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| | '''Anschluß''' (or '''Anschluss''') is the German word for "unification". It is the specific term for the formal annexation by [[Nazi Germany]] of Austria, then a federal state, into the Third Reich on 13 March 1938. The Nazis chose the title for [[propaganda]] purposes to recast coerced annexation as peaceful joinder. The union is also called the ''Anschluß Österreichs''. |
| Following [[World War I]], the German word '''Anschluss''' was used to denote the reunion of Germany and Austria (short for "Anschluß Österreichs an das Deutsche Reich", i.e. Austria rejoining or again becoming part of Germany). This was a basic idea of the [[Pan-German nationalism|Pan-German nationalist movement]], and a first attempt, in 1918, to perform it was ineffective due to the World War I peace treaties.
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| Now the anschluss is mainly associated with 1938 when Nazi Germany incorporated Austria as the [[Ostmark]].
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| Austria became independent again after [[World War II]].
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| ==First proclamation== | | ==References== |
| The Anschluss of Deutschösterreich to the German republic was first proclaimed by the (provisional) Austrian national assembly (12 November 1918). This was led by [[Victor Adler]], who was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under the interim government of [[Karl Renner]]. He died on 11 November, the day the war ended, and a day before the proclamation. Adler had been one of the coauthors of the 1882 [[Linz Program]], which called for the Germanization of Austria. <ref>{{citation
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| | title = Victor Adler
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| | publisher = The Original Nazis
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| | url = http://original-nazis.wetpaint.com/page/Victor+Adler
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| }}</ref>
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| Anschluss was not realized because it was explicitly forbidden by the peace treaties of [[Treaty of Versailles|Versailles]] (28 June 1919) with Germany and of [[Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye|St. Germain-en-Laye]] (10 September 1919) with Austria.
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| ==Political pressures==
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| In spite of this, nationalist political groups both in Austria (''Anschlußbewegung'') and in Germany continued to demand it. [[Adolf Hitler]], who was born in Austria and despised the [[House of Hapsburg]], had a strong emotional commitment to union.
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| There was an attempt, in the early 1930s, to create a customs union between German and Austria, to create larger markets. Nevertheless, external powers, seeing this as an attempt to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles, prevented it. <ref>{{citation
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| | title = The Coming of the Third Reich | author = Richard J. Evans | year =2003
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| | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 1-59420-004-1
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| }}, p. 235</ref> | |
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| The process accelerated with the Austro-German Agreement of July 1936, with a secret annex that gave additional power to the Austrian Nazis. They steadily increased subversion and [[terrorism]] throughout 1937, and Austrian police captured documents indicating they planned to stage a revolt in the spring of 1938, which could provide a pretext for German intervention.
| | [[Category:Reviewed Passed if Improved]] |
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| Former German Chancellor [[Franz von Papen]] had been a special representative to the Austrian Chancellor, [[Kurt von Schuschnigg]]. Von Papen revealed that one of the captured documents had called for his own killing by German agents, again as a pretext for intervention. Ironically, von Papen had escaped death in the [[Night of the Long Knives]] purge in 1934. [[Hans Lammers]] informed him, on 4 February, that he was fired, along with [[Constantin von Neurath]] and others who did not give total support to Hitler, such as War Minister [[Werner von Blomberg]] and Army Chief of Staff [[Werner von Fritsch]]. Von Papen began keeping, in Switzerland, secret copies of his correspondence with Hitler.<ref name=S>{{citation
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| | author = William Shirer
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| | title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
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| | publisher = Simon & Schuster
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| | year = 1960}}, pp. 322-324</ref>
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| The most powerful German diplomat in Austria was not von Papen, but [[Wilhelm Keppler]]. He would become the first Reich Commissioner for Austria, shifting to [[Slovakia]] in 1939.
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| ==12 February 1938 meeting==
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| The Austrian ''Bundeskanzler'' (Federal Chancellor) [[Kurt Schuschnigg]],
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| was ordered to visit Hitler in Berchtesgaden (12 February), as a result of which
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| he had to grant an amnesty for national socialists and to appoint [[Arthur Seyß-Inquart]] as ''Innen-Minister'' (Minister for interior affairs).
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| ==February to March 11==
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| On 9 March, Schuschnigg announced a referendum for 13 March,
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| that was cancelled (11 March) after a German ultimatum and the forced resignation of Schuschnigg and his government.
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| ==German action and reaction==
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| In 1938, Germany exerted heavy political and military pressure, and forced the proclaimed as ''Wiedervereinigung'' (reunion) of Austria with the [[Third Reich]] on 13 March 1938, the Anschluss of Austria, ccepted by Schuschnigg under threat of attack. German troops then entered
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| and a new government was formed by Seyss-Inquart.
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| Austria, now called [[Ostmark]], became part of the German Reich.
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| After that the referendum held to legitimize the Anschluss was only a formality.
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| ==Foreign reaction==
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| ==Early occupation==
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| Shirer, reporting from Vienna, reported the antisemitism of the Austrian Nazis as worse than anything he had seen in Germany, characterized by looting and sadism. [[Reinhard Heydrich]], assisted by [[Adolf Eichmann]], set up an Office of Jewish Emigration, by which would-be emigrants could buy permission to leave. They also created [[Mauthausen Concentration Camp]] in Austria proper, to avoid the difficulty of transporting Jews to Germany.<ref>Shirer, p. 351</ref>
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist|2}}
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