Austria's Wwii Role: A Complex Story Of Annexation And Division

Austria's role in World War II was highly ambiguous. In 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany and became part of the Third Reich. This annexation, known as the Anschluss, was the result of a complex mix of domestic and international factors and was welcomed by the majority of Austrians. Many Austrians served in the SS and committed war crimes, while a minority resisted the Hitler regime. The country played a significant role in the Holocaust, with thousands of Jews deported to concentration camps and many others fleeing the country. By the end of the war, Austria had suffered heavy losses, with approximately 250,000 Austrians killed or missing in action.

Austria's Annexation by Nazi Germany

In the 1920s, the proposal for a union gained momentum in both Austria and Germany, particularly among Austrian citizens of the political left and centre. However, by the 1930s, the Austrian government, controlled by the Austrofascist Fatherland Front, opposed unification. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, the desire for unification became associated with the Nazis, for whom it was an integral part of their ideology.

Hitler, himself an Austrian, had expressed his desire for an Austro-German union in his earliest writings and speeches. In January 1933, he was appointed Chancellor of Germany and set about planning territorial expansion. He intended to bring about a union with Austria through the Austrian Nazi Party, which was weak and divided at the time. However, by 1931, the bulk of Austrian Nazis recognised Hitler as their leader.

In 1934, Austrian Nazis attempted a coup, assassinating Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. The coup failed, and many leading Austrian Nazis fled to Germany, where they continued to push for unification. In 1938, Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced a referendum on the issue of Austrian independence, to be held on March 13. Infuriated, Hitler threatened an invasion and demanded Schuschnigg's resignation. On March 11, Schuschnigg gave in to Hitler's demands and resigned.

On March 12, German troops crossed the border into Austria, unopposed by the Austrian military. They were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, flags, and flowers. Hitler himself rode into his birthplace, Braunau am Inn, with a 4,000-man bodyguard. In Linz, he was welcomed by 250,000 Austrians. The next day, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian Nazi, was appointed chancellor, and the annexation was proclaimed.

The annexation of Austria was a significant breach of the post-World War I international order. It demonstrated Nazi disdain for the treaties of Versailles and Saint-Germain, which expressly forbade the unification of Austria and Germany. The other European powers did not intervene or punish the Nazis for violating these treaties, allowing Hitler to continue his expansionary policies unchecked.

The Nazis quickly moved to erase any traces of a separate Austrian identity. Austria was initially referred to as the Ostmark, and its states were replaced with Reichsgaue. The country was transformed almost overnight, and Austrians enthusiastically participated in the Nazification of their country. They enacted Nazi policies, persecuted the Jewish population, and fought in World War II.

The Austrian Resistance

The most notable individual group of the Austrian resistance was the one led by the priest Heinrich Maier. This resistance group sought to re-establish a Habsburg monarchy after the war. It played a large role in providing the Allies with information on the production sites of the V-1, V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, and aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet. The intelligence they provided, later uncovered by the Gestapo, was necessary in enabling the Allies to conduct precise airstrikes, minimizing civilian casualties. The group maintained contact with Allen Dulles, head of the U.S. OSS in Switzerland, and their information contributed to key operations such as Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra, both of which were precursors to Operation Overlord. The Maier group was also one of the earliest to report the mass murder of Jews, utilizing contacts at the Semperit factory near Auschwitz.

Another notable resistance group was the Austrian Freedom Front, a partisan group led by the Communist leader Franz Honner and supported by the USSR. By the end of the war, the Austrian Freedom Front had become the only armed movement in Austria.

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.

He strongly opposed the Anschluss and, following the German annexation of Austria, was sentenced to death by the Nazi regime.

Soviet Occupation of Austria

Austria was occupied by the Allies and declared independent from Nazi Germany on April 27, 1945, after the Vienna Offensive. The country was then divided into four occupation zones, with the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, and France each taking control of one zone. The Soviet Union's occupation of Austria lasted from 1945 to 1955, and during this period, the country was subjected to economic exploitation and political repression by the Soviets.

The Soviet Union viewed Austria as an opportunity for economic exploitation, particularly targeting German-owned businesses. By 1955, the majority of these companies were close to bankruptcy due to a lack of investment and general neglect. The Soviets also demanded and received entitlement to German assets in Austria within their zone of occupation, which included oil fields and industrial plants. This resulted in significant financial burdens for Austria, with the country paying the Soviet Union an estimated 36.8 billion Schillings, or two percent of its accumulated GDP, from 1946 to 1955.

