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Anschluss

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   German troops march into Austria on 12 March 1938.
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   German troops march into Austria on 12 March 1938.

   The Anschluss (German: connection, or political union), also known as
   the Anschluss Österreichs, was the 1938 annexation of Austria into
   Greater Germany by the Nazi regime.

   The events of March 12, 1938, marked the culmination of historical
   cross-national pressures to unify the German populations of Austria and
   Germany under one nation. However, the 1938 Anschluss, regardless of
   its popularity, was enacted by Germany. Earlier, Hitlerian Germany had
   provided support for the Austrian National Socialist Party in its bid
   to seize power from Austria's Austrofascist leadership. Fully devoted
   to remaining independent but amidst growing pressures, the chancellor
   of Austria, Kurt Schuschnigg, tried to hold a plebiscite.

   Although he expected Austria to vote in favour of maintaining autonomy,
   a well-planned internal overthrow by the Austrian Nazi Party of
   Austria's state institutions in Vienna took place on March 11, prior to
   the vote. With power quickly transferred over to Germany, the Wehrmacht
   troops entered Austria to enforce the Anschluss. The Nazis held a
   plebiscite within the following month, where they received 99.73% of
   the vote. No fighting ever took place and the strongest voices against
   the annexation, particularly Fascist Italy, France and the United
   Kingdom: the Stresa Front, were powerless or, in case of Italy,
   appeased. The Allies were, on paper, committed to upholding the terms
   of the Treaty of Versailles, which specifically prohibited the union of
   Austria and Germany.

   Nevertheless, the Anschluss was among the first major steps in Adolf
   Hitler's long-desired creation of an empire including German-speaking
   lands and territories Germany had lost after World War I. Already prior
   to the 1938, the Rhineland was retaken and the Saar region was returned
   to Germany after fifteen years of occupation (see: Treaty of
   Versailles). After the Anschluss, the predominantly German Sudetenland
   of Czechoslovakia was taken, with the rest of the country becoming a
   protectorate to Germany in 1939. That same year, Memelland was returned
   from Lithuania, the final event and antecedent before the invasion of
   Poland, prompting World War II.

   Austria ceased to exist as a fully independent nation until 1955. A
   preliminary Austrian government was reinstated on April 27, 1945, and
   was legally recognized by the Allies in the following months.

Situation before the Anschluss

   The dissolution of Austria-Hungary  Border of Austria-Hungary in 1914
   Borders in 1914  Borders in 1920 ██ Empire of Austria in 1914
   ██ Kingdom of Hungary in 1914 ██ Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1914
   Enlarge
   The dissolution of Austria-Hungary

   Border of Austria-Hungary in 1914

   Borders in 1914

   Borders in 1920
   ██  Empire of Austria in 1914 ██  Kingdom of Hungary in 1914 ██ Bosnia
   and Herzegovina in 1914

   The idea of grouping all Germans into one state had been the subject of
   inconclusive debate since the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
   Prior to 1866, it was generally thought that the unification of the
   Germans could only succeed under Austrian leadership, but the rise of
   Prussia was largely unpredicted. This created a rivarly between the two
   that made unification through a Großdeutschland solution impossible.
   Also, due to the multi-ethnic composition of the Austro-Hungarian
   Empire centralized in Vienna, many rejected this notion and it was
   unthinkable that Austria would give up her "non-German" territories,
   let alone submit to Prussia. Nevertheless, a series of wars, including
   the Austro-Prussian War, led to the expulsion of Austria from German
   affairs, allowed for the creation of the Norddeutsche Bund ( North
   German Confederation) and consolidated the German states through
   Prussia, enabling the creation of a German Empire in 1871. Otto von
   Bismarck played a fundamental role in this process, with the end result
   representing a Kleindeutsche solution that did not include the
   German-speaking parts of Austria-Hungary . When the latter broke up in
   1918, many German-speaking Austrians hoped to join with Germany in the
   realignment of Europe, but the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the
   Treaty of Saint-Germain of 1919 explicitly vetoed the inclusion of
   Austria within a German state, because France and Britain feared the
   power of a larger Germany, and had already begun to disempower the
   current one. Also Austrian particularism, especially among the
   nobility, played a huge role, as Austria was Roman Catholic, while
   Germany was dominated, especially in government, more by Protestants.

