Austria Becomes Part of Germany: The Anschluss 1938

The Anschluss – Austria's Hour of Shame

Vienna March 1938

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Annexation Austrian-Style: Der Anchluß
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: When the Nazis marched into Austrian on March 12, 1938, hundreds of thousands of Austrians turned out to welcome them. But after the war, the country preferred to see itself as just another of Hitler's victims.

Suddenly, events began moving in fast-forward: It was 10 minutes to eight in the evening, March 11, 1938, when Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg took to the radio to address his people. He bade them farewell with portentous words: “God protect Austria.” Annexation Austrian-Style >>> By Marion Kraske | March 12, 2008

Don’t forget to watch the fascinating video, which can also be enlarged.

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Related:
A First-Hand Account of Post-War Berlin >>> | June 26, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>

Der Anschluß
Swastika courtesy of Google Images
BBC: As she listened to the cheering crowds and roars of enthusiasm as Hitler and his army entered Austria in March 1938, teenager Ilse Roemer was fascinated at first.

But then her father told her that the cries of "Sieg Heil" were a signal for the Nazis "to start hunting the Jews".

She had barely been aware of her Jewishness before. "Nobody ever asked if I was Jewish," she recalls.

Now everything changed.

She went to a cafe with her best friend, whose father was an ardent Nazi. Suddenly Hitler's voice came on the radio as he spoke euphorically of his Austrian homeland's absorption into the Third Reich.

The waiter insisted that everyone stand and raise their right arms in the Hitler salute.
Her friend told her to do likewise.

"It was the last time I went to a cafe because it was unbearable that I had to greet the Fuehrer," she says.

The 70th anniversary of the Anschluss this month will be sombre and low key.

It is still a deeply troubling episode for Austrians, who grew up in post-war decades with the idea that they were victims of Nazism, not its supporters. Homes taken over >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)