Hitler's Annexation: Austria's Forced Union

On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria, annexing the country and establishing the Anschluss, or union, between Austria and Germany. This event was the culmination of years of political tension and upheaval in Austria, as well as the realisation of Adolf Hitler's long-held desire to unite all German-speaking nations into a Greater Germany.

Hitler's invasion of Austria was unopposed

Hitler's invasion of Austria was indeed unopposed. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and annexed the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, who had attempted to preserve the country from German invasion, was coerced into naming several top Austrian Nazis to his cabinet and resigned on March 11. In his resignation address, he pleaded with Austrian forces not to resist a German "advance" into the country. The next day, Hitler accompanied German troops into Austria, where they were met with cheering crowds.

Hitler's invasion of Austria was the culmination of several years of political manoeuvring. Hitler had long dreamed of an empire that enclosed all German speakers, which he called his “Greater Germany". In 1934, Hitler ordered the Austrian Nazis to create havoc in Austria, turning into an attempt to overthrow the government. Chancellor Dollfuss was murdered, but the coup failed due to the intervention of the Austrian military. In 1936, Hitler and Schuschnigg signed the German-Austrian Agreement, which recognised Austrian independence but required that its foreign policy align with Germany's. Hitler's ultimate goal was the Anschluss (union) with Austria.

In early 1938, Austrian Nazis conspired for the second time to seize the Austrian government and unite the nation with Nazi Germany. Schuschnigg called a national vote to resolve the question of Anschluss once and for all, but before the plebiscite could take place, he gave in to pressure from Hitler and resigned. Hitler's invasion of Austria was unopposed by the Austrian military, and the country was absorbed into the Third Reich.

The Austrian chancellor was forced to resign

On 11 March 1938, Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg resigned under pressure from Hitler, who had threatened to invade Austria. Schuschnigg was forced to cancel a referendum on a possible union with Germany, which was to be held on 13 March, and to resign.

Earlier in 1938, Schuschnigg had attempted to assert Austrian independence by announcing the referendum. However, Hitler was infuriated by this and decided to act. He gave the Austrian government a series of ultimatums: Schuschnigg must call off the plebiscite; Schuschnigg must resign as chancellor; Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas must appoint Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as the new chancellor.

Faced with no support from Italy, and knowing that France and Britain would not interfere, Schuschnigg conceded. He called off the referendum and resigned, ordering the Austrian army not to resist the Germans.

Hitler had long desired a union between Germany and his native homeland, Austria, which would form a "Greater Germany". However, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany and Austria were forbidden to unite. Hitler was determined to destabilise Austria and undermine its independence, and his agents cultivated pro-unification tendencies in Austria, seeking to undermine the Austrian government.

In early 1938, under increasing pressure from pro-unification activists, Schuschnigg announced the referendum. 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 1938, the German army crossed the border into Austria, unopposed by the Austrian military. On 13 March, Seyss-Inquart, who had been appointed chancellor by Miklas, signed the "`Reunification of Austria with Germany" law, formally incorporating Austria into Nazi Germany.

Hitler's expansionary policies went unchecked

Hitler's Ambitions for Austria

Hitler, an Austrian himself, had long dreamed of creating a "Greater Germany" that would unite all German speakers. In his book Mein Kampf, published in 1925, Hitler described the need for Lebensraum, or "living space", for the German people. This empire would also give him access to new resources, such as manpower for the military, raw materials, and a large quantity of cash and gold.

Attempts to Destabilise Austria

Hitler's first attempt to seize power in Austria came in 1934 when he ordered Austrian Nazis to create havoc and attempt to overthrow the government. This coup failed due to the intervention of the Austrian military, and the Italian dictator, Mussolini, who honoured an agreement to protect Austria from outside aggression. However, this would not be the last time Hitler tried to destabilise the country.

The Berchtesgaden Agreement

In February 1938, Hitler invited Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to his summer retreat and forced him to agree to several demands, including giving Austrian Nazis key government posts. Schuschnigg hoped that this would appease Hitler, but he was wrong. Hitler continued to order Austrian Nazis to create as much trouble and destruction as possible to put pressure on Schuschnigg and justify a German invasion.

The Referendum

In a desperate attempt to preserve Austrian independence, Schuschnigg announced a referendum on March 9, 1938, whereby the Austrian people would decide for themselves if they wanted to be a part of Hitler's Germany. Hitler was furious, as a vote against joining Germany would ruin his excuse for an invasion. He responded by issuing a series of ultimatums: Schuschnigg must call off the referendum, resign as chancellor, and appoint the Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as the new chancellor.

The Invasion

When Schuschnigg gave in to Hitler's demands and resigned, German troops marched into Austria on March 12, 1938, unopposed. Hitler now had control of Austria and held a rigged referendum a month later, which showed that the Austrian people approved of German control. This was the final step in Hitler's plan to absorb Austria into his growing empire.

