Anschluss: Difference between revisions

The idea of an {{lang|de|Anschluss}} (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "[[German Question|Greater Germany]]"){{efn|After the [[Prussia]]n-dominated German nation-state was created in 1871 without Austria, the German question was still very active in most parts of the ethnic German lands of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-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.{{sfn|Low|1974|p=3}}}} arose after the [[unification of Germany|1871 unification of Germany]] excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated [[German Empire]]. It gained support after the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]] fell in 1918. The new [[Republic of German-Austria]] attempted to form a union with Germany, but the 1919 [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint Germain]] and [[Treaty of Versailles]] forbade both the union and the continued use of the name "German-Austria" ({{lang|de|Deutschösterreich}}); they also stripped Austria of some of its territories, such as the [[Sudetenland]]. This left Austria as a broken remnant, deprived ofwithout most of the territories it had ruled for centuries and amid economic crisis.

By the 1920s, the {{lang|de|Anschluss}} proposal had strong support in both Austria and Germany,{{sfn|Bukey|2002|p=11}} particularly to many Austrian citizens of the political left and center. One vehement supporter was [[Otto Bauer]], the prominent Social Democrat leader who served as Austria's Foreign Minister after the war. Support for unification with Germany came mainly from the belief that Austria, stripped of its imperial land, was not viable economically.<ref name="shepherd1">{{cite book|last=Brook-Shepherd |first=Gordon |title=Anschluss: The Rape of Austria |date=1963 |pages=15 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-81667-5 |doi-broken-date=12 April 2024 |isbn=978-1-349-81669-9 }}</ref> However, popularPopular support for the unification faded with time, although it remained as a concept in the contemporary Austrian political discourse.<ref name="shepherd2">{{cite book|last=Brook-Shepherd |first=Gordon |title=Anschluss: The Rape of Austria |date=1963 |pages=16 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-81667-5 |doi-broken-date=12 April 2024 |isbn=978-1-349-81669-9 }}</ref>

However, afterAfter 1933, when [[Adolf Hitler]] rose to power in Germany, desire for unification could be identified with the Nazis, for whom it was an integral part of the Nazi "{{lang|de|[[Heim ins Reich]]}}" ("back home to the realm") concept, which sought to incorporate as many {{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]}} (ethnic Germans outside Germany) as possible into a "[[Pan-Germanism|Greater Germany]]".{{sfn|Shirer|1984}} Nazi Germany's agents cultivated pro-unification tendencies in Austria, and sought to undermine the Austrian government, which was controlled by the [[Austrofascism|Austrofascist]] [[Fatherland Front (Austria)|Fatherland Front]]. During an [[July Putsch|attempted coup in 1934]], Austrian chancellor [[Engelbert 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.

In early 1938, under increasing pressure from pro-unification activists, Austrian chancellor [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] announced that there would be a referendum on a possible union with Germany versus maintaining Austria's sovereignty to be held on 13 March. Portraying this as defying the popular will in Austria and Germany, Hitler threatened an invasion and secretly pressured Schuschnigg to resign. A day before the planned referendum, on 12 March, the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]] crossed the border into Austria on 12 March, unopposed by the Austrian military. [[1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum|A plebiscite]] was held on 10 April, in which the ballot was not secret, and threats and coercion were employed to manipulate the vote, resulting in 99.7% approval for the Anschluss.

The [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]], the ''Ausgleich'', provided for a dual sovereignty, the [[Austrian Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], under [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz 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.{{sfn|Taylor|1990|p=25}} The empire caused tensions between the various ethnic groups. Many Austrian pan-Germans showed loyalty to [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Suppan |title=′Germans′'Germans' in the Habsburg Empire | series=The Germans and the East | year=2008 | pages=171–172}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Unowsky|2005|p=157}}{{sfn|Giloi|2011|pp=161–162}} Although many Austrians supported pan-Germanism, many others still showed allegiance to the [[Habsburg monarchy]] and wished for Austria to remain an independent country.{{sfn|Low|1974|pp=14–16}}

{{blockquote|In addition to the massive propaganda campaign and not insignificant Reich German influence, ‘Ja’'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’'home'.<ref name="manning" />}}

