1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum

Vote regarding the 1938 German annexation of Austria June 2025 June 2025 Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938 and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler? 10 April 1938 Nazi Germany 4,453,912 11,929 5,777 4,484,617 Stimmzettel-Anschluss.jpg 230 Official ballot paper for the referendum A sham referendum on the Anschluss with Germany was held in German-occupied Austria on 10 April 1938,Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p176 978-3-8329-5609-7 alongside one in Germany.Nohlen & Stöver, p762 German troops had already occupied Austria one month earlier, on 12 March 1938. The official result was reported as 99.73% in favour,Austria, 10 April 1938: Anschluss with Germany, Reichstag list Direct Democracy de with a 99.71% turnout.The propagandistic preparation for the referendum Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance de The referendum was held post factum, after the Nazi government of Austria signed a law which proclaimed Austria "a land of the German Reich" and Adolf Hitler issued the "Law on the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich" on 13 March 1938, which de jure abolished Austria as a state.https://books.google.com/books?id=gLSnAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 978-1-4466-8623-2 1939 - the War that Had Many Fathers 2011 Lulu.com The Austrian government had planned a referendum to assert its sovereignty for 13 March 1938, but Germany invaded Austria the day before in order to prevent the vote taking place. Political enemies (communists, socialists, etc.) and Austrian citizens of Roma or Jewish origin—roughly 360,000 people or 8% of the Austrian population—were not allowed to vote in the plebiscite.Bukey 2000 38Gellately Stoltzfus 2001 216 Background After the end of World War I, the newly founded Republic of German-Austria claimed sovereignty over the majority German-speaking territory of the former Habsburg empire. According to its provisional constitution it declared to be part of the also newly founded German Republic. Later plebiscitesScharf Michaela Austrian attempts to unite with Germany from the founding of the republic to the referendums in Tyrol and Salzburg in 1921 https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/austrian-attempts-unite-germany-founding-republic-referendums-tyrol-and-salzburg-1921 November 22, 2022 The First World War 17 June 2014 in Tyrol and Salzburg in 1921, where majorities of 98.77%24. April 1921: Anschluss with Germany Direct Democracy de and 99.11%29. Mai 1921: Anschluss with Germany Direct Democracy de voted for a unification with Germany, showed that it was also backed by the population. In September 1919 German-Austria had to sign the Treaty of Saint Germain, which not only meant significant losses of territory, but also a forced change of name from "German-Austria" to "Austria". Furthermore, Article 88 of the treaty stated that "the independence of Austria is inalienable otherwise than with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations", to prevent any attempt to unite with Germany. Campaign The referendum was supported by the Social Democratic Party of Austria, whose leader Karl Renner endorsed Adolf Hitler on 3 April 1938, and by Cardinal Theodor Innitzer, the highest representative of the Catholic Church in Austria,Bukey 2000 36 which meant that about two-thirds of Austrians could be counted on to vote for the Anschluss.Bukey 2000 38 Innitzer's role has been subject to debate. Whereas Catholic church historian Maximilian Liebmann has argued that the infamous declaration by the Austrian bishops of 18 March 1938 ("Feierliche Erklärung der österreichischen Bischöfe") was imposed upon them by Gauleiter Josef Bürckel, Catholic theologian Stefan Moritz emphasized that the Catholic clergy had unjustly portrayed themselves as victims after 1945. Indeed, Innitzer had agreed to meet Hitler on 15 March 1938 and hoped for concessions if the Austrian Catholic church would support the Nazis. Although Innitzer was summoned to Rome in early April 1938 and dressed down by pope Pius XI for this, he continued to negotiate with the new regime. Only when civil marriage was introduced in Austria on 1 August 1938 did Innitzer decide against further negotiations. He was the subject of assaults by Nazi supporters in October 1938.Weißensteiner Johann 2015 Ash Mitchell G. Ehmer Josef Universität - Politik - Gesellschaft V&R unipress GmbH 283–284 Theodor Innitzer. Theologe, Rektor, Bundesminister, Kardinal und Erzbischof von Wien in politischen Umbruchszeiten 978-3-8471-0413-1 Conduct thumb|Postage stamp celebrating the referendum: an NSDAP member embraces an Austrian in national costume, and both fly the Nazi flag. The text reads: "One People, One Reich, One Leader — 10th April 1938." Hitler's forces suppressed all opposition. Before the first German soldier crossed the border, Heinrich Himmler and a few