International Response

The reaction of the international community to the annexation of Austria was muted, with most governments voicing only a dissatisfaction with Hitler's methods. This allowed Hitler's expansionary policies to go unchecked and emboldened him to continue his aggressive foreign policy. Just six months after the Anschluss, Nazi Germany manufactured a crisis in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, leading to the Munich Agreement in September 1938, where world leaders ceded the region to Germany. This was followed by the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and the invasion of Poland in September 1939, which started World War II.

Austria's Jewish population was persecuted

Austria's Jewish population was subjected to intense persecution following the country's annexation by Nazi Germany in March 1938. This persecution was part of a broader campaign of violence and intimidation against Jews, which was enthusiastically supported and carried out by many Austrians.

The persecution of Austrian Jews began immediately after the annexation. Jews were driven through the streets, their homes and shops were plundered, and Jewish men and women were forced to perform humiliating tasks, such as cleaning public toilets and streets. This campaign of violence culminated in the Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass") pogroms in November 1938, during which most synagogues in Vienna were destroyed and Jewish businesses were vandalised and ransacked.

In addition to physical violence, Austrian Jews were subjected to a range of legal and economic restrictions. They were driven out of public life and gradually robbed of their freedoms, blocked from almost all professions, shut out of schools and universities, and forced to wear the Yellow badge from September 1941. They were also targeted by the Nazis' Aryanisation policy, which involved the expropriation of Jewish property. On April 27, 1938, all Jews with total assets worth more than ATS 7,500 ($2,000) were ordered to declare them by the end of June 1938. These assets, totalling over $800 million, were looted by the Nazi authorities and private individuals.

The persecution of Austrian Jews was part of a broader Nazi policy of forced emigration. Soon after the annexation, SS Lieutenant Adolf Eichmann established a "model" system in Austria for solving the "Jewish problem": evict the Jews and keep as much of their assets as possible. To this end, Eichmann set up a Central Office of Jewish Emigration, which oversaw the emigration of more than 130,000 Jews between 1938 and 1941. Those who left were forced to pay special taxes and renounce their right to return to Germany.

For those who remained, the situation grew increasingly dire. By December 1940, there were still about 50,000 to 60,000 Jews living in Vienna, most of whom were unemployed, evicted from their homes, and barely surviving. In October 1941, the first systematic deportations of Jews from Vienna began, with thousands sent to ghettos and concentration camps in eastern Europe. By November 1942, only about 7,000 Jews remained in the country, and the majority of those who stayed eventually became victims of the Holocaust. In total, approximately 65,000 Austrian Jews were killed.

Austria's name was changed to Ostmark

On March 13, 1938, the Federal State of Austria was annexed into the German Reich. This annexation was known as the Anschluss, which in German means "joining" or "connection". The idea of a union between Austria and Germany was not new, and had been discussed since the 19th century. The unification of Germany in 1871 excluded Austria, and the new Republic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. However, the Treaty of Saint Germain and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 forbade this union and Austria was stripped of some of its territories.

After Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, the desire for unification could be identified with the Nazis, for whom it was an integral part of their "Heim ins Reich" ("back home to the realm") concept. Hitler himself was born in Austria and had expressed his desire for an Austro-German union in his earliest writings and speeches. In 1920, the first point of the Nazi Party Platform stated:

> We demand the union of all Germans in a Greater Germany (Großdeutschland) on the basis of the right of national self-determination.

Hitler's autobiography and political treatise, Mein Kampf, also opened with his vision for the future relationship between Austria and Germany:

> ...the reunification [of Germany and Austria] is a life task to be carried out by all means! German-Austria must be restored to the great German Motherland...People of the same blood should be in the same REICH.

In February 1938, Hitler invited the Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to Germany and forced him to agree to give the Austrian Nazis virtually a free hand. Schuschnigg later repudiated the agreement and announced a plebiscite on the issue of Austrian independence. However, he was bullied into canceling the plebiscite and resigned, ordering the Austrian Army not to resist the Germans. On March 12, 1938, the German army invaded Austria, and the enthusiasm that followed gave Hitler the cover to annex Austria outright on March 13.

Once the union between Austria and Germany was complete, the Nazi government renamed the incorporated territory. The name Austria (Österreich in German, meaning "Eastern Realm") was initially replaced by "Ostmark", referring to the 10th-century Marcha orientalis. The change was meant to refer to Austria as the new "eastern march" of the Reich. Ostmark, a translation of Marchia Orientalis into Standard German, was used officially from 1938 until 1945. The Donau-Zeitung proudly referred to Passau as "the cradle of the new Ostmark" in August 1938. However, the term Ostmark was not new, and had historically been used to refer to the Margraviate of Austria, a medieval frontier march that came out of Bavaria.

From the Anschluss until 1939, the official name used was Land Österreich ("State of Austria"). In 1942, the Nazi regime officially referred to the area as the Alpine and Danubian Districts (Alpen- und Donau-Reichsgaue). The use of the term Ostmark was abandoned as it was still too reminiscent of the old, independent state of Austria.

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