The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

Chapter 2
ANSCHLUSS: “The Leader is Coming”
“And thus it is all over Germany; wherever the Leader goes there is rejoicing,
gigantic crowds; all want to be where he is, to see the Leader. One sees their
eyes shine, particularly those of youth; one sees in their boundless gratitude
crowds of men and women reach a state bordering on ecstasy; like an electric
current the news passes through the teeming masses—‘The Leader is
coming!’…And the German people know that the longed-for and inspired leader
is Adolf Hitler! 1
The post-Great War independence of Austria under Chancellor Kurt von
Schuschnigg ended at daybreak on March 12, 1938 when the German Army crossed the
Austrian border in violation of Article 80 of the Treaty of Versailles and Article 88 of the
Treaty of St. Germain which guaranteed the sovereignty of Austria. 2
A plebiscite would
be held on April 10, 1938 among eligible voters (those twenty years of age and older who
were not Jewish or of Jewish background) to ratify this unification or Anschluss. This
was seen as a “mere formality” or legal façade since 99.7% of the Austrian population or
4.287 million voters out of an eligible pool of 4.3 million voted Ja for union which
became formalized via the Federal Constitutional Law Regarding the Reunion of
89.
1 Hermann Goering, Germany Reborn (Strand, W.C.2, UK: Elkin Mathews & Marrot LTD: 1934), 87,
2 “The Versailles Treaty June 28, 1919: Part III.” The Avalon Project available from
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/partiii.asp; Internet; accessed March 8, 2010; “Treaty of Peace between the
Allied and Associated Powers and Austria; Protocol, Declaration and Special Declaration,” September 10,
1919, available from http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html; Internet; accessed March
8, 2010.
19