The "Anschluß" (Austria`s
annexation by Germany): Adolf Hitler
on Heldenplatz, Vienna, 2 April 1938
Anschluß (Anschluss), common term for efforts to
unite Austria with Germany and for the actual annexation of Austria
in March 1938. The basis for the striving for annexation was found
in the centuries-old links within the Holy Roman Empire, which was
wrongly seen as being tantamount to a German national state, in the
position of the Habsburgs as "Roman-German" emperors up to the
abdication of the imperial title in 1806, and in the Austrian
presidency of the German Federation founded in 1815. The growing
hegemonical struggle with Prussia Germany - Austria resulted in the
conflict, at the Frankfurt National Assembly of 1848/49, between the
"Great Germans" (Grossdeutsche), who pleaded for integration of the
Austrian empire and the Slavic areas into the planned national state,
and the "Little Germans" (Kleindeutsche), who favoured the
unification of Germany under Prussian leadership without the
inclusion of Austria. The exclusion of Austria from the German
unification movement became reality with Austria's defeat in the
Austro - Prussian War of 1866 and the establishment of the German
Reich in 1871.
In the second half of the 19th century Pan-German
groups and parties established themselves in Austria (particularly
under G. von Schönerer); they called for the dissolution of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the union of the German-speaking parts
of Austria and Hungary with the German Reich. The anschluss movement
became politically important when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
disintegrated and the successor states were established in 1918,
since few people believed in the viability of the residual parts of
Austria. On November 12, 1918, the National Assembly of
German-Austria declared that Austria was part of the German Republic,
and a second declaration to that effect, largely inspired by O.
Bauer, was made on March 12, 1919. Article 88 of the peace treaty of
Saint-Germain then stipulated that Austria was forbidden to join
Germany without the express consent of the League of Nations. With
financial support from Germany, plebiscites were held in Tirol in
April 1921 (145,302 votes for, 1,805 against union with Germany) and
in Salzburg in May 1921 (98.546 for, 877 against) but international
pressure prevented any further plebiscites. In 1922 Austria waived
its claim to union with Germany in the Geneva Protocol. However, the
anschluss movement continued to play an important role in Austrian
economic, domestic and cultural politics. Great Germans, Social
Democrats and some Christian Socialists still favoured anschluss,
and many private associations, mostly financed by Germany, were
formed (such as the "Österreichisch-deutscher Volksbund, the
"Österreichisch-deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft", the "Deutscher Klub"
and the "Deutsche Gemeinschaft"). Throughout this period Austrian
policy-makers clearly pursued policies aiming at harmonisation and
assimilation. A customs union between Germany and Austria was agreed
upon on March 19, 1931 but interdicted by the International Court of
Justice in The Hague. In July 1932 Austria signed the Lausanne
Protocol, in which it reiterated its waiver of the right to
establish a union with Germany.
As Hitler ascended to power in Germany in 1933, calls for anschluss
within Germany became louder. They were, however, for the most part
based on the old conceptions of German imperialism and the Weimar
Republic. A pro-German policy on the part of Austria was sought to
be achieved by an economic boycott, terror and political pressure
were brought to bear on Austria to force the Dollfuß government to
adopt pro-German policies. The anschluss was promoted in Austria by
the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party), which gradually
absorbed virtually all members of the nationalist camp, while the
Social Democrats and Christian Socialists abandoned their claims for
union with Germany. When the NSDAP was banned in Austria and
Chancellor Dollfuß was assassinated in July 1934 by a Nazi
contingent including many Germans, efforts to press for union with
Germany came to a standstill. The July 1936 agreement between
Germany and Austria and the policy of the "Deutscher Weg" (German
Way) failed to achieve normality and actually resulted in Austria's
independence being increasingly undermined economically, politically
and militarily. When an gradual development of pro-anschluss
sentiment appeared impracticable, Germany intensified its pressure
for union from the summer of 1937 onwards, which finally resulted in
the invasion of Austria by German troops on March 12, 1938 and, one
day later, the implementation of anschluss or annexation by the Law
on the Reunification of Austrian with the German Reich Austria
1938-1945.
On the basis of the Moscow Declaration of 1943, the effects of the
war and the fact that Austrians had by and large abandoned all ideas
favouring anschluss, the Declaration of Independence of April 27,
1945 declared the union with Germany null and void. The prohibition
of union with Germany was reiterated in Article 4 of the Austrian
State Treaty of 1955.
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