Party (ÖVP) had advanced, and still advances, the argument that the establishment of the Dollfuss dictatorship was necessary to maintain Austrian independence. On the other hand, theAustrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) argues that the Dollfuss dictatorship stripped the country of the democratic resources necessary to repel Hitler; yet it ignores the fact that Hitler himself was a native of Austria.[133]
It has also helped the Austrians develop their ownnational identity as before. AfterWorld War II and the fall of Nazi Germany the political ideology ofPan-Germanism fell into disfavor and is now seen by the majority of German-speaking people as taboo.[citation needed] Unlike earlier in the 20th century when there was no Austrian identity separate from a German one, in 1987 only 6% of the Austrians identified themselves as "Germans."[134] A survey carried out in 2008 found that 82% of Austrians considered themselves to be their own nation.[135]
For decades, the victim theory remained largely undisputed in Austria. The public was rarely forced to confront the legacy of Nazi Germany. One of those occasions arose in 1965, whenTaras Borodajkewycz, a professor of economic history, made antisemitic remarks following the death ofErnst Kirchweger, a concentration camp survivor killed by a right-wing protester during riots. It was not until the 1980s that Austrians confronted their mixed past on a large scale. The catalyst for theVergangenheitsbewältigung (struggle to come to terms with the past) was the Waldheim affair.Kurt Waldheim, a candidate in the1986 Austrian presidential election and formerUN Secretary-General, was accused of having been a member of the Nazi party and of theSturmabteilung (SA). He was later absolved of direct involvement inwar crimes. The Waldheim affair started the first serious discussions about Austria's past and theAnschluss.
Another factor was the rise ofJörg Haider and theFreedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in the 1980s. The party had combined elements of thepan-German right withfree-market liberalism since its foundation in 1955, but after Haider ascended to the party chairmanship in 1986, the liberal elements became increasingly marginalized. Haider began to openly use nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. He was criticised for using thevölkisch (ethnic) definition of national interest ("Austria for Austrians") and his apologetics for Austria's past, notably calling members of theWaffen-SS "men of honour". Following a dramatic rise in electoral support in the 1990s that peaked in the1999 elections, the FPÖ entered a coalition with theAustrian People's Party (ÖVP), led byWolfgang Schüssel. This was condemned in 2000. The coalition prompted the regularDonnerstagsdemonstrationen (Thursday demonstrations) in protest against the government, which took place on theHeldenplatz where Hitler had greeted the masses during theAnschluss. Haider's tactics and rhetoric, often criticised as sympathetic to Nazism, forced Austrians to reconsider their relationship to the past. Haider's coalition partner, former ChancellorWolfgang Schüssel, in a 2000 interview withThe Jerusalem Post, reiterated the "first victim" theory.[136]
The political discussions and soul-searching were reflected in other aspects of culture.Thomas Bernhard's last play,Heldenplatz (1988), generated controversy even before it was produced, fifty years after Hitler's entrance to the city. Bernhard made the historic elimination of references to Hitler's reception in Vienna emblematic of Austrian attempts to claim its history and culture under questionable criteria. Many politicians called Bernhard aNestbeschmutzer (damaging the reputation of his country) and openly demanded that the play should not be staged in Vienna'sBurgtheater. Waldheim, still president, called the play "a crude insult to the Austrian people".[137]
Historical Commission and outstanding legal issues
The SS raid a Jewish community center, Vienna, March 1938.
In theFederal Republic of Germany theVergangenheitsbewältigung ("struggle to come to terms with the past") has been partially institutionalised in literary, cultural, political, and educational contexts. Austria formed aHistorikerkommission[138] ("Historian's Commission" or "Historical Commission") in 1998 with a mandate to review Austria's role in theNazi expropriation of Jewish property from a scholarly rather than legal perspective, partly in response to continuing criticism of its handling of property claims. Its membership was based on recommendations from various quarters, includingSimon Wiesenthal andYad Vashem. The Commission delivered its report in 2003.[139] Noted Holocaust historianRaul Hilberg refused to participate in the Commission and in an interview he stated his strenuous objections in terms both personal and in reference to larger questions about Austrian culpability and liability, comparing what he thought to be relative inattention by theWorld Jewish Congress to the settlement governing the Swiss bank holdings of those who died or were displaced by the Holocaust.[140]
TheSimon Wiesenthal Center continues to criticise Austria (as recently as June 2005) for its alleged historical and ongoing unwillingness to aggressively pursue investigations and trials against Nazis for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the 1970s onwards. Its 2001 report offered the following characterization:
Given the extensive participation of numerous Austrians, including at the highest levels, in the implementation of the Final Solution and other Nazi crimes, Austria should have been a leader in the prosecution of Holocaust perpetrators over the course of the past four decades, as has been the case in Germany. Unfortunately relatively little has been achieved by the Austrian authorities in this regard and in fact, with the exception of the case ofDr. Heinrich Gross which was suspended this year under highly suspicious circumstances (he claimed to be medically unfit, but outside the court proved to be healthy) not a single Nazi war crimes prosecution has been conducted in Austria since the mid-1970s.[141]
In 2003, the Center launched a worldwide effort named "Operation: Last Chance" in order to collect further information about those Nazis still alive that are potentially subject to prosecution. Although reports issued shortly thereafter credited Austria for initiating large-scale investigations, there has been one case where criticism of Austrian authorities arose recently: The Center put 92-year-old CroatianMilivoj Asner on its 2005 top ten list. Asner fled to Austria in 2004 after Croatia announced it would start investigations in the case of war crimes he may have been involved in. In response to objections about Asner's continued freedom, Austria's federal government deferred to either extradition requests from Croatia or prosecutorial actions fromKlagenfurt, claiming reason of dementia in 2008. Milivoj Ašner died on 14 June 2011 at the age of 98 in his room in aCaritas nursing home still in Klagenfurt.
