Ruqayyah Snyder
On March 12, 1938, German troops crossed the Austrian border, marking the beginning of the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, known as the Anschluss. This event was the culmination of a series of aggressive actions by Austrian Nazis, who were determined to unify Austria and Germany, and the expansionist policies of Hitler, who aimed to unite German-speaking peoples and expand German territory. The annexation was met with little resistance and was followed by a wave of anti-Jewish violence and legislation, imprisonment of political opponents, and mass deportations.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | 12 March 1938 |
| Time | 5 a.m. |
| Day of the week | Saturday |
| German leader | Hitler |
| Austrian leader | Chancellor Schuschnigg |
| German troops | Yes |
| Annexation | Yes |
| Annexation name | Anschluss |
| Annexation referendum | Yes |
| Referendum voters | 99.75% in favour |
| Referendum date | 10 April |
| Referendum voters excluded | Jews and "other unwanted citizens" |
| German troops invited by | Seyss-Inquart, the new Austrian Chancellor |
| German troops ordered by | Goering |
| German aims | To unite German-speaking people, expand German land, revise the Treaty of Versailles |
| German actions after annexation | Extended anti-Jewish legislation to Austria, established Mauthausen concentration camp, began mass deportations of Austrian Jews |
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What You'll Learn
Hitler's visit to Vienna
On March 12, 1938, German troops crossed the Austrian border, marking the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. This event, known as the Anschluss, was characterised by the Nazis as the fulfillment of the German people's destiny and was justified through speeches and propaganda.
Hitler, himself a native Austrian, had long desired the unification of Germany and Austria, as evidenced by his writings in Mein Kampf as early as 1923. However, it was not until 1938 that events unfolded, paving the way for the annexation. On March 11, 1938, Chancellor Schuschnigg of Austria was forced to resign under pressure from Germany, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a pro-Nazi Austrian, was appointed in his place.
The climax of Hitler's tour occurred on March 15, 1938, when a massive military parade was held in Vienna's Heldenplatz (Square of Heroes). Around 200,000 people gathered to hear Hitler declare the unification of Austria and Germany, stating that Austria would be the "newest bastion of the German Reich." This speech marked the culmination of Hitler's efforts to annex Austria and create a Greater German Reich.
Following the annexation, Austria's political leaders were imprisoned, and anyone opposing Nazi rule was arrested and tortured. Violence broke out against Jews and Jewish-owned property, with Jewish welfare offices being besieged and emergency aid being provided by the Joint Distribution Committee. Systematic measures were imposed against Austrian Jews, mirroring the situation in Nazi Germany. The Mauthausen concentration camp was established in the summer of 1938, and the mass deportation of Austrian Jews began in October 1941.
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Anti-Jewish legislation
On March 12, 1938, German troops crossed the Austrian border and annexed the country, which became known as the Anschluss. This event marked a significant shift in the treatment of Jews in Austria, as anti-Jewish legislation was swiftly extended by the Germans.
Prior to the annexation, Austria had a substantial Jewish population, with approximately 192,000 Jews in 1938, making up almost 4% of the total population. Vienna, the capital, was a prominent centre of Jewish culture, Zionism, and education, with Jews constituting about 9% of the city's residents. However, the annexation triggered a wave of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community, accompanied by the rapid expropriation of their property. This culminated in the series of pogroms known as Kristallnacht, targeting Jewish populations across Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland.
The Mauthausen concentration camp was established in the summer of 1938, signalling the beginning of a dark period for Austrian Jews. They were subjected to successive, systematic measures imposed by the Nazis, mirroring the treatment of Jews in Germany. In April 1938, Jewish students were segregated and transferred to all-Jewish schools, which were subsequently closed at the end of the school year. Jews were also ordered to declare their total assets exceeding the equivalent of $2,000 within two months.
The mass deportation of Austrian Jews commenced in October 1941, with approximately 35,000 Jews sent to ghettos in Poland and Eastern Europe. An additional 15,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz. By November 1942, only about 7,000 Jews remained in Vienna, and by the end of 1944, just 6,000 Jews were left in the city. The majority of those who stayed were married to non-Jews. The Holocaust had a devastating impact on Austria's Jewish community, reducing it to 8,140 individuals according to the 2001 census.
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Mauthausen concentration camp
On March 11, 1938, Germany annexed Austria, and soon after, on August 8, 1938, the Mauthausen concentration camp began operations. Located about 12 miles southeast of Linz, the camp was situated on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen in Upper Austria. The site was chosen due to its proximity to a granite quarry, which was owned by the city of Vienna, and the quarry's stone had historically been used to pave the streets of Vienna.
Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp, serving as the main camp of a network of nearly 100 sub-camps spread across Austria and southern Germany. The sub-camps were divided into several categories based on their primary function, including factories, construction sites, and small camps dedicated to serving the SS. Mauthausen and its sub-camps included quarries, munitions factories, mines, arms factories, and even plants assembling Me 262 fighter aircraft. The conditions at Mauthausen were notoriously harsh, even compared to other Nazi concentration camps, and it had one of the highest mortality rates.
