Lexi Webster
On March 12, 1938, German troops entered Austria, where they were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. This event, known as the Anschluss, marked the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany and was met with overwhelming support from the Austrian population. The invasion, dubbed the Blumenkrieg or Flower War, was the first big test of the Wehrmacht's machinery, and despite poor organization and coordination, they faced no resistance as Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg had ordered the Austrian Bundesheer not to fight back. Austria became a federal state of Germany, and over 1.3 million Austrians were drafted into the Wehrmacht between 1938 and 1945.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of invasion | 12 March 1938 |
| Date of annexation | 13 March 1938 |
| Number of troops | 4,000 |
| Number of Austrians gathered in Linz to meet Hitler | 250,000 |
| Number of Austrians who joined the Nazi Party | 700,000 |
| Number of Austrians drafted by the Wehrmacht | 1.3 million |
| Number of Austrians who fought for the Nazi German armed forces | 950,000 |
| Number of Jews in Austria, 1938 | 192,000 |
| Number of Jews in Vienna, 1938 | 57,000 |
| Number of Jews deported from Vienna to ghettos in eastern Europe | 35,000 |
| Number of Jews deported from Vienna to Theresienstadt | 15,000 |
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What You'll Learn
Hitler's ultimatum
On March 11, 1938, Hitler gave the Austrian government an ultimatum, demanding that Chancellor Schuschnigg hand over all power to the Austrian Nazis or face a German military invasion of Austria. The ultimatum was set to expire at noon but was extended by two hours. Hitler demanded that Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg cancel the upcoming plebiscite on Austrian independence and that Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas appoint Arthur Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian Nazi, as the new Austrian chancellor.
Schuschnigg desperately sought support for Austrian independence from Britain and France in the hours following the ultimatum. However, realizing that neither country was willing to offer assistance, he resigned on the evening of March 11. Shortly after, at 7:47 pm, Schuschnigg gave a radio address broadcast throughout Austria, announcing his resignation in the face of German pressure. He instructed Austrians and the Austrian military not to resist German troops if they invaded.
Hitler, tired of waiting, ordered the invasion to commence at dawn on March 12, regardless of whether his demands had been met. Around 10 pm, a forged telegram was sent in Seyss-Inquart's name requesting German troops, as he was not yet chancellor and could not make such a request himself. On March 12, German troops crossed the border into Austria unopposed by the Austrian military. Hitler himself rode in a car across the border at Braunau am Inn, his birthplace, with a 4,000-man bodyguard. That evening, he arrived in Linz to an enthusiastic welcome, with 250,000 Austrians gathering to meet him and support the Anschluss.
The annexation of Austria, or the Anschluss, was the Nazi German regime's first act of territorial aggression and expansion. By annexing Austria, the Nazis violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which expressly forbade the unification of Austria and Germany. The Anschluss demonstrated Nazi disdain for the post-World War I European order and allowed Hitler to continue his expansionist policies unchecked.
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Austrians' enthusiastic welcome
The annexation of Austria, known as the Anschluss, was met with enthusiasm by many Austrians. On 12 March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria with the support of most of the Austrian population. The German troops entering Austria were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. This invasion without shots fired was dubbed the Blumenkrieg ("Flower War"). The enthusiasm displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people believed that a majority of Austrians opposed the Anschluss.
The idea of the Anschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany") gained support after the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell in 1918. The new Republic of German-Austria attempted to unite with Germany, but the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Versailles prohibited this. The treaties also stripped Austria of some of its territories. By the 1920s, the proposal for the Anschluss had strong support in both Austria and Germany, particularly from Austrian citizens of the political left and center. The desire for unification was linked to the belief that Austria, having lost its imperial land, was not economically viable as an independent state.
Support for the unification of Austria and Germany grew in popularity due to Nazi propaganda campaigns, which used slogans such as "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" ("One People, One Empire, One Leader") to advocate for the Anschluss. The Nazis gained votes in Austria, particularly after Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933. The Austrian Nazi Party's popularity increased, and by 1932, John Gunther estimated that Austrian public opinion was about 60% against annexation, a significant shift from the estimated 80% pro-Anschluss sentiment in 1932.
The Anschluss was seen as completing the long-awaited unification of all Germans into one state. Even figures such as Karl Renner, an Austrian socialist politician who later became the provisional prime minister of the first post-Nazi government, welcomed the annexation. About 10% of the population, or 700,000 people, joined the Nazi Party. During World War II, 950,000 Austrians fought for the Nazi German armed forces, and many others participated in the Nazi administration, including death camp personnel and senior Nazi leadership.
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Anschluss
The Anschluss, which means 'joining' or 'connection' in German, refers to the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938. The idea of a union between Austria and Germany (forming a "Greater Germany") had been proposed as early as 1919, but it gained more support after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 and the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933.
In the lead-up to the Anschluss, there was a significant amount of political turmoil in Austria. The Austrian National Socialists, linked to Hitler's NSDAP, initially received very few votes and failed to enter Parliament. However, due to the economic crisis, their support grew rapidly during the 1930s, and they gained votes at the expense of various German national groups. In July 1934, Austrian and German Nazis attempted a coup but were unsuccessful. An authoritarian right-wing government took power in Austria, suppressing dissent and preventing resistance to the growing Nazi influence.
