Austria's Role In World War Ii

how was austria involved in ww2

Austria was a key part of World War II, with its annexation by Nazi Germany marking the beginning of the global conflict. On March 12, 1938, German troops entered Austria, receiving the support of most Austrians. The annexation, known as the Anschluss, saw Austria become an integral part of the Third Reich, with Austrians joining the Nazi Party and fighting for the Nazi war machine. The country's involvement in the war extended beyond its borders, with Austrians serving in the Wehrmacht and SS, and participating in Nazi atrocities on the Eastern Front. The Mauthausen concentration camp, established after the annexation, became a site of mass murder and forced labour. Following the war, Austria's role in Nazi crimes was recognised, and the country was occupied and later regained independence.

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The Anschluss

The rise of the Nazis in Germany and the establishment of an authoritarian right-wing government in Austria in the 1930s brought the idea of unification back to the fore. Austrian Nazis, with support from Germany, attempted a coup in July 1934 but were unsuccessful. The Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, was assassinated, and many leading Austrian Nazis fled to Germany, where they continued to push for unification. In 1936, Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg agreed to a pact with Germany, which saw the release of imprisoned Nazis in exchange for a promise to respect Austrian sovereignty. However, this did not satisfy Hitler, and the pro-unification movement in Austria continued to grow.

In early 1938, under pressure from pro-unification activists, Schuschnigg announced there would be a referendum on a possible union with Germany, to be held on March 13. Hitler threatened an invasion and pressured Schuschnigg to resign. On March 11, the German Army crossed the border into Austria, unopposed by the Austrian military. A plebiscite was held on April 10, in which 99.7% of voters approved the Anschluss. However, the ballot was not secret, and threats and coercion were used to manipulate the vote. While the true opinions of the population are unknown, it is estimated that about 70% of Austrians would have voted to preserve Austrian independence.

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Austrian involvement in the Holocaust

Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938 until 27 April 1945. During this time, Austrians played an active role in the Holocaust.

The Holocaust in Austria

The Holocaust in Austria was the systematic persecution, plunder, and extermination of Jews by German and Austrian Nazis from 1938 to 1945. This was part of the wider Holocaust, and the persecution of Jews was immediate and violent after the German annexation of Austria, known as the Anschluss.

The Anschluss

The Anschluss was the German annexation of Austria, which occurred on 12 March 1938, when German troops entered the country and received the enthusiastic support of most of the Austrian population. Austria was incorporated into Germany the following day. In April, this annexation was approved in a plebiscite that was manipulated to indicate that about 99% of Austrians wanted the union with Germany. Jews and Roma were not allowed to vote.

Anti-Semitic Violence and Persecution

Following the Anschluss, German racial laws were enacted in Austria, and Jews were disenfranchised. According to these laws, 220,000 people were now considered Jews in Austria, up from the previously accepted figure of 182,000. All Jewish organizations and newspapers were closed, and their leaders and management imprisoned. Jews were no longer allowed on public transport, and many regular Austrians joined the Nazis in terrorizing Jews, forcing them to wash sidewalks and public toilets, and, in one instance, eat grass in a Viennese amusement park.

Plunder of Jewish Property

Jewish property was seized by Austrians as part of the Holocaust, with a massive transfer of homes, businesses, real estate, financial assets, and artworks from Jews to non-Jews. A well-organized machinery of plunder, involving the Gestapo, various transporters, and museums in Vienna, moved artworks and other property seized from Jews into the hands of non-Jews.

Isolation, Deportation, and Extermination

In October 1939, the deportation of Austrian Jews to Poland began, as part of a larger plan to gather all of Europe's Jewish populace in one territory. The deportation of Jews to death camps began in February 1941, and the Viennese community was officially liquidated on 1 November 1942, with approximately 7,000 Jews remaining in Austria. The deportations continued until March 1945. As a result of the Holocaust, between 60,000 and 65,000 Austrian Jews lost their lives, and fewer than 800 Jews survived until the liberation of Vienna by Soviet troops on 13 April 1945.

Austrian Perpetrators of the Holocaust

Many Austrians held prominent positions in the Nazi regime and were directly involved in the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, was himself Austrian. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian Nazi and briefly Chancellor of Austria, was condemned to death at the Nuremberg Trials and executed in 1946. Other Austrians who played a role in the Holocaust include Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Odilo Globocnik, Franz Josef Huber, August Eigruber, Alexander Löhr, Hermann Neubacher, and Lothar Rendulic.