   In the early 1930s, popular support for union with Germany remained
   overwhelming, and the Austrian government looked to a possible customs
   union with Germany in 1931. However Hitler's and the Nazis' rise to
   power in Germany left the Austrian government with little enthusiasm
   for such formal ties. Hitler, born in Austria, had promoted an
   "all-German Reich" from the early beginnings of his leadership in the
   NSDAP and had publicly stated as early as 1924 in Mein Kampf that he
   would attempt a union, by force if necessary.

   Austria shared the economic turbulence of post-1929 Europe with a high
   unemployment rate and unstable commerce and industry. Similar to its
   northern and southern neighbours these uncertain conditions made the
   young democracy very vulnerable. The First Republic, dominated from the
   late 1920s by the Catholic nationalist Christian Social Party (CS),
   gradually disintegrated from 1933 (dissolution of parliament and ban of
   the Austrian National Socialists) to 1934 ( Austrian Civil War in
   February and ban of all remaining parties except the CS) and evolved
   into a pseudo- fascist, corporatist model of one-party government which
   combined the CS and the paramilitary Heimwehr with absolute state
   domination of labour relations and no freedom of the press (see
   Austrofascism and Patriotic Front). Power was centralized in the office
   of the Chancellor who was empowered to rule by decree. The predominance
   of the Christian Social Party (whose economic policies were based on
   the papal encyclical Rerum novarum) was an Austrian phenomenon in that
   Austria's national identity had strong Catholic elements which were
   incorporated into the movement by way of clerical authoritarian
   tendencies which are certainly not to be found in Nazism. Both
   Engelbert Dollfuss and his successor Kurt Schuschnigg turned to
   Austria's other fascist neighbour, Italy, for inspiration and support.
   Indeed, the statist corporatism often referred to as Austrofascism bore
   more resemblance to Italian Fascism than German National Socialism.
   Benito Mussolini was able to support the independent aspirations of the
   Austrian dictatorship until his need for German support in Ethiopia
   forced him into a client relationship with Berlin that began with the
   1937 Berlin-Rome Axis.

   When Chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis on 25 July
   1934 in a failed coup, the second civil war within only one year
   followed, lasting until August 1934. Afterwards, many leading Austrian
   Nazis fled to Germany and continued to coordinate their actions from
   there while the remaining Austrian Nazis started to make use of
   terrorist attacks against the Austrian governmental institutions
   (causing a death toll of more than 800 between 1934 and 1938).
   Dollfuss' successor Schuschnigg, who followed the political course of
   Dollfuss, took drastic actions against the Nazis, for instance the
   rounding up of Nazis (but also Social Democrats) in internment camps.

The Anschluss of 1938

Hitler's first moves

   In early 1938, Hitler had consolidated his power in Germany and was
   ready to reach out to fulfil his long-planned expansion. After a
   lengthy period of pressure by Germany, Hitler met Schuschnigg on 12
   February 1938 in Berchtesgaden ( Bavaria) and instructed him to lift
   the ban of political parties, reinstate full party freedoms, release
   all imprisoned members of the Nazi party and let them participate in
   the government. Otherwise, he would take military action. Schuschnigg
   complied with Hitler's demands and appointed Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a
   Nazi lawyer, as Interior Minister and another Nazi, Edmund
   Glaise-Horstenau, as Minister, even without a portfolio.

   Before the February meeting, Schuschnigg was already under considerable
   pressure from Germany. This may be seen in the demand to remove the
   chief of staff of the Austrian Army, Alfred Jansa, from his position in
   January 1938. Jansa and his staff had developed a scenario for
   Austria's defense against a German attack, a situation Hitler wanted to
   avoid at all costs. Schuschnigg subsequently complied with the demand.

   During the following weeks, Schuschnigg realized that his newly
   appointed ministers were working to take over his authority.
   Schuschnigg tried to gather support throughout Austria and inflame
   patriotism among the people. For the first time since 12 February 1934
   (the time of the Austrian Civil War), socialists and communists could
   legally appear in public again. The communists announced their
   unconditional support for the Austrian government, understandable in
   light of Nazi pressure on Austria. The socialists demanded further
   concessions from Schuschnigg before they were willing to side with him.

