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trust and loyalty.” Such actions represented “political Catholicism” which was to be
reviled. Consequently, any true Austrian Catholic was not morally bound to follow the
dictates of their bishops who had demonstrated themselves to be “cowards [who did] not
[recognize] the wolf in sheep’s clothing [and] were unworthy to carry on the struggle for
Christ.” 7 Although there was an atmosphere of intimidation during this vote many
Austrians viewed this national merger as a means of ending the political instability of the
First Republic, an opportunity for economic revitalization, fulfillment of a pan-Germanic
ideology and the creation of a relationship to Germany that would resemble the earlier
Dual Monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, reality soon set in when Dr.
Artur Seyss von Inquart addressed Hitler in Vienna: “As the last head of the Austrian
State, I announce the legal execution of the German nation’s will. Austria is now a
Federal State of the Reich. A century-old dream has come true.” 8
Instead of becoming
co-equal with Germany Austria became the Ostmark, a province of the Greater German
Reich. Egbert Krispyn has argued that for Hitler the Anschluss possessed potent “private
[and] emotional significance” as it represented an “act of revenge” on his native
homeland for its failure to appreciate and recognize “his genius.” Consequently,
planning for annexation began soon after the Nazi accession to power. 9
Observers noted that the German Army was warmly received by the bulk of the
Austrian population who bore flowers and waved Nazi flags. One soldier, Ludwig
7 Evening Post, April 4, 1938, 11.
8 The Sydney Morning Herald, March 16, 1938, 17. Seyss-Inquart was named Minister of the Interior
and Director of Public Security and Dr. Guido Schmidt assumed the position of Foreign Minister.
9 Egbert Krispyn, Anti-Nazi Writers in Exile (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1978), 63.
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