{{blockquote|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 the bourgeoisie and the peasantry wanted ‘an'an independent Austria fully capable of a national life of its own’own'. More telling is Bauer’sBauer'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.<ref name="manning" /><ref>{{cite journal |first= S. W. |last= Gould |title= Austrian Attitudes toward Anschluss: October 1918 – September 1919 |journal= [[Journal of Modern History]] |year= 1950 |volume= 22 |issue= 3 |pages= 228–229|jstor= 1871752 |doi= 10.1086/237348 |s2cid= 145392779 }}</ref>}}

As its first point, the 1920 [[National 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 the [[German Empire|German 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."<ref>Hamann, Brigitte (2010) ''Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man''. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 107 {{isbn|9781848852778}}</ref> The [[Nazism|Nazis]] aimed to [[Heim ins Reich|re-unite all Germans]] who were either born in the ''Reich'' or living outside it in order to create an "all-German ''Reich''". Hitler wrote in ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' (1925) that he would create a union between his birth country Austria and Germany by any means possible.<ref name="Hitler2010">{{cite book|author-link=Adolf Hitler|author=Hitler, Adolf|title=Mein Kampf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBUBUEeUwxUC|date=2010|publisher=Bottom of the Hill|isbn=978-1-935785-07-1}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=August 2018}}

Dollfuss's successor was [[Kurt 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 in [[internment camp]]s. The [[Austrofascism]] of Austria between 1934–19381934 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.

[[File:""German Entry into Austria"" 02 09 21 00 to 02 17 54 00.webm|thumb|Clip from UFA newsreel ""German Entry into Austria""]]

That afternoon, Hitler, riding in a car, crossed the border at his birthplace, [[Braunau am Inn]], with a 4,000 man bodyguard.<ref name="otr.com"/> In the evening, he arrived at [[Linz]] and was given an enthusiastic welcome. The enthusiasm displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people had believed that a majority of Austrians opposed ''Anschluss''.{{r|macdonogh2009}}<ref>Surprised or not, Hitler’sHitler's schoolboy dream of a "greater Germany" had come to fruition when Austria was incorporated into the Reich. Ozment (2005), p. 274.</ref> Many Germans from both Austria and Germany welcomed the ''Anschluss'' as they saw it as completing the complex and long overdue unification of all Germans into one state.{{sfn|Stackelberg|1999|p=170}} Hitler had originally intended to leave Austria as a [[satellite state]] with Seyss-Inquart as head of a pro-Nazi government. However, the overwhelming reception caused him to change course and absorb Austria directly into the Reich. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart announced the abrogation of [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)#Politics and military|Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain]], which prohibited the unification of Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of the [[States of Austria|Austrian states]] with ''[[Reichsgau]]e''.{{r|macdonogh2009}} 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.<ref>Hildebrand (1973), pp. 60–61</ref>

The Austrians' support for the ''Anschluss'' was ambivalent; but, since the [[Social Democratic Party of Austria]] leader [[Karl Renner]] and the highest representative of the Roman Catholic church in Austria Cardinal [[Theodor Innitzer]] both endorsed the ''Anschluss'', approximately two-thirds of Austrians could be counted on to vote for it.{{sfn|Bukey|2002|p=38}} What the result of the plebiscite meant for the Austrians will always be a matter of speculation. Nevertheless, historians generally agree that it cannot be explained exclusively by simply either opportunism or the desire of socioeconomics and represented the genuine German nationalist feeling in Austria during the interwar period.{{sfn|Bukey|2002|pp=38–39}} Also, the general anti-Semitic consensus in Austria meant that a substantial amount of Austrians were more than ready to "fulfill their duty" in the "Greater German Reich".{{sfn|Bukey|2002|p=39}} However, British historian [[Donny Gluckstein]] notes that Austrian socialists reacted with "disgust" to Renner's endorsement of Anschluss, provoking a split in the [[SPÖ]]. Austrian left circles vehemently opposed Anschluss, and Renner's declaration prompted many to defect to Revolutionary Socialists under [[Otto Bauer]] or the [[KPÖ]].<ref name="gluckstein_137">{{cite book |last=Gluckstein |first=Donny |author-link=Donny Gluckstein |date=2012 |title=A People's History of the Second World War: Resistance Versus Empire |location=New York |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |page=137 |isbn=9781849647199}}</ref> The relevance of Innitzer's endorsement is also disputed - hedisputed—he was reportedly "despised" by Austrian workers,<ref>{{harvnb|Bukey|2002|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."</ref> and the Anschluss sparked Catholic protests in Austria under the slogan "Our Führer is Christ" (rather than Hitler).<ref name="gluckstein_137"/>