Schuschnigg announces a referendum

   On 9 March, as a last resort to preserve Austria's independence,
   Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite on the independence of Austria for
   13 March. To secure a large majority in the referendum, Schuschnigg set
   the minimum voting age at 24 in order to exclude younger voters who
   largely sympathized with Nazi ideology. Holding a referendum was a
   highly risky gamble for Schuschnigg, and, on the next day, it became
   apparent that Hitler would not simply stand by while Austria declared
   its independence by public vote. Hitler declared that the plebiscite
   would be subject to major fraud and that Germany would not 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 publicly replied that the reports of riots were
   nothing but lies-—as they actually were.

   Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March, demanding that he
   hand over all power to the Austrian National Socialists or face an
   invasion. The ultimatum was set to expire at noon, but was extended by
   two hours. However, without waiting for an answer, Hitler had already
   signed the order to send troops into Austria at one o'clock, issuing it
   to Hermann Göring only hours later.

   Schuschnigg desperately sought support for Austrian independence in the
   hours following the ultimatum, but, realizing that neither France nor
   the United Kingdom were willing to take steps, he resigned as
   Chancellor that evening. In the radio broadcast in which he announced
   his resignation, he argued that he accepted the changes and allowed the
   Nazis to take over the government in order to avoid bloodshed.
   Meanwhile, Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas refused to appoint
   Seyss-Inquart Chancellor and asked other Austrian politicians such as
   Michael Skubl and Sigismund Schilhawsky to assume the office. However,
   the Nazis were well organised. Within hours they managed to take
   control of many parts of Vienna, including the Ministry of Internal
   Affairs (controlling the Police). As Miklas continued to refuse to
   appoint a Nazi government and Seyss-Inquart still could not send a
   telegram in the name of the Austrian government demanding German troops
   to restore order, Hitler became furious. At about 10 PM, well after
   Hitler had signed and issued the order for the invasion, Göring and
   Hitler gave up on waiting and published a forged telegram containing a
   request by the Austrian Government for German troops to enter Austria.
   Around midnight, after nearly all critical offices and buildings had
   fallen into Nazi hands in Vienna and the main political party members
   of the old government had been arrested, Miklas finally conceded to
   appoint Seyss-Inquart Chancellor.

German troops march into Austria

   Propaganda even in the voting booth on 10 April 1938, with a poster
   instructing voters how to vote "Ja", i.e. "Yes".
   Enlarge
   Propaganda even in the voting booth on 10 April 1938, with a poster
   instructing voters how to vote "Ja", i.e. "Yes".

   On the morning of 12 March, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht
   crossed the German-Austrian border. They did not face resistance by the
   Austrian Army-—on the contrary, the German troops were greeted by
   cheering Austrians. Although the invading forces were badly organized
   and coordination between the units was poor, it mattered little because
   no fighting took place. It did, however, serve as a warning to German
   commanders in future military operations, such as that against
   Czechoslovakia.

   Hitler's car crossed the border in the afternoon at Braunau, his
   birthplace. In the evening, he arrived at Linz and was given an
   enthusiastic welcome in the city hall. The atmosphere was so intense
   that Göring, in a telephone call that evening, stated: "There is
   unbelievable jubilation in Austria. We ourselves did not think that
   sympathies would be so intense."

   Hitler's further travel through Austria changed into a triumphal tour
   that climaxed in Vienna, when around 200,000 Austrians gathered on the
   Heldenplatz (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler proclaim the Austrian
   Anschluss ( Video: Hitler proclaims Austria's inclusion in the Reich
   (2MB)). 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."

   The Anschluss was given immediate effect by legislative act on 13
   March, subject to ratification by a plebiscite. Austria became the
   province of Ostmark, and Seyss-Inquart was appointed Governor. The
   plebiscite was held on 10 April and officially recorded a support of
   99.73% of the voters. While historians concur that the result itself
   was not manipulated, the voting 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 vote where the
   voting ballot is inserted into a closed box). In addition, Hitler's
   brutal methods to emasculate any opposition had been immediately
   implemented in the weeks preceding the referendum. Even before the
   first German soldier crossed the border, Heinrich Himmler and a few SS
   officers landed in Vienna to arrest prominent representatives of the
   First Republic such as Richard Schmitz, Leopold Figl, Friedrich
   Hillegeist and Franz Olah. During the weeks following the Anschluss
   (and before the plebiscite), Social Democrats, Communists, and other
   potential political dissenters, as well as Jews, were rounded up and
   either imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. Within only a few
   days of 12 March, 70,000 people had been arrested. The referendum
   itself was subject to large-scale propaganda and to the abrogation of
   the voting rights of around 400,000 people (nearly 10% of the eligible
   voting population), mainly former members of left-wing parties and
   Jews. Interestingly, in some remote areas of Austria the referendum on
   the independence of Austria on 13 March was held despite the
   Wehrmacht's presence in Austria (it took up to 3 days to occupy every
   part of Austria). For instance, in the village of Innervillgraten a
   majority of 95% voted for Austria's independence.

