Ruqayyah Snyder
On March 12, 1938, Hitler invaded Austria, marking the first act of territorial expansion committed by Nazi Germany. The invasion, known as the Anschluss, saw the German Wehrmacht cross the border into Austria, greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. The Nazis' annexation of Austria violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which expressly forbade the unification of the two countries. This act transformed Austria, as Austrian and German Nazis worked together to nazify all aspects of Austrian life, including the widespread Aryanization (forcible confiscation) of Jewish property.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of invasion | 12 March 1938 |
| Number of troops involved | 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht (4,000-man bodyguard) |
| Resistance | None |
| Public sentiment | Overwhelming support for Hitler and the Nazis |
| International response | Moderate |
| Impact on Jews | Degradation, destruction of property, threats, and exile |
| Impact on Austrian government | Chancellor Schuschnigg resigned, new Nazi government appointed |
| Annexation | Austria renamed Ostmark, Upper and Lower Austria became Upper and Lower Danube |
| Soviet occupation | Began in June 1941 |
| Soviet policy towards Austrian civilians | Respect their traditions, families, and private property |
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What You'll Learn
Nazi confiscation of Jewish property
The Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938 marked the beginning of a systematic campaign of Jewish property confiscation, known as "Aryanization". This process involved the seizure of Jewish-owned real estate, businesses, and personal belongings, which resulted in the displacement and impoverishment of thousands of Austrian Jews.
The Start of Aryanization in Austria
Austria became the first country to be annexed by Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938, setting in motion a rapid and ruthless process of Aryanization. Within weeks, Austrians, encouraged by the Nazi regime, began looting and plundering Jewish property. Despite Nazi regulations against uncontrolled looting, these unsanctioned acts often included the public degradation and humiliation of Jews, reflecting the close tie between property confiscation and the stripping of Jewish identity.
Systematization of Confiscation
Recognizing the potential economic gains, the Nazi functionary Adolf Eichmann established the 'Vermögensverkehrstelle' (Assets Transfer Office) in May 1938. This agency systematized the confiscation process, creating a model for an efficient mechanism to strip property from Jews. The Nazis employed a variety of instruments to confiscate real estate, including seizures, asset confiscations, forced sales, and discriminatory taxes that forced owners to sell their properties far below market value.
Impact on Jewish Businesses and Wealth
The impact of Aryanization on Jewish businesses was significant. By autumn 1938, only 40,000 of the original 100,000 Jewish-owned businesses remained in the hands of their original owners. The Nazis also targeted Jewish-owned landed property, freezing its value at the lowest level in December 1938, and permitting the sale of valuables and jewels only through state offices.
Post-War Restitution Efforts
The confiscation of Jewish property during the Nazi era in Austria resulted in significant losses for the Jewish community, amounting to billions of dollars in cash, housing, businesses, and personal belongings. It was not until decades later that the Austrian government addressed these injustices. In 2001, the Austrian government ratified an agreement with various entities, including the US government and Jewish groups, to settle remaining Nazi-era restitution claims. This led to the formation of a commission of historians to investigate the plunder of property and its postwar restitution, with their final report published in 2003.
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Austrians' enthusiastic welcome of Hitler
On March 11, 1938, Hitler issued a series of ultimatums to the Austrian government, including that Chancellor Schuschnigg must call off the plebiscite and that Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas must appoint Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as the new chancellor. If these demands were not met, Germany would invade Austria. Schuschnigg resigned that evening, announcing on the radio that Austria would not resist German troops.
Hitler's invasion of Austria, known as the Anschluss, was met with enthusiasm by many Austrians. On March 12, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the Austrian border and was greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. The event was dubbed the "Blumenkrieg" ("Flower War"). Hitler himself entered Austria that afternoon, riding in a car with a 4,000-man bodyguard. The invasion was the first major test of the Wehrmacht's machinery, and though it was poorly organized, it faced no resistance from Austrian forces.
Hitler's arrival in Vienna was documented by cameraman Walter Frentz, who captured footage of wildly enthusiastic crowds waving swastika-shaped confetti and lunging for miniature swastika flags. Thousands of people gathered in the squares of Vienna to see Hitler's motorcade. The Austrian Nazi Party had failed to win any seats in the 1930 general election, but its popularity grew after Hitler came to power in Germany. By 1936, public opinion had shifted, and John Gunther wrote that Austrian public opinion about German annexation was at least 60% against. However, the Nazi propaganda campaign, with slogans like "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" ("One People, One Empire, One Leader"), contributed to the growing support for unification.
Many Austrians, particularly those on the political left and center, supported the unification of Austria and Germany, believing that Austria was not economically viable after losing its imperial land. The unification was also supported by prominent Austrian figures such as Karl Renner, the most famous Social Democrat of the First Republic, who announced his support for the Anschluss and appealed to Austrians to vote in favor of it. Robert Kauer, president of the minority Lutheran Church in Austria, greeted Hitler as the "saviour of the 350,000 German Protestants in Austria and liberator from a five-year hardship."
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Austria's support for unification with Germany
Austria and Germany have a shared history, with German being the official language of both countries and Germans being the majority ethnic group of both. The idea of unification between the two countries first arose after the 1871 unification of Germany, which excluded Austria and German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German Empire. The new Republic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany in 1918, but this was forbidden by the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain and the Treaty of Versailles, which stripped Austria of some of its territories.