Schutzstaffel (SS) officers landed in Vienna to arrest prominent representatives of the First Republic, such as Richard Schmitz, Leopold Figl, Friedrich Hillegeist, and Franz Olah. During the few weeks between the Anschluss and the plebiscite, authorities rounded up Social Democrats, Communists, other potential political dissenters, and Austrian Jews; within a few days of 12 March, they arrested 70,000 people. They were imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. The disused northwest railway station in Vienna was converted into a makeshift concentration camp.Staff (28 March 1938) "Austria: 'Spring Cleaning'" Time Seeing this attack on opposition figures, American historian Evan Burr Bukey warned that the plebiscite result needed to be taken with "great caution".Bukey 2000 38 October 2026 October 2026 The plebiscite was targeted with large-scale Nazi propaganda. The pro-Hitler forces achieved the abrogation of the voting rights of around 360,000 people (8% of the eligible voting population), mainly political enemies such as former members of now-prohibited left-wing parties and Austrian citizens of Jewish or Romani origin.Staff ndg https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005447 Austria United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumStaff ndg https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/anschluss Anschluss United States Holocaust Memorial Museumhttp://www.doew.at/thema/thema_alt/wuv/maerz38_2/propaganda.html Die propagandistische Vorbereitung der Volksabstimmung Austrian Resistance Archive 1988 11 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070404180146/http://www.doew.at/thema/thema_alt/wuv/maerz38_2/propaganda.html 4 April 2007 deadBukey 2000 38 The ballots featured a large circle for "yes" votes and a small one for "no" votes, as a nudge to direct the vote.Sammut Gordon Bauer Martin W. The Psychology of Social Influence: Modes and Modalities of Shifting Common Sense 7 January 2021 Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-24441-1 207–208 https://books.google.com/books?id=5GEQEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 9 September 2021 en Several other claims were made that the vote was rigged.Bukey 2000 34 According to some Gestapo reports, only a quarter to a third of Austrian voters in Vienna were in favour of the Anschluss.Evans 2006 655 But the result in favour of Anschluss was "... the outcome of opportunism, ideological conviction, massive pressure, occasional vote rigging, and a propaganda machine that Austria's political culture had never before experienced."Günther Bischof, Fritz Plasser, Barbara Stelzl-Marx eds. 2009. New Perspectives on Austrian and World War II. In: Contemporary Austrian Studies, Volume 17. New Brunswick. p.11. Voters were under heavy pressure to make a yes vote, including the fact that many marked the ballot paper in front of the campaign workers in order not to be suspected of voting against the Anschluss.Wilhelm J. Wagner: Der große Bildatlas zur Geschichte Österreichs. Kremayr & Scheriau, 1995, (chapter „Heim ins Reich“). The secrecy of the ballot was in practice non-existent.Sandra Paweronschitz. 2006. Zwischen Anspruch und Anpassung. Journalisten und der Presseclub Concordia im Dritten Reich. Wien. p.21 However, Life in 1938 claimed that the results of the referendum and its German counterpart were "largely honest".https://books.google.com/books?id=00oEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 Germans from England - "Ja" on a Special Trip Out to Sea Life 1938-05-02 November 28, 2011 21 Results The referendum question was: Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938 and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler?de Bist Du mit der am 13. März vollzogenen Wiedervereinigung Österreichs mit dem Deutschen Reich einverstanden und stimmst Du für die Liste unseres Führers Adolf Hitler? The officially published results showed 99.73% of voters in favour. 4453912 11929 5777 4484617 Direct Democracy Aftermath After the referendum's "approval", Austria was integrated into Nazi Germany, and was made into several administrative divisions in Germany. See also 1935 Saar status referendum Notes References 30em Sources 30em yes Bukey Evan Burr 2000 Hitler's Austria : popular sentiment in the Nazi era, 1938-1945 https://archive.org/details/hitlersaustriapo0000buke registration University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill, N.C. 0807853631 Gellately Robert Nathan Stoltzfus 2001 Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany Princeton University Press 0-691-08684-2 Evans Richard J. 2006 The Third Reich in Power, 1933-1939 Penguin Books 978-0-14-100976-6 OL28433980M Knaur Peter 1951 The International Relations of Austria and the Anschluss 1931–1938 University of Wyoming y Austria Modern history Anschluss Category:Referendums in Austria Austria Austria Category:Austria under National Socialism Category:Foreign electoral intervention