The camp was initially used as a prison for common criminals, prostitutes, and other "incorrigible law offenders." However, on May 8, 1939, it was converted into a labour camp for political prisoners, and the number of inmates rose dramatically with the onset of World War II. Mauthausen held a diverse range of prisoners, including Spanish Republicans fleeing General Francisco Franco's regime, Jehovah's Witnesses, and, towards the end of the war, tens of thousands of prisoners evacuated from camps near the front line.
In December 1939, construction began on a second concentration camp, Gusen, just a few kilometres from Mauthausen. Gusen officially opened in May 1940, and both camps were used to exploit the granite resources through forced labour. The production output of Mauthausen and its sub-camps exceeded that of other large slave labour centres, making it one of the most profitable concentration camp complexes.
During the second half of the war, Mauthausen expanded to include women prisoners for the first time, and they, too, were forced to work in the arms industry. The SS began constructing a gas chamber at Mauthausen in 1941 for the systematic murder of large groups of people. By the time Mauthausen was liberated by the US Army on May 5, 1945, approximately 190,000 people had been imprisoned in the main camp and its sub-camps, with at least 90,000 dying during their incarceration.
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Kristallnacht
On 12 March 1938, German troops crossed the Austrian border. Austria was then incorporated into Germany as the German province of Ostmark. This annexation was known as the Anschluss.
During Kristallnacht, the windows of about 7,500 Jewish stores and businesses were shattered, and their goods looted. Jewish homes were ransacked, and many synagogues were destroyed. Over 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms, many Jewish cemeteries, more than 7,000 Jewish shops, and 29 department stores were damaged or destroyed. More than 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps, including Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen. The exact number of fatalities is unclear, with early reports estimating 91 Jews murdered, and modern analysis putting the figure in the hundreds, with hundreds more dying by suicide.
In the aftermath of Kristallnacht, the Nazi regime ordered the Jewish community to pay a 1 billion Reichsmark "atonement tax" and enacted many anti-Jewish laws. The number of emigrating Jews surged, with more than 115,000 Jews emigrating from the Reich in the ten months following Kristallnacht.
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Annexation referendum
On March 12, 1938, German troops crossed the Austrian border, marking the beginning of the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, known as the "Anschluss". This event was preceded by a series of political and social tensions between the two countries, as well as within Austria itself.
In the years leading up to the annexation, Austria experienced economic turmoil due to the Great Depression, with high unemployment and unstable commerce and industry. During this time, Germany became a significant source of investment capital for Austria. By 1937, rapid German rearmament increased Berlin's interest in annexing Austria, which was rich in raw materials and labour, and had large potential hydroelectric resources.
The idea of unifying Germany and Austria was not new. Adolf Hitler, an Austrian-German by birth, had expressed his desire for unification in his book "Mein Kampf" as early as 1923. Austrian Nazis shared this goal and aggressively pushed for it, leading the Austrian government to declare the Austrian Nazi Party illegal in 1933. Despite this, Austrian Nazis continued terrorist attacks against the Austrian government, resulting in the death of over 800 people between 1934 and 1938.
On March 11, 1938, the German government pressured Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to cancel a planned plebiscite (referendum) on Austrian independence and to resign. Schuschnigg complied, and his successor, Seyss-Inquart, invited German troops into Austria to "assure the maintenance of order".
Following the annexation, a referendum was held on April 10, 1938, to justify the takeover. In this referendum, 99.75% of Austrian voters, excluding Jews and other "unwanted citizens" who were prohibited from participating, voted in favour of the annexation. The vote was manipulated, with voters intimidated and ballots containing personal information, allowing for easy identification of those who voted against.
The consequences of the annexation were dire for Austria's Jewish population. Within days, Hitler visited Vienna, appearing at a rally in front of 200,000 people. Soon after, successive measures were imposed against Austrian Jews, mirroring those already in place in Nazi Germany. Jewish schools were segregated, and mass deportations to ghettos and concentration camps began in October 1941. By the end of 1944, only 6,000 Jews remained in Vienna, with 65,000 having died in ghettos and camps.
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Frequently asked questions
German troops crossed the Austrian border at 5 a.m. on March 12, 1938.
Violence broke out against Jews and Jewish-owned property across the country. Austrian political leaders were imprisoned, and anyone who opposed Nazi rule was arrested and tortured.
Britain and France did not intervene to prevent the annexation. Six months after the annexation, the League of Nations revealed that the Soviet Union had tried to rally Britain and France to join and prevent Austria's demise.
The mass deportation of Austrian Jews began in October 1941, with approximately 35,000 Jews sent to ghettos in Poland and Eastern Europe, and 15,000 sent to Auschwitz. By the end of 1944, only 6,000 Jews remained in Vienna, with 65,000 dying in ghettos and concentration camps.