How many Austrians behind closed doors were against the ''Anschluss'' remains unknown, but only one "unhappy face" of an Austrian in public when the Germans marched into Austria has ever been produced.{{sfn|Bukey|2002|p=33}} According to some [[Gestapo]] reports, only a quarter to a third of Austrian voters in Vienna were in favour of the ''Anschluss''.{{sfn|J. Evans|2006|p=655}} In most rural areas, especially in Tyrol, the support for the Anschluss was even lower.<ref name="Encarta">{{cite web|url=http://encarta.msn.com/sidebar_461500064/1938_Austria.html |title=1938: Austria |publisher=MSN Encarta |access-date=11 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908024737/http://encarta.msn.com/sidebar_461500064/1938_Austria.html |archive-date=8 September 2009 |url-status = dead}}</ref> According to Evan Burr Bukey, no more than one-third of Austrians ever fully supported Nazism during the existence of Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Bukey|2002|pp=33-34}} According to the estimates of the Austrian government, with the [[voting age]] of 24, about 70% of Austrians would have voted to preserve the Austrian independence.<ref name="knaur2" /> Czech-American historian [[:cz:Radomír Luža|Radomír Luža]] estimated that between 65% and 75% of Austrians supported the continuation of Austrian independence.<ref name="luza_52">{{cite book |last1=Luža|first1=Radomír |author-link=cz:Radomír Luža |date=21 September 1975 |title=Austro-German Relations in the Anschluss Era |url=https://archive.org/details/austrogermanrela0000luza |isbn=9780691075686 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=52}}</ref> About a quarter of the Austrian population was estimated to be supportive of the [[NSDAP]].<ref name="knaur2" />

[[File:Austrian Nazis and local residents watch as Jews are forced to scrub the pavement after Nazi annexation.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.20|Immediately after the ''Anschluss'', Vienna’sVienna's Jews were forced to wash pro-independence slogans (''{{Interlanguage link|Reibpartie|de}}'') from the city’scity's pavements.]]

==PlebisciteReferendum==

{{Main|1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum}}[[File:Stimmzettel-Anschluss.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|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".]]The ''Anschluss'' was given immediate effect by legislative act on 13 March, subject to ratification by a [[plebisciteReferendum]]. Austria became the province of [[Ostmark (Austria)|Ostmark]], and Seyss-Inquart was appointed governor. [[1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum|The plebisciteReferendum]] was held on 10 April and officially recorded a support of 99.7% of the voters.<ref name="Austrian Resistance">{{cite web|url=http://www.doew.at/thema/thema_alt/wuv/maerz38_2/propaganda.html |title=Die propagandistische Vorbereitung der Volksabstimmung |publisher=Austrian Resistance Archive |year=1988 |access-date=11 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404180146/http://www.doew.at/thema/thema_alt/wuv/maerz38_2/propaganda.html |archive-date=4 April 2007 |url-status = dead}}</ref>

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 a [[Secret ballot|secret vote]] where the voting ballot is inserted into a closed box). In some remote areas of Austria, people voted to preserve the independence of Austria on 13 March (in Schuschnigg's planned but cancelled plebisciteReferendum) despite the ''[[Wehrmacht]]''{{'}}s presence. For instance, in the village of [[Innervillgraten]], a majority of 95% voted for Austria's independence.<ref name="Encarta"/> However, in the plebisciteReferendum on 10 April, 73.3% of votes in Innervillgraten were in favor of the ''Anschluss'', which was still the lowest number of all Austrian municipalities.<ref name="Tirol multimedial">{{cite web|url=http://www.tirolmultimedial.at/tmm/themen/0705v.html|title=Anschluss Tirols an NS-Deutschland und Judenpogrom in Innsbruck 1938}}</ref> In case of a fair plebisciteReferendum, the Anschluss would have been supported only by 20% of the Austrian population.<ref name="knaur3">{{cite book|last=Knaur |first=Peter |title=The International Relations of Austria and the Anschluss 1931–1938 |date=1951 |pages=370 |publisher=University of Wyoming }}</ref><ref name="speeches">{{cite book|last=von Halasz |first=Joachim |title=Adolf Hitler from speeches 1933-1938 |date=1938 |pages=23 |publisher=Terramare Office }}</ref>

