Five Brothers and a War

1938—The Austrian Anschluß

Hitler with the then-Chancellor of Austria, Arthur Seyß-Inquart, on the left, and the monumentally notorious Heinrich Himmler on the right.

With astonishing speed, Hitler got formal approval from the Austrian Parliament the following day, Sunday March 13, for the annexation of Austria by Germany. This was called the Anschluß , or the “Union.” Thus, by the time the weekend was over, and the international community got back to work, Hitler was firmly and ostensibly legally in charge of another country. By Monday, he made a triumphal entrance into Vienna. Hitler immediately set up another plebiscite to get voter approval on this annexation. The vote, taken April 10, showed massive support for the move, with 99.7% approval. Vienna, of course, was the home to a very large Jewish population, and the world’s inaction then led to the other part of Hitler’s grand plan—ridding the world of Jews. In 1934, Vienna had a population of just under two million. Its Jewish population was about nine percent, or about 176,000. The Jewish citizens were very highly placed, with more than half the doctors, three-quarters of the bankers, almost half the jewelers, 85% of lawyers and two-thirds of furriers being Jews.

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Five Brothers and a War

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