Austrian Collaboration in the Holocaust

Austrians also collaborated extensively with the Nazis in carrying out the Holocaust. Austrians made up about 8% of the population of the Third Reich, but they accounted for about 13% of the SS, 40% of concentration camp personnel, and up to 70% of the people who headed concentration camps. The majority of the bureaucrats who implemented the Final Solution were Austrian.

Austrian Resistance to the Holocaust

A small minority of Austrians actively resisted the Nazis and helped Jews during the Holocaust. As of 1 January 2016, 106 Austrians have been recognized by the Yad Vashem Institute of Holocaust and Heroism as "Righteous Among the Nations" for aiding and saving Jews during the Holocaust at the risk of their own lives.

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Austrian soldiers in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS

Austrian soldiers played a significant role in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS during World War II. Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, the Austrian military was integrated into the German military, and many Austrians served in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.

Austrian Soldiers in the Wehrmacht

During World War II, elements of the Austrian Army were reorganised into various divisions of the Wehrmacht:

  • The 9th Panzer Division
  • The 44th Infantry Division
  • The 45th Infantry Division
  • The 3rd Mountain Division
  • The 2nd Mountain Division

Austrian Soldiers in the Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organisation. Austrians constituted about 13% of the SS, and many Austrians served in the Waffen-SS during World War II. The Austrian SS was founded in 1930 and played a crucial role in bringing about the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938. After the annexation, the Austrian SS was folded into the SS-Oberabschnitt Donau.

The Waffen-SS grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions during the war. Initially, membership was restricted to people of Germanic origin, but the rules were relaxed over time, and units consisting of foreign volunteers and conscripts were formed. The Waffen-SS served alongside the Wehrmacht and was involved in numerous atrocities, including the Holocaust and war crimes against civilians.

Austrian soldiers served in various Waffen-SS divisions, including:

  • The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH)
  • The SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT)
  • The SS-Totenkopf Division
  • The Polizei Division
  • The SS Division Wiking
  • The SS Division Das Reich
  • The SS Division Nord
  • The SS Cavalry Brigade

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Austrian resistance to Nazism

Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938 until 27 April 1945. During this time, a small minority of Austrians resisted Nazism and the Nazi war machine.

The Austrian resistance was launched in response to the rise of fascism across Europe, and more specifically, to the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. An estimated 100,000 people participated in this resistance, with thousands subsequently imprisoned or executed for their anti-Nazi activities. The Austrian resistance groups were often ideologically separated and reflected the spectrum of political parties before the war.

The most spectacular individual group of the Austrian resistance was the one around the priest Heinrich Maier. This very successful Catholic resistance group wanted to revive a Habsburg monarchy after the war and passed on plans and production facilities for V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, and aircraft to the Allies. With the location sketches of the production facilities, the Allied bombers were able to carry out precise air strikes and thus protect residential areas. In contrast to many other German resistance groups, the Maier group informed very early on about the mass murder of Jews through its contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz.

In addition to armed resistance, numerous individuals provided support to Jewish families during the Holocaust. These efforts included hiding individuals, managing or exchanging their property to generate funds, and aiding their escape from Nazi persecution. These actions carried immense personal risk, as assisting Jews was punishable by imprisonment or death in Nazi concentration camps. Among these individuals were Rosa Stallbaumer and her husband, Anton. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1942, they were sent to Dachau concentration camp. Although Anton survived, Rosa Stallbaumer did not; transferred to Auschwitz, she died there at the age of 44.

Another major resistance group was the Carinthian Slovenes, who formed a nucleus to the resistance after targeted deportations and forced Germanisation by the Nazi regime in 1942. As much of the Slovene Lands in Yugoslavia had been annexed to the Reich in 1941 and were subject to the same tactics of ethnic cleansing in northern Slovenia, the group's activities should be seen in the context of the Yugoslavian Slovene Partisan operations.

The symbol and voice of Austrian resistance was Crown Prince Otto von Habsburg, who, had the monarchy been re-established, would have been Kaiser of Austria. Otto von Habsburg denounced Nazism, stating:

> I absolutely reject [Nazi] Fascism for Austria... This un-Austrian movement promises everything to everyone, but really intends the most ruthless subjugation of the Austrian people... The people of Austria will never tolerate that our beautiful fatherland should become an exploited colony, and that the Austrian should become a man of second category.

