13 mars 1938 - Germany Annexes Austria

Description:

Before the annexation, there were already Nazis within Austria, and they had been planning to overthrow the current Austrian government in favor of a Nazi Government in early 1938. The Chancellor of Austria, Kurt von Schuschnigg met with Hitler in order to keep Austria independent of Germany, but instead, Hitler convinced (or bullied) him into adding members of the Nazi party to his cabinet. On March 11, Schuschnigg gave into Hitler and resigned and pleaded for the Austrian troops not to fight Germany. On March 12, German troops marched into Austria and on March 13, the Anschluss (unification of Germany and Austria to create one German-speaking Reich) was proclaimed. This was also in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles and, once again, showed the lack of will of Britain and France, which enabled Hitler toward more aggressive measures. Even before the Anschluss was oficially announced, Hitler already had the Jewish people of Austria degraded, forcing them to scrub away pro-independence slogans (pictured)