Why were so many Austrians Nazis?

[Ben Kenobi]

2) Versailles did nothing to Austria, our treaty was St. Germain.

Thanks for the correction.

So, the Anschluss was something most Austrians wanted - and who demanded and were capable to do it?

Is this true? I had thought otherwise that most Austrians would prefer to be masters in their own house rather then part of GroßDeutschland.

5) Many parts of Austria were ethnic frontier. As in most ethnic frontier regions, there was an increased need to "show I'm more German than the Germans". When your self-identity is unstable, you go 200%. Sudenten-Germans and other "Volksdeutsche" also had a higher degree of party and SS membership.

Interesting, and would explain again why Hitler was more likely to be an Austrian.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yet Hitler's powerbase was in Bavaria, which was predominantly Catholic. It was only with the 1929 crash that the Nazi vote exploded, rising from 10+ to around 200 seats in the Reichstag.

In 1933, the Nazi Party had their highest support in OstPreuben, Pommern and Brandenburg, which are devoid of Catholics at around 50 percent.

Neiderbayern, Westfalen and the Rhineland all were around 30 percent, had Catholic majorities and were his weakest supporters.

Edit, already dealt with. Sorry!

[Ben Kenobi]

I don't see how you could say that. Between the formation of the German Empire and the Great War the German government initiated a series of social initiatives that gave common German people beneifts unrivalled anywhere else in the world. They had universal education, universal health care, workman's compensation, child labor laws, social security, the right to form labor unions and more. Austro-Hungary had none of that. The power of the Kaiser was much more limited than that of the Emporer. Racial relations were much better, of course, Germans had the luxury of being 95% of thepopulation of their country. I might point out that in 1933, the year Hitler rose to power Austria also became a fascist dictatorship.

Well for starters, Prussia was considered the heart of Conservativism in Germany throughout the 19th century. After the Dual Monarchy, I would be hard pressed to say that the Austrians were autocrats. Minorities gained significant recognition throughout the empire. Other parts of Germany, particularly along the Rhineland and in Frankfurt, they were very liberal which changed after Unification.

As for the Kaiserreich, what about the Kulturkampf? That's hardly tolerant. Bismarck wanted to carve out a German protestent unified indentity throughout Germany contrary to the polyglot they inherited from unification. Austria on the other hand, increased the authority, particularly of the Hungarians, but also of other minorities throughout the Dual Monarchy.

Regarding the crucial 1933 