By the 1920s, the proposal for unification had strong support in both Austria and Germany, particularly from Austrian citizens of the political left and center. Support for unification with Germany came mainly from the belief that Austria, stripped of its imperial land, was not economically viable. One such supporter was prominent Social Democrat leader Otto Bauer, who served as Austria's Foreign Minister after the war. However, popular support for unification faded with time, although it remained a concept in contemporary Austrian political discourse. After 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 the "Heim ins Reich" ("back home to the realm") concept, which sought to incorporate as many Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans outside Germany) as possible into a "Greater Germany".
In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria with the overwhelming support of the Austrian population. On March 11, 1938, Hitler gave the Austrian government a series of ultimatums, including that Chancellor Schuschnigg must call off the plebiscite and that Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas must appoint Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as the new chancellor. If these demands were not met, Germany would invade. Schuschnigg gave in, and that evening, Austrian radio announced the cancellation of the plebiscite on Austrian independence. On March 12, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria without resistance from the Austrian government. Hitler himself crossed the border that afternoon, riding in a car with a 4,000-man bodyguard. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers.
In the aftermath of the annexation, Austrians participated in the Nazification of all aspects of Austrian life and persecuted the country's Jewish population. Austria was an integral part of the Third Reich, with 700,000 people, or 10% of the population, joining the Nazi Party. More than 1.3 million Austrians were drafted into the Wehrmacht between 1938 and 1945, and Austrians served loyally as soldiers, committing atrocities on the Eastern Front.
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Hitler's violation of the Treaty of Versailles
On March 12, 1938, Hitler's troops crossed the border into Austria, marking the first significant violation of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty, imposed on Germany after World War I, aimed to prevent the unification of Austria and Germany, but Hitler's invasion, known as the Anschluss, directly challenged this. The invasion was met with cheering Austrians, Nazi salutes, and flowers, and Hitler rode into his birthplace, Braunau am Inn, with a 4,000-man bodyguard. The Austrian government had ordered its military not to resist, and the German Wehrmacht faced no opposition.
The annexation of Austria was a significant breach of the post-World War I international order and a violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain. The unification of Austria and Germany had been expressly forbidden by these treaties, and the Anschluss demonstrated Nazi disdain for the European order established after the war. The other European powers did not intervene or punish the Nazis for violating international treaties, which allowed Hitler to continue his expansionary policies unchecked.
The invasion of Austria was just the first act of territorial expansion by Nazi Germany. Just six months later, they manufactured a crisis in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, which was ceded to them by world leaders from Italy, France, and Great Britain, despite agreements to the contrary. In March 1939, Nazi Germany broke this agreement and occupied the Czech lands, including Prague, and in September 1939, they invaded Poland, an act that started World War II.
The impact of Hitler's invasion on property in Austria was significant. The Nazis carried out the Nazification of all aspects of Austrian life, and Austrians participated in the persecution of the country's Jewish population, including the expropriation of Jewish property.
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Soviet liberation of Austrian property
On March 11, 1938, Hitler issued an ultimatum to the Austrian Chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, demanding that he hand over power to the Austrian Nazis or face an invasion. Schuschnigg resigned, and the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria on March 12, 1938, marking the beginning of the Nazi occupation of the country. This annexation, known as the "Anschluss," was a significant breach of the post-World War I international order and the first act of territorial expansion by Nazi Germany.
During the Nazi occupation, Austria was an integral part of the Third Reich, with many Austrians joining the Nazi Party and serving in the German military. After World War II began, Hitler's regime launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, a genocidal war against the Soviet Union aimed at eliminating it as a military threat and turning it into a German colony. In response, the Soviet Union suffered devastating losses but was able to regroup and advance towards Austria in the winter of 1945.
The Soviet liberation of Austrian property began with the Vienna Offensive in April 1945. Soviet commanders issued orders to their troops to respect Austrian traditions, families, and private property while destroying German forces and eliminating the Nazi presence in the country. The Soviets also unilaterally installed a provisional federal government under Karl Renner, an Austrian socialist politician who had supported the Anschluss but later became the provisional prime minister of the first post-Nazi government.
The Soviet Union, along with the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, occupied Austria after the war, and all four powers agreed to demilitarize, denazify, and democratically reconstruct the country. However, the Soviet occupation of Austria from 1945 to 1955 was marked by economic exploitation, with the Soviets taking control of German-owned properties and imposing burdensome reparations that contributed to the impoverishment of the Austrian population. The issue of mass sexual violence and looting by Soviet troops also greatly impacted the Austrian people during this period.
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Frequently asked questions
Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, with the support of the majority of the Austrian population. The country was then renamed Ostmark and existed as a federal state of Germany until the end of World War II.
The Nazis carried out the Nazification of all aspects of Austrian life, including the widespread forcible confiscation of Jewish property.
By the time World War II began in 1939, more than 100,000 Jews—roughly half of all Austrian Jews—had left Austria. During the war, thousands of Jews were deported or murdered, and many of them were killed in extermination camps.
The Anschluss was met with a moderate response from the international community. The British government, for example, had made it known that it would not oppose the union of Austria and Germany.