   Austria remained part of the Third Reich until the end of World War II
   when a preliminary Austrian Government declared the Anschluss " null
   und nichtig" ( void and null) on April 27, 1945. After the war, then
   allied-occupied Austria was recognized and treated as a separate
   country, but was not restored to sovereignty until the Austrian State
   Treaty and Austrian Declaration of Neutrality, both of 1955, largely
   due to the rapid development of the Cold War and disputes between the
   Soviet Union and its former allies over its foreign policy.

Reactions and consequences of the Anschluss

   The picture of Austria in the first days of its existence in the Third
   Reich is one of contradictions: at one and the same time, Hitler's
   terror regime began to tighten its grip in every area of society,
   beginning with mass arrests and thousands of Austrians attempting to
   flee in every direction; yet Austrians could be seen cheering and
   welcoming German troops entering Austrian territory. Many Austrian
   political figures did not hesitate to announce their support of the
   Anschluss and their relief that it happened without violence.

   Cardinal Theodor Innitzer (a political figure of the CS) declared as
   early as 12 March: "The Viennese Catholics should thank the Lord for
   the bloodless way this great political change has occurred, and they
   should pray for a great future for Austria. Needless to say, everyone
   should obey the orders of the new institutions." The other Austrian
   bishops followed suit some days later. Vatican Radio, however,
   immediately broadcast a vehement denunciation of the German action, and
   Cardinal Pacelli ordered Innitzer to report to Rome. Before meeting
   with the pope, Innitzer met with Pacelli, who had been outraged by
   Innitzer's statement. He made it clear that Innitzer needed to retract;
   he was made to sign a new statement, issued on behalf of all the
   Austrian bishops, which provided: “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”. The
   Vatican newspaper also reported that the bishops' earlier statement had
   been issued without the approval from Rome.

   Robert Kauer, President of the Protestants in Austria, greeted Hitler
   on 13 March as "saviour of the 350,000 German Protestants in Austria
   and liberator from a five-year hardship." Even Karl Renner, the most
   famous Social Democrat of the First Republic, announced his support for
   the Anschluss and appealed to all Austrians to vote in favour of it on
   10 April.

   The international response to the expansion of Germany may be described
   as moderate. The Times commented that 200 years ago Scotland had joined
   England as well and that this event would not really differ much. On 14
   March, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain noted in the
   House of Commons:

     His Majesty's Government have throughout been in the closest touch
     with the situation. The Foreign Secretary saw the German Foreign
     Minister on the 10th of March and addressed to him a grave warning
     on the Austrian situation and upon what appeared to be the policy of
     the German Government in regard to it.... Late on the 11th of March
     our Ambassador in Berlin registered a protest in strong terms with
     the German Government against such use of coercion, backed by force,
     against an independent State in order to create a situation
     incompatible with its national independence.

   However the speech concluded:

     I imagine that according to the temperament of the individual the
     events which are in our minds to-day will be the cause of regret, of
     sorrow, perhaps of indignation. They cannot be regarded by His
     Majesty's Government with indifference or equanimity. They are bound
     to have effects which cannot yet be measured. The immediate result
     must be to intensify the sense of uncertainty and insecurity in
     Europe. Unfortunately, while the policy of appeasement would lead to
     a relaxation of the economic pressure under which many countries are
     suffering to-day, what has just occurred must inevitably retard
     economic recovery and, indeed, increased care will be required to
     ensure that marked deterioration does not set in. This is not a
     moment for hasty decisions or for careless words. We must consider
     the new situation quickly, but with cool judgement... As regards our
     defence programmes, we have always made it clear that they were
     flexible and that they would have to be reviewed from time to time
     in the light of any development in the international situation. It
     would be idle to pretend that recent events do not constitute a
     change of the kind that we had in mind. Accordingly we have decided
     to make a fresh review, and in due course we shall announce what
     further steps we may think it necessary to take.