The [[Anti-Romanyism|antigypsy]] sentiment was implemented initially most harshly in Austria when between 1938- and 1939 the Nazis arrested around 2,000 Romani men who were sent to [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]] and 1,000 Romani women who were sent to [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|Ravensbrück]].{{sfn|Gellately|2002|p=108}} Starting in 1939, Austrian Romani had to register themselves to local authorities.{{sfn|Gellately|2001|p=222}} The Nazis began to publish articles linking the Romani with criminality.{{sfn|Gellately|2001|p=222}} Until 1942, the Nazis had made a distinction between "pure Gypsies" and "Gypsy ''[[Mischlinge]]s'' ("mixlings" or "half-breeds").{{sfn|Gellately|2001|p=225}} 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.{{sfn|Gellately|2001|p=225}}

After breaking off the negotiations regarding the position of the Catholic Church in Austria, Cardinal [[Theodor Innitzer]] (a political figure of the CS) was intimidated into supporting the Anschluss after being assaulted.<ref name="krieger">{{cite book|last=Krieger |first=Walter |title=Kardinal Dr. Theodor Innitzer und der Nationalsozialismus |date=1980 |pages=7–8 |language=de |url=https://www.pastoral.at/dl/MtlKJKJKLKKMnJqx4KJK/Theodor_Innitzer_und_der_Nationalsozialismus_pdf }}</ref> [[Vatican Radio]], however, broadcast a strong denunciation of the German action, and [[Pope Pius XII|Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli]], the [[Cardinal Secretary of State|Vatican 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|date=December 2010}} The Vatican newspaper reported that the German bishops' earlier statement had been issued without approval from Rome. The Vatican condemned Nazism in its newspaper [[L'Osservatore Romano]], and forbade Catholics from following their ideas or supporting Anschluss.<ref name="catholic_church">{{cite book|last=Phayer |first=John Michael |title=The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965 |date=2000 |pages=22 |publisher=Indiana University Press |url=http://www2.dsu.nodak.edu/users/dmeier/23461117-The-Catholic-Church-and-the-Holocaust.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117164625/http://www2.dsu.nodak.edu/users/dmeier/23461117-The-Catholic-Church-and-the-Holocaust.pdf |archive-date=17 January 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> On 11 March 1938, one day before the occupation of Austria by the Wehrmacht, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna]] issued an appeal to Austrians: "As Austrian citizens, we stand and we fight for a free and independent Austria".<ref name="shepherd_202">{{cite book|last=Brook-Shepherd |first=Gordon |title=Anschluss: The Rape of Austria |date=1963 |page=202 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-81667-5 |doi-broken-date=12 April 2024 |isbn=978-1-349-81669-9 |quote="Exactly one week before, on March 11, 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!"}}</ref>

The word ''Anschluss'' is properly translated as "joinder,", "connection,", "unification"," or "political union.". In contrast, the German word ''Annektierung'' (military annexation) was not used, and is not commonly used now, to describe the union of Austria and Germany in 1938. The word ''Anschluss'' 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 a ''Heimkehr'', a return to its original home.<ref>Manning, Jody Abigail (ndg) ''Austria at the Crossroads: The Anschluss and its Opponents'' (thesis) pp. 269, 304. [[Cardiff University]]</ref> The word ''Anschluss'' has endured since 1938.

[[File:Rot-Weiss-Rot-Buch 1946.jpg|thumb|"Red-White-Red Book" published by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946 describes the events of Austria between 1938–19451938 and 1945 by the Founders of the Second Austrian Republic.]]

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 Croatian [[Milivoj 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 from [[Klagenfurt]], claiming reason of dementia in 2008. Milivoj Ašner died on 14 June 2011 at the age of 98 in his room in a [[Caritas InternationalisAustria|Caritas]] nursing home still in Klagenfurt.

The occurrence of the [[Sudetenland#Sudeten_CrisisSudeten Crisis|Sudeten crisis]] in early 1938 led to the autumn [[Munich Agreement]] after which [[Sudetenland#Sudetenland_as_part_of_GermanySudetenland as part of Germany|Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland]]. These events taken as a whole can be seen as a mimeograph of the Anschluss page in Hitler's playbook.<ref name="ushmma">{{cite news |title=Nazi Territorial Aggression: The Anschluss |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-territorial-aggression-the-anschluss |access-date=17 January 2023 |agency=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref><ref name="whlfp">{{cite news |title=Foreign policy and the road to war |url=https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/life-in-nazi-occupied-europe/foreign-policy-and-the-road-to-war/occupation-of-the-sudetenland/ |access-date=17 January 2023 |publisher=The Wiener Holocaust Library}}</ref>