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

Victory!) and “One Reich, One People, One Fuehrer!” 14
An Austrian, Susi Seitz,
recalled the warm sentiments elicited by Hitler’s arrival. As one they called upon the
Leader to “‘get us to the German country, get us to Germany, let us be with you.’” 15
Women street vendors sold flowers, metal swastika pins and homemade flags. Hitler
proclaimed from the balcony of the Imperial Hotel that “no force on earth can shake” the
resolve of the Greater Germany. “The German Reich as it stands today is inviolable. No
one can shatter it!” 16
“An eternal historic bond” linking Germany and Austria was
restored following its disruption in the aftermath of the Great War. 17
Following the Anschluss the Austrian Federal Army was placed under the control
of the Reich and its officers, as well as Aryan public officials, were required to take a
personal oath of allegiance to “Hitler, Fuehrer of the German Reich and People.” Jewish
officials were excluded. The assets of the Austrian National Bank were transferred to the
Reichsbank and 21-year-old men were ordered to report for active military service. A
decree issued by Hitler and the German Minister of the Interior, Wilhelm von Frick,
applied the Reich laws, including the Nuremberg Racial Laws of 1935, to the Ostmark.
Opposition of the other European powers to the annexation of Austria was
limited. Hitler obtained Mussolini’s acquiescence in return for the Italian retention of
South Tirol. The United Kingdom, following a policy of appeasement under Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain, would not take up arms over Austrian independence and
14 Washington Post, March 14, 1938, 7.
15 Laurence Rees, The Nazis: A Warning from History (London: New Press, 1997), 110.
16 Tampa Tribune, March 15, 1938, 1.
17 The Montreal Gazette, March 14, 1938, 11.
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