   The moderate reaction to the Anschluss was the first major consequence
   of the strictly followed appeasement British foreign policy strategy.
   The international reaction on the events of March 12 1938 led Hitler to
   conclude that he could use even more aggressive tactics in his roadmap
   to expand the Third Reich, as he would later in annexing the
   Sudetenland. The relatively bloodless Anschluss helped pave the way for
   the Treaty of Munich in September 1938 and the annexation of
   Czechoslovakia in 1939, because it reinforced appeasement as the right
   way for Britain to deal with Hitler's Germany.

Legacy of the 1938 Anschluss

The Anschluss: annexation or union?

   Some historical sources, for instance Encyclopædia Britannica and the
   Encarta Encyclopedia describe the Anschluss as an "annexation". Outside
   this context "Anschluss" is properly translated as "join",
   "connection", "unification" or "political union". The German word
   "Annektierung" would mean military annexation unambiguously. However,
   the word commonly used in German for the process of spring 1938 is
   Anschluss.

   The precise character of the Anschluss remains a difficulty essential
   to Austria's understanding of its history and the obligations it
   entails.

The appeal of Nazism to Austrians

   The Anschluss can be misunderstood as simply a military annexation of
   an unwilling Austria, but this lends itself to confusion with other
   German military occupations of European countries. Despite the
   subversion of Austrian political process by Hitler's sympathisers and
   associates in Austria, Austrian acceptance of direct government by
   Hitler's Germany is a very different phenomenon from the administration
   of other collaborationist countries.

   With the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, popular
   opinion was for unification with Germany, in realization of the
   Grossdeutschland concept--this however was forbidden by the Treaty of
   St. Germain, to which the newly formed Austrian republic was obliged.
   This was in stark contrast to the general concept of self-determination
   which governed the Versailles talks, as was the inclusion of the
   Sudetenland, a German-populated area of the former Austro-Hungarian
   province of Bohemia (whose population favoured joining German-speaking
   Austria), in the newly formed Czechoslovak republic, giving rise to
   revisionist sentiment. This laid the grounds for the general
   willingness of the populations of both Austria and the Sudetenland for
   inclusion into the Third Reich, as well as the relative acceptance of
   the Western Governments, who made little protest until March 1939, when
   the irredentist argument lost its value following the annexation of the
   rest of Czech-speaking Bohemia, as well as Moravia and Czech Silesia.

   The small Republic of Austria was seen by many of its citizens as
   economically nonviable, a feeling that was exacerbated by the
   Depression of the 1930s. In contrast, the Nazi dictatorship appeared to
   have found a solution to the economic crisis of the 1930s. Furthermore,
   the break-up had thrown Austria into a crisis of identity, and many
   Austrians, of both the left and the right, felt that Austria should be
   part of a larger German nation.

   Politically, Austria had not had the time to develop a strongly
   democratic society to resist the onslaught of totalitarianism. The
   final version of the First Republic's constitution had only lasted from
   1929 to 1933. The First Republic was ridden by violent strife between
   the different political camps; the Christian Social Party were
   complicit in the murder of large numbers of adherents of the decidedly
   left-wing Social Democratic Party by the police during the July Revolt
   of 1927. In fact, with the end of democracy in 1933 and the
   establishment of Austrofascism, Austria had already purged its
   democratic institutions and instituted a dictatorship long before the
   Anschluss. There is thus little to distinguish radically the
   institutions of, at least the post-1934 Austrian government, before or
   after 12 March 1938.

   The members of the leading Christian Social Party were fervent
   Catholics, but not particularly anti-Semitic. For instance, Jews were
   not prohibited from exercising any profession, in sharp contrast to the
   Third Reich. Many prominent Austrian scientists, professors, and
   lawyers at the time were Jewish; in fact Vienna, with its Jewish
   population of about 200,000, was considered a safe haven from 1933 to
   1938 by many Jews who fled Nazi Germany. However, the Nazis'
   anti-Semitism found fertile soil in Austria. Anti-Semitic elements had
   emerged as a force in Austrian politics in the late nineteenth century,
   with the rise in prominence of figures such as Georg Ritter von
   Schönerer and Karl Lueger (who had influenced the young Hitler) and, in
   the 1930s, anti-Semitism was rampant, as Jews were a convenient
   scapegoat for economic problems.