In February 1938, Hitler invited Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to Germany and forced him to agree to give Austrian Nazis a free hand in the government. On March 9, Schuschnigg called for a national vote to resolve the question of the Anschluss, but before the plebiscite could take place, he resigned on March 11, bullied into conceding by Hitler and other Nazi leaders. Schuschnigg pleaded with Austrian forces not to resist a German invasion.
On March 12, 1938, German troops entered Austria, greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. This invasion without shots fired was dubbed the Blumenkrieg ("Flower War"). Hitler himself crossed the border at his birthplace, Braunau am Inn, and arrived in Linz, where he was enthusiastically welcomed by 250,000 Austrians. The annexation of Austria was proclaimed on March 13, 1938, and a controlled plebiscite in April gave a 99.7% approval rating.
The Anschluss had significant consequences for Austria's Jewish population, which stood at about 192,000 people (almost 4% of the total population) in 1938. The Nazis quickly extended anti-Jewish legislation to Austria, and the Mauthausen concentration camp was established in the summer of 1938. Systematic mass deportations of Jews from Vienna to ghettos in eastern Europe began in October 1941, and by November 1942, only about 7,000 Jews remained in Austria.
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Soviet occupation
The Soviet occupation of Austria began in the spring of 1945. The troops from the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts approached Austria's border from Hungary, and after successfully counteracting the Germans' last major offensive of the war, they captured the Austrian capital, Vienna.
The Soviet Union, along with the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, divided Austria into four occupation zones. The Soviet zone included Burgenland, Lower Austria, and the Mühlviertel area of Upper Austria, north of the Danube. Vienna, the Austrian capital, was also subdivided among the four Allies. The historical center of Vienna was declared an international zone, with occupation forces changing every month.
The Soviet Union's occupation policies in Austria were shaped by the Moscow Declaration of 1943, in which the British, Americans, and Soviets proclaimed that Austria was Germany's first victim. The Declaration also stated that Austria would have to pay the price for its participation in Nazi aggression. The Soviets treated Austria as a defeated Axis power but adhered to the line that Austria was a victim of Germany. This meant that Austria avoided some of the worst aspects of Germany's fate. The Soviets did not try to impose a communist dictatorship in Austria, and as a result, the scale of political violence experienced by Austrians was more limited than in other countries occupied by the Red Army.
During the initial eight months of occupation, Soviet military tribunals arrested around 800 Austrian civilians. By 1955, when the Red Army pulled out of the country, the Soviets had arrested 2,400 Austrians, 1,250 of whom were prosecuted for various crimes. The Soviets also engaged in systematic sexual violence against women, which harmed the Red Army's reputation. In September 1945, Moscow issued an order forbidding violent interrogations.
In 1945, the Soviets assumed control over Austrian oil fields in their zone. The Soviets remained in Austria until 1955, and the country's status was a controversial subject in the Cold War. After Austrian promises of perpetual neutrality, Austria was granted full independence on May 15, 1955, and the last occupation troops left on October 25, 1955.
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Anti-Jewish legislation
During the first six years of Hitler's dictatorship, from 1933 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, German Jews faced the consequences of more than 400 decrees and regulations that restricted all aspects of their public and private lives. Many of these laws were national ones issued by the German administration, but state, regional, and municipal officials also issued many exclusionary decrees in their own communities.
In 1933, the Nazis passed the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which excluded Jews from working in the Civil Service. This was followed by the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities, which limited Jewish students in German schools to a maximum of 1.5% of the total intake. The Hereditary Farm Law was passed in the same year, banning Jews from owning or running farms. The first wave of Nazi anti-Semitic legislation, from 1933 to 1934, focused on limiting the participation of Jews in German public life.
In 1935, the Nazi leaders announced the Nuremberg Laws, which institutionalized many of the racial theories prevalent in Nazi ideology. The Nuremberg Laws outlined who was considered a Jew and revoked the citizenship of Germany's Jewish population. They also barred Jews from marrying non-Jews. The Nuremberg Laws formed the cornerstone of Nazi racial policy, heralding a new wave of anti-Semitic legislation that brought about immediate and concrete segregation.
In August 1938, German authorities decreed that by January 1, 1939, Jewish men and women bearing first names of "non-Jewish" origin had to add "Israel" and "Sara," respectively, to their given names. All Jews were required to carry identity cards indicating their Jewish heritage, and their passports were stamped with an identifying letter "J". Following Kristallnacht ("The Night of Broken Glass") on November 9-10, 1938, Nazi legislation barred Jews from all public schools and universities, cinemas, theatres, and sports facilities. In many cities, Jews were forbidden to enter designated "Aryan" zones.
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Frequently asked questions
On 12 March 1938, German troops entered Austria and were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. The annexation of Austria to Germany was proclaimed on 13 March 1938, and Austria remained a federal state of Germany until the end of World War II.
No, the Austrian government had ordered the Austrian Bundesheer not to resist. Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, who had tried to maintain Austrian national integrity, resigned on 11 March after being bullied by Hitler into naming several top Austrian Nazis to his cabinet.
The British, Americans, and Soviets proclaimed that Austria was Germany's first victim, but that it would also have to pay the price for its participation in Nazi aggression. The British ambassador in Berlin objected to the use of "coercion, backed by force" to undermine Austria's independence.
