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Austria within Nazi Germany
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Austria within Nazi Germany
Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938, an event known as the Anschluss, until 27 April 1945, when Allied-occupied Austria declared independence from Nazi Germany.
Nazi Germany's troops entering Austria in 1938 received the enthusiastic support of most of the population. Throughout World War II, 950,000 Austrians fought for the German armed forces. Other Austrians participated in the Nazi administration, from Nazi death camp personnel to senior Nazi leadership including Hitler; the majority of the bureaucrats who implemented the Final Solution were Austrian.
After the Anschluss in 1938, Nazi Germany sought to eliminate Austria's separate national and cultural identity by portraying it as an inseparable part of the Greater Germanic Reich. The Austrian flag, anthem, and national symbols were banned, and the use of the name "Austria" was replaced with "Ostmark". From 1942, even this term was considered too closely associated with the former Austrian state, and the official designation for the area was changed to "Alpen- und Donau-Reichsgaue". Education, propaganda, and public institutions were reoriented to promote German nationalism and suppress Austrian traditions. The regime aimed to erase any notion of an independent Austrian state or culture.
After World War II, many Austrians sought comfort in the myth of Austria as being the first victim of the Nazis. Although the Nazi Party was promptly banned, Austria did not have the same thorough process of denazification that was imposed on postwar West Germany. Lacking outside pressure for political reform, factions of Austrian society tried for a long time to advance the view that the Anschluss was only an imposition of rule by Nazi Germany. By 1992, the subject of the small minority who formed an Austrian resistance, versus the vast majority of Austrians who participated in the German war machine, had become a prominent matter of public discourse.
The origins of Nazism in Austria have been disputed and continue to be debated. Professor Andrew Gladding Whiteside regarded the emergence of an Austrian variant of Nazism as the product of the German-Czech conflict of the multi-ethnic Austrian Empire and rejected the view that it was a precursor of German Nazism.
In 1918, at the end of World War I, with the breakup of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with the abolition of the Habsburg monarchy, there were three major political groups competing with one another in the young republic of Austria: the Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ), Christian Social Party (Christlichsoziale Partei, CS), and the nationalist Great German Union (Großdeutsche Vereinigung), which became the Greater German People's Party (Großdeutsche Volkspartei, or GVP) in 1920. At the time, smaller parties such as the Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, or KPÖ) and the Austrian National Socialists (Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei, or DNSAP) were neither present in the Reichsrat (Imperial Council) nor the Nationalrat (National Council).
SDAP, GVP, and DNSAP clearly, although for different reasons, favoured a union of German Austria with the German state, which was also a republic by that time (Weimar Republic). The CS also tended to favour the union, but differed at first on a different subject – they were split on the idea of continuing the monarchy instead of a republic. Whereas only the KPÖ decidedly spoke against the annexation in the course of the 1920s and 1930s, the monarchists originally spoke up against the annexation and later turned to favor it, after the Bavarian Soviet Republic had failed, and Germany had a conservative government. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed 10 September 1919 by Karl Renner (SDAPÖ), first chancellor of the republic, clearly forbade any union with Germany, abolished the monarchy, and clearly stated the First Austrian Republic as an independent country.
The First Austrian Republic angered many Austrian pan-Germans who made the claim that the republic violated the Fourteen Points that were announced by United States President Woodrow Wilson during peace talks, specifically the right to "self-determination" of all nations.
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Austria within Nazi Germany
Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938, an event known as the Anschluss, until 27 April 1945, when Allied-occupied Austria declared independence from Nazi Germany.
Nazi Germany's troops entering Austria in 1938 received the enthusiastic support of most of the population. Throughout World War II, 950,000 Austrians fought for the German armed forces. Other Austrians participated in the Nazi administration, from Nazi death camp personnel to senior Nazi leadership including Hitler; the majority of the bureaucrats who implemented the Final Solution were Austrian.
After the Anschluss in 1938, Nazi Germany sought to eliminate Austria's separate national and cultural identity by portraying it as an inseparable part of the Greater Germanic Reich. The Austrian flag, anthem, and national symbols were banned, and the use of the name "Austria" was replaced with "Ostmark". From 1942, even this term was considered too closely associated with the former Austrian state, and the official designation for the area was changed to "Alpen- und Donau-Reichsgaue". Education, propaganda, and public institutions were reoriented to promote German nationalism and suppress Austrian traditions. The regime aimed to erase any notion of an independent Austrian state or culture.
After World War II, many Austrians sought comfort in the myth of Austria as being the first victim of the Nazis. Although the Nazi Party was promptly banned, Austria did not have the same thorough process of denazification that was imposed on postwar West Germany. Lacking outside pressure for political reform, factions of Austrian society tried for a long time to advance the view that the Anschluss was only an imposition of rule by Nazi Germany. By 1992, the subject of the small minority who formed an Austrian resistance, versus the vast majority of Austrians who participated in the German war machine, had become a prominent matter of public discourse.
The origins of Nazism in Austria have been disputed and continue to be debated. Professor Andrew Gladding Whiteside regarded the emergence of an Austrian variant of Nazism as the product of the German-Czech conflict of the multi-ethnic Austrian Empire and rejected the view that it was a precursor of German Nazism.
In 1918, at the end of World War I, with the breakup of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with the abolition of the Habsburg monarchy, there were three major political groups competing with one another in the young republic of Austria: the Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ), Christian Social Party (Christlichsoziale Partei, CS), and the nationalist Great German Union (Großdeutsche Vereinigung), which became the Greater German People's Party (Großdeutsche Volkspartei, or GVP) in 1920. At the time, smaller parties such as the Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, or KPÖ) and the Austrian National Socialists (Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei, or DNSAP) were neither present in the Reichsrat (Imperial Council) nor the Nationalrat (National Council).
SDAP, GVP, and DNSAP clearly, although for different reasons, favoured a union of German Austria with the German state, which was also a republic by that time (Weimar Republic). The CS also tended to favour the union, but differed at first on a different subject – they were split on the idea of continuing the monarchy instead of a republic. Whereas only the KPÖ decidedly spoke against the annexation in the course of the 1920s and 1930s, the monarchists originally spoke up against the annexation and later turned to favor it, after the Bavarian Soviet Republic had failed, and Germany had a conservative government. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed 10 September 1919 by Karl Renner (SDAPÖ), first chancellor of the republic, clearly forbade any union with Germany, abolished the monarchy, and clearly stated the First Austrian Republic as an independent country.
The First Austrian Republic angered many Austrian pan-Germans who made the claim that the republic violated the Fourteen Points that were announced by United States President Woodrow Wilson during peace talks, specifically the right to "self-determination" of all nations.
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