   In addition to the economic appeal of the Anschluss, the popular
   underpinning of Nazi politics as a total art form (the refinement of
   film propaganda exemplified by Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will and
   mythological aestheticism of a broadly conceived national destiny of
   the German people within a "Thousand-Year Reich") gave the Nazis a
   massive advantage in advancing their claims to power. Moreover
   Austrofascism was less grand in its appeal than the choice between
   Stalin and Hitler to which many European intellectuals of the time
   believed themselves reduced by the end of the decade. Austria had
   effectively no alternative view of its historical mission when the
   choice was upon it. In spite of Dollfuss' and Schuschnigg's hostility
   to Nazi political ambitions, the Nazis succeeded in convincing many
   Austrians to accept what they viewed as the historical destiny of the
   German people rather than continue as part of a distinct sovereign.

The Second Republic

The Moscow Declaration

   The Moscow Declaration of 1943, signed by the United States, the Union
   of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United Kingdom included a
   "Declaration on Austria," which stated the following:

     The governments of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the
     United 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 charges affected 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.

   To judge from the last paragraph and subsequent determinations at the
   Nuremberg Trial, the Declaration was intended to serve as propaganda
   aimed at stirring Austrian resistance (although there are Austrians
   counted as Righteous Among the Nations, there never was an effective
   Austrian armed resistance of the sort found in other countries under
   German occupation) more than anything else, although the exact text of
   the declaration is said to have a somewhat complex drafting history. At
   Nuremberg Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Franz von Papen, 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 the Anschluss, 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, and was sentenced to death.

Austrian identity and the "victim theory"

   After World War II, many Austrians sought comfort in the myth of
   Austria as "the Nazis' first victim". Although the Nazi party was
   promptly banned, Austria did not have the same thorough process of
   de-Nazification at the top of government which was imposed on Germany
   for a time. Lacking outside pressure for political reform, factions of
   Austrian society tried for a long time to advance the view that the
   Anschluss was only an annexation at bayonet point.

   This view of the events of 1938 has deep roots in the ten years of
   Allied occupation and the struggle to regain Austrian sovereignty: The
   victim theory played an essential role in the negotiations on the
   Austrian 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 into East and West in
   Germany. The State Treaty, alongside with the subsequent Austrian
   declaration of permanent neutrality marked important milestones for the
   solidification of Austria's independent national identity during the
   following decades.

   As Austrian politicians of the left and right attempted to reconcile
   their differences in order to avoid the violent conflict that had
   dominated the first republic, discussions of both Austrofascism and
   Austria's role in Nazism were largely avoided. Still, the Austrian
   People's Party (ÖVP) has advanced and still sometimes advances the
   argument that the establishment of the Dollfuss dictatorship was
   necessary in order to maintain Austrian independence, while the
   Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) argues that the dictatorship
   stripped the country of the democratic resources necessary to repel
   Hitler.

Political events

   For decades, the victim theory established in the Austrian mind
   remained largely undisputed. The Austrian public was only rarely forced
   to confront the legacy of the Third Reich (most notably during the
   events of 1965 concerning Taras Borodajkewycz, a professor of economic
   history notorious for anti-Semitic remarks, when Ernst Kirchweger, a
   concentration camp survivor, was killed by a right-wing protester
   during riots). It was not until the 1980s that Austrians were finally
   massively confronted with their past. The main catalyst for the start
   of a Vergangenheitsbewältigung was the so-called Waldheim affair. The
   Austrian reply to allegations during the 1986 Presidential election
   campaign that successful candidate and former UN Secretary-General Kurt
   Waldheim had been a member of the Nazi party and of the infamous SA (he
   was later absolved of direct involvement in war crimes) was that
   scrutiny was an unwelcome intervention in the country's internal
   affairs. Despite the politicians' reactions to international criticism
   of Waldheim, the Waldheim affair started the first serious major
   discussion on Austria's past and the Anschluss.