Otto von Habsburg was involved in helping around 50,000 Austrians, including tens of thousands of Austrian Jews, flee the country at the beginning of World War II.

Austrian Society's Attitude Towards the Nazi Government

Austrian society's attitude towards the Nazi government from 1938 to 1945 was ambivalent. While large portions of Austrian society either actively or tacitly supported the Nazi regime, there were also those who resisted and opposed it. Since many Austrians actively supported the Nazis, the Allied forces treated Austria as a belligerent party in the war and maintained occupation of it after the Nazi capitulation. On the other hand, the Moscow Declaration of 1943 labeled Austria as a free and democratic society before the war and considered its capture an act of liberation.

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Soviet occupation of Austria

Austria was jointly occupied by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, and France following World War II. The Soviet Union's occupation policy in Austria was largely shaped by the Moscow Declaration of 1943, which stated that Austria was the first victim of Nazi aggression but would have to pay for its participation in Nazi crimes. The Red Army occupied only parts of Austria, including the capital, Vienna, while Anglo-American troops entered from Germany and Italy.

The Soviet occupation of Austria began in June 1941 when Hitler's regime launched a genocidal war against the Soviet Union. The aim of Operation Barbarossa was not only to eliminate the Soviet Union as a potential military threat but also to enslave and colonize its population. The Soviets suffered significant losses during the war, with 26.6 million people killed, and most estimates for military losses ranging from 11.4 to 14.6 million.

In the winter of 1945, troops from the 3rd and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts approached Austria's border from Hungary. The fighting in Hungary was brutal, with around 1 million Soviet troops suffering 484,300 losses, including 140,000 killed or captured. As the Soviets regrouped to invade Austria, the Germans launched their last major offensive at Lake Balaton in March 1945, which was thwarted by the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The Soviets then launched a counterattack, resulting in the Vienna Strategic Offensive Operation, which eliminated most German forces in the south and captured the Austrian capital. After taking Vienna, Soviet troops advanced towards Linz and Graz in early May. Skirmishes between the Red Army and German soldiers continued into late May, even after the fighting had ceased elsewhere in Europe. The Red Army suffered 94,185 casualties in Austria, with 26,006 killed and 68,179 wounded.

The Soviet occupation policies in Austria were influenced by the Moscow Declaration, which proclaimed that Austria was a defeated Axis power but also a victim of Germany. As a result, Austria avoided some of the harsh consequences faced by Germany, such as territorial losses and the expulsion of ethnic Germans. Additionally, Austrians did not become victims of ethnic cleansing or face deportation to the Soviet Union for slave labor, as experienced by Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe).

However, the Soviets did impose burdensome reparations on Austria, and local governments were responsible for feeding and clothing the Red Army, which was a significant burden on the war-ravaged country. The NKVD (Soviet secret police) engaged in looting and extracted reparations by seizing industrial plants and production installations. The occupation costs further strained Austria's economy, with 30% of the national budget in June 1946 going towards these expenses. From 1946 to 1955, it is estimated that Austria paid the Soviet Union 36.8 billion Schillings, or two percent of its accumulated GDP.

During the initial months of the occupation, Soviet military tribunals arrested around 800 Austrian civilians, with charges including membership in the Nazi Werewolf resistance group, espionage, maltreatment of POWs and slave laborers, weapons possession, war crimes, and violent acts. By the time the Soviet Army withdrew from Austria in 1955, they had arrested 2,400 Austrians, with 1,250 prosecuted for various crimes, including war crimes and everyday criminal activity. Around 150 individuals were executed, while others received lengthy prison sentences.

The scale of political violence experienced by Austrians under Soviet occupation was relatively limited compared to other countries, partly because Moscow did not intend to impose a communist dictatorship in Austria, and the country was not a high priority for the Kremlin. Additionally, the Soviets sought to differentiate ordinary Austrians from Nazis in their propaganda, instructing their troops to respect Austrian traditions, families, and private property.

The occupation by the Soviet Union and the Western Allies continued until 1955, when Austria was granted full independence in exchange for promises of perpetual neutrality. The last occupation troops left Austria on October 25, 1955, marking the end of the joint occupation.

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