King Ottokar's Sceptre – a fictional account of the failed Bordurian coup d'état and invasion of their democratic neighbour Syldavia, modeled on theAnschluss
Disgrace of Gijón, a football match in the1982 FIFA World Cup between West Germany and Austria, which was accused of being rigged and later fans mocked it as the "Anschluss" in reference to the infamous annexation in 1938.
^After thePrussian-dominated German nation-state was created in 1871 without Austria, theGerman question was still very active in most parts of the ethnic German lands of theAustro-Hungarian and German empires; the Austrian pan-Germans were in favour of a Pan-German vision of Austria joining Germany in order to create a "Greater Germany" and the Germans inside the German Empire were in favour of all Germans being unified into a single state.[3]
^Hitler was anethnic German, but was not aGerman citizen by birth since he had been born in the Austro-Hungarian empire. He gave up his Austrian citizenship in 1925 and remained stateless for seven years before he became a German citizen in 1932.[28]
^Albert Speer recalled the Austrians cheering approval as cars of Germans entered what had once been an independent Austria.[63]
^Walker, David (1986). "Industrial Location in Turbulent Times: Austria through Anschluss and Occupation".Journal of Historical Geography.12 (2):182–195.doi:10.1016/S0305-7488(86)80052-4.
^Rosmus, Anna (2015).Hitlers Nibelungen: Niederbayern im Aufbruch zu Krieg und Untergang [Hitler's Nibelungs: Lower Bavaria at the Onset of War and Downfall] (in German). Grafenau, Germany: Simone Samples Verlag. p. 53ff.ISBN978-3-9384-0132-3.
^Suppan, Arnold (2019).Hitler – Beneš – Tito: National Conflicts, World Wars, Genocides, Expulsions, and Divided Remembrance in East-Central and Southeastern Europe, 1848–2018. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. p. 360.ISBN978-3-7001-8410-2.A database, created by Winfried Garscha and Georg Kastner, found out that the Nazi Terror in Austria between 1933 and 1938 had killed 164 persons and hurt 636.
^abOvery, Richard (1999). "Germany and the Munich Crisis: A Mutilated Victory?". In Lukes, Igor; Goldstein, Rick (eds.).The Munich Crisis, 1938. London: Frank Cass. p. 200.
^See 'Vienna, 1938', in Hans Keller,1975: 1984 minus 9, Dennis Dobson, 1977, p. 28Mayerhofer (1998)."Österreichs Weg zum Anschluss im März 1938" (in German). Wiener Zeitung Online. Archived fromthe original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved11 March 2007. Detailed article on the events of theAnschluss, in German.
^Diary of A Man In Despair, by Friedrich Percyval Reck-Malleczewen, Translated by Paul Rubens, Duckworth Literary Entertainments, London, UK, 2000, p. 68
^Surprised or not, Hitler's schoolboy dream of a "greater Germany" had come to fruition when Austria was incorporated into the Reich. Ozment (2005), p. 274.
^Original German:"Als Führer und Kanzler der deutschen Nation und des Reiches melde ich vor der deutschen Geschichte nunmehr den Eintritt meiner Heimat in das Deutsche Reich."
^Bukey 2000, p. 80: "In contrast, there was no remorse about the Nazi assault on the church: the workers despised Cardinal Innitzer and recommended even harsher measures against both his clergy and flock."
^Low, Alfred D. (1985).The Anschluss movement, 1931-1938, and the great powers. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 402.ISBN0-88033-078-3.
^Austria: A Country Study.Archived 16 January 1999 at theWayback Machine Select link on left for The Anschluss and World War II. Eric Solsten, ed. (Washington, D. C.: Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, 1993).
^"April 1945: Proclamation of the Second Republic".Bundeskanzleramt Österreich (in German). Federal Chancellery of Austria. Retrieved14 October 2025.On 27 April 1945, a provisional government under Karl Renner proclaimed the restoration of the Republic of Austria and declared the Anschluss of 1938 null and void.
^Brook-Shepherd 1963, p. 202, "Exactly one week before, on 11 March, the same Archdiocese of Vienna had issued the following glowing appeal in support of Schuschnigg's abortive anti-Hitler poll: 'As Austrian citizens, we stand and we fight for a free and independent Austria!".
^Murray, Williamson; Millet, Allan R. (2000).A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 10.ISBN978-0-6740-4130-1.OCLC438125484.
^Chronology of the League of Nations[1]Archived 14 June 2005 at theWayback Machine Retrieved 4 September 2016.
^Serrano Migallón, Francisco (2000).Con certera visión: Isidro Fabela y su tiempo (in Spanish). Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. pp. 112–113.ISBN9-6816-6049-8.
^League of Nations. Communication from the Mexican Delegation. C.101.M.53.1938.VII; 19 March 1938[2]Archived 15 September 2016 at theWayback Machine (Note: Also available in French.) Retrieved 4 September 2016.
^Manning, Jody Abigail (ndg)Austria at the Crossroads: The Anschluss and its Opponents (thesis) pp. 269, 304.Cardiff University
^Milosevich, Mira (8 July 2021)."Russia's Westpolitik and the European Union". Center for Strategic and International Studies.Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved16 January 2023.In 1992, Yeltsin introduced the term "compatriot abroad" (which was suggested by the analyst Sergey Karaganov) to refer to ethnic Russians who now found themselves outside the formal borders of the Russian Federation but had cultural and linguistic ties with Russia.
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Gedye, George Eric Rowe. Betrayal in Central Europe. Austria and Czechoslovakia, the Fallen Bastions. New and revised edition. Harper & Brothers, New York 1939. Paperback reissue, Faber & Faber, 2009.ISBN978-0-5712-5189-6.
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