Desperation, Persuasion and Promises: The Annexation of Austria

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The Treaty of Versailles is the major treaty that was developed at the end of the First World War. It can be said that the deplorable actions of Adolf Hitler, including the Anschluss, are a direct response to the development of this document because of how the terms decided upon in the treaty so negatively impacted Germany and its potential to obtain the status that it once had. The treaty laid out many punishments for Germany. Germany was not allowed to join the League of Nations. They could not have military presence in the Rhineland, which is the part of Germany along the Rhine River, separating it from France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Many territories that Germany controlled were given to or returned to the countries that were victorious in World War I. Their army could only consist of 100,000 men, their navy could not have submarines and was restricted to six battleships, and they could not have an air force. Above all of these punishments, there was one that embarrassed German people the most: Germany was held accountable for all of the damage and loss that was a result of the war. In The International Legal Status of Germany to be Established Immediately Upon Termination of the War by Hans Kelsen, the outcome of World War I and the effects of the Treaty of Versailles are analyzed through a post-World War II lens. Kensen suggests that, had the Treaty of Versailles not punished Germany so severely, the democratic government of Germany, the Weimar Republic, would not have broken down, thus not allowing the growth and spreading of Nazism. The literature reflects on the devastation that occurred due to the development of the Nazi Party in response to the Treaty’s harsh sanctions on Germany.[3]

Adolf Hitler’s political beliefs were able to cross borders and influence entire governments, due to his ability to persuade and bully his opponents into submission. The potential threat that Adolf Hitler imposed allowed him to infiltrate the Austrian government and ultimately absorb the country into the Third Reich. The Legality of the Annexation of Austria by Germany outlines the key events that allowed Adolf Hitler to regain control of Austria as he bullied the Chancellor of Austria, Kurt Schuschnigg, into relinquishing power to a cabinet of high ranking Austrian Nazis, which was critical in Adolf Hitler’s plan to obtain control and to assert his authority over the territory he felt belonged to Germany. [4] Hit with economic hardship as a result of both participating in and losing the World War I and The Great Depression, Austria became vulnerable to Adolf Hitler’s advances to acquire Austria as part of Germany. Surveys showed that the majority of the Austrian public was in favor of the Anschluss, but these results were greatly skewed because Jewish citizens and people who outwardly opposed the Nazi Party were prohibited from participating in the survey. Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg met with Hitler in an effort to avoid the Anschluss, but to prevent the annexation, he had to agree to Adolf Hitler’s demands for the appointment of Nazi sympathizers into major government positions. Despite Schuschnigg’s valiant efforts to avoid Austria’s annexations, on March 11, 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded that all political power be given to the Austrian Nazis. If Schuschnigg did not comply, the Germans would invade Austria militarily. The day after, on March 12, 1938, the iconic photograph entitled Cheering Austrians Greet Adolf Hitler in His Hometown of Braunau Am Inn depicts Adolf Hitler being greeted by cheering Austrians in his hometown of Braunau am Inn. This photo provides evidence that Nazism had spread to Austria due to several key events leading up to Anschluss, thus leading to manufactured celebrations of Adolf Hitler’s success by the people who were forced to recognize and respect Adolf Hitler as their leader.[5]

The Nazification of Austria had a heavy influence on the universities located in the country. Immediately following the Anschluss, Jewish professors and students were treated as less than human, pulled off campus grounds and forced to scrub the streets while crowds of onlookers would ridicule them. To truly show the power of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, Adolf Hitler could not just annex Austria and be done with it. He had to assimilate the Austrian people as Germans. Adolf Hitler saw Austria as a part of Germany, not a separate entity. By creating this hostile environment and depicting the Jewish population as the enemy of the desired “pure” population, he created a unifying factor that brought together the Austrian Nazis and enticed those on that were on the fence about joining the Nazi Party and celebrating this fabricated feeling of rebirth for Austria. According to the Metabolism Indices and the Annexation of Austria: A Note on Method by E.Y. Hartsthorne, changes in staffing at three of the major universities in Austria, the University of Vienna, the University of Innsbruck, and the University of Graz, was fairly consistent and very minimal, ranging from three to 6.8 percent in losses, in the years leading up to the annexation of Austria. But in the academic years of 1937 to 1938 and 1938 to 1939, there was a major loss of staff, most significantly at the University of Vienna, which lost just shy of fifty percent of its professors.[6]

After World War I, most of Europe was trying to rebound economically. There was physical devastation and horrific loss of life. Germany's economy, along with other countries was shattered, were almost completely bankrupt. Borders of countries drastically changed after the war and countries that didn't exist before the war came about. These conditions combined set up the perfect scenario for a radical, egotist like Adolf Hitler to take power.

Adolf Hitler was well aware of the way political campaigning and propaganda can easily sway a public into a belief, stating in his autobiography that “[t]he chief function of propaganda is to convince the masses, whose slowness of understanding needs to be given time so they may absorb information; and only constant repetition will finally succeed in imprinting an idea on their mind.”[7] Adolf Hitler gave endless speeches and proclamations stressing “survival of the fittest,” implying that Aryan people were the most well equipped to survive and thrive. To lead and control Nazi propaganda, Hitler chose Josef Goebbels as his Minister of Propaganda. Goebbels developed extremely successful campaigns using simple slogans and images repeated over and again. Enormous amounts of money were spent on newspaper articles, leaflets and poster campaigns. Goebbels orchestrated large political, building even greater support for the regime. The rallies were huge, organized events with banners and marching bands, officiated by the Fuhrer. [8] Hitler preached patriotism to Germany at