In terms of political repression, the Soviet Union installed a provisional federal government under the Social Democrat Dr. Karl Renner, which included Austrian communists in crucial ministries such as the interior and education. However, the scale of political violence experienced by Austrians was more limited compared to other countries occupied by the Red Army, as Moscow did not fully control Austria and it was not a high priority for the Kremlin. The Soviets arrested around 800 Austrian civilians during the initial eight months of occupation, with charges ranging from belonging to the Nazi Werewolf resistance group to war crimes and criminal activities. By the time the Red Army pulled out of the country in 1955, they had arrested a total of 2,400 Austrians, with some being executed and others receiving lengthy prison sentences.

The Soviet occupation of Austria also included widespread sexual abuse of Austrian women by Soviet soldiers, with an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 women raped in Vienna alone. Additionally, there were mass deportations and arrests of Austrian citizens, with the Soviets targeting former Red Army members, Wehrmacht soldiers, and civilians. The occupation troops were also responsible for looting and plunder, despite orders from Soviet commanders discouraging criminal conduct.

The Soviet Union's occupation of Austria ended in 1955, along with the withdrawal of Western Allied forces, after Austria promised to remain neutral in the Cold War. This period of occupation had a significant impact on the country, leaving a legacy of economic exploitation, political repression, and social upheaval.

The Mauthausen Concentration Camp

The camp was founded by a private company as an economic enterprise, but it was controlled by the German state from the beginning. The company behind the camp was Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH (DEST), led by high-ranking SS official Oswald Pohl. The company rented the quarries from the City of Vienna in 1938 and began constructing the camp, which was completed on 8 August 1938. The first prisoners were transferred from the Dachau concentration camp. During this initial phase, the prisoners, who were all German and Austrian men, had to build their own camp and set up operations in the quarry.

The Mauthausen camp was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germany. The three Gusen concentration camps, just a few kilometres from Mauthausen, held a significant proportion of prisoners within the camp complex, sometimes exceeding the number of prisoners at the Mauthausen main camp. The number of subcamps expanded over time, and by the end of the war, the list included 101 camps (including 49 major subcamps) which covered most of modern Austria.

Prisoners at Mauthausen and its subcamps were subjected to forced labour in quarries, munitions factories, mines, arms factories, and plants assembling aircraft. The conditions were brutal and severe, with inmates suffering from malnutrition, overcrowded huts, constant abuse, and exceptionally hard labour. The food rations were extremely limited, leading to the starvation of thousands of inmates. The rock quarry in Mauthausen led to exceptionally high mortality rates, as prisoners were forced to carry roughly-hewn blocks of stone weighing as much as 50 kilograms up 186 stairs. Many exhausted prisoners collapsed, creating a domino effect as they fell on top of each other.

In addition to the harsh labour, inmates were subjected to constant abuse and beatings by the guards and kapos (prisoners recruited by their captors to police their fellow prisoners). The SS guards would often force prisoners to race up the stairs carrying blocks of stone, and those who survived were given the option of being shot or pushing the prisoner in front of them off a cliff. Other methods of extermination included icy showers, in which around 3,000 inmates died of hypothermia, and drowning in barrels of water.

The Mauthausen camp authorities also killed inmates deemed too weak or sick to work, either by shooting, hanging, or gassing. The camp was equipped with a gas chamber capable of killing up to 80 people at a time using Zyklon B gas. A mobile gas van was also provided, which could kill about 30 people at a time.

The number of prisoners in the Mauthausen camp system steadily increased, and by January 1, 1945, it had 73,351 prisoners, 959 of them women. The camp incarcerated more male prisoners than any other concentration camp system in Nazi Germany, and it was the third-largest in terms of total prisoner population. An estimated 197,464 prisoners passed through the camp between August 1938 and May 1945, and at least 95,000 died there. More than 14,000 of those who perished were Jewish.

Austrian Independence

Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938 until 27 April 1945, when it declared independence from Nazi Germany as a result of the Vienna Offensive. This period is known as the Anschluss, which translates to "joining" or "union" in German.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Austria was jointly occupied by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, and France, and was divided into four zones. Vienna was similarly subdivided, with the central district collectively administered by the Allied Control Council.

On 15 May 1955, representatives of the governments of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States, and France signed the Austrian State Treaty, which granted Austria independence and arranged for the withdrawal of all occupation forces. The treaty also established Austria as a sovereign state and outlined its commitment to neutrality.

Austria's independence was confirmed when the Austrian State Treaty came into force on 27 July 1955, and the last occupation troops left on 25 October that year.

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