   Another main factor for Austria and its coming to terms with the past
   emerged in the 1980s: Jörg Haider and the rise of the Freedom Party of
   Austria (FPÖ). The party had combined elements of the pan-German right
   with free-market liberalism since its foundation in 1955, but after
   Haider had ascended to the party chairmanship in 1986, the liberal
   elements became increasingly marginalized while Haider began to openly
   use nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. He was often criticised
   for tactics such as the völkisch (ethnic) definition of national
   interest ("Austria for Austrians") and his apologism for Austria's
   past, notably calling members of the Waffen-SS "men of honour".
   Following an enormous electoral rise in the 1990s peaking in the 1999
   elections, the FPÖ, now purged of its liberal elements, entered a
   coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) led by Wolfgang
   Schüssel that met international condemnation in 2000. This coalition
   triggered the regular Donnerstagsdemonstrationen (Thursday
   demonstrations) in protest against the government, which took place on
   the Heldenplatz, where Hitler had greeted the masses during the
   Anschluss. Haider's tactics and rhetoric, which were often criticised
   as sympathetic to Nazism, again forced Austrians to reconsider their
   relationship to the past.

   But it is not Jörg Haider alone who has made questionable remarks on
   Austria's past: Jörg Haider's coalition partner the current Chancellor
   Wolfgang Schüssel in an interview with the Jerusalem Post as late as
   2000 stated that Austria was the first victim of Hitler-Germany.

Literature

   Tearing into the simplism of the victim theory and the time of the
   Austrofascism, Thomas Bernhard's last play, Heldenplatz, was highly
   controversial even before it appeared on stage in 1988, fifty years
   after Hitler's visit. Bernhard's achievement was to make the
   elimination of references to Hitler's reception in Vienna emblematic of
   Austrian attempts to claim their history and culture under questionable
   criteria. Many politicians from all political factions called Bernhard
   a Nestbeschmutzer (so. damaging the reputation of his country) and
   openly demanded that the play should not be staged in Vienna's
   Burgtheater. Kurt Waldheim, who was at that time still Austrian
   president called the play a crude insult to the Austrian people.

The Historical Commission and outstanding legal issues

   In the context of the postwar Federal Republic of Germany, one
   encounters a Vergangenheitsbewältigung ("struggle to come to terms with
   the past") that has been partially institutionalised, variably in
   literary, cultural, political, and educational contexts (its
   development and difficulties have not been trivial; see, for example,
   the Historikerstreit). Austria formed a Historikerkommission
   ("Historian's Commission" or "Historical Commission") in 1998 with a
   mandate to review Austria's role in the Nazi 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,
   including Simon Wiesenthal and Yad Vashem. The Commission delivered its
   report in 2003. Noted Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg refused to
   participate in the Commission and in an interview stated his strenuous
   objections in terms both personal and in reference to larger questions
   about Austrian culpability and liability, comparing what he to be
   relative inattention to the settlement governing the Swiss bank
   holdings of those who died or were displaced by the Holocaust:

     I personally would like to know why the WJC World Jewish Congress
     has hardly put any pressure on Austria, even as leading Nazis and SS
     leaders were Austrians, Hitler included... Immediately after the
     war, the US wanted to make the Russians withdraw from Austria, and
     the Russians wanted to keep Austria neutral, therefore there was a
     common interest to grant Austria victim status. And later Austria
     could cry poor - though its per capita income is as high as
     Germany's. And, most importantly, the Austrian PR machinery works
     better. Austria has the opera ball, the imperial castle,
     Mozartkugeln [a chocolate]. Americans like that. And Austrians
     invest and export relatively little to the US, therefore they are
     less vulnerable to blackmail. In the meantime, they set up a
     commission in Austria to clarify what happened to Jewish property.
     Victor Klima, the former chancellor, has asked me to join. My father
     fought for Austria in the First World War and in 1939 he was kicked
     out of Austria. After the war they offered him ten dollars per month
     as compensation. For this reason I told Klima, no thank you, this
     makes me sick.

   The Simon Wiesenthal Centre continues to criticise Austria (as recently
   as June 2005) for its alleged historical and ongoing unwillingness
   aggressively to pursue investigations and trials against Nazis for war
   crimes and crimes against humanity from the seventies 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 of Dr.
     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-seventies.

   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 Centre has 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 has
   deferred to either extradition requests from Croatia or prosecutorial
   actions from Klagenfurt, neither of which appears forthcoming (as of
   June 2005). Extradition is not an option since Asner also holds
   Austrian citizenship, having lived in the country from 1946 to 1991.

Austrian political and military leaders in Nazi Germany

     * Adolf Hitler
     * Arthur Seyss-Inquart
     * Ernst Kaltenbrunner
     * Odilo Globocnik
     * Amon Göth
     * Lothar Rendulic
     * Alfred Ritter von Hubicki
     * Alexander Löhr
     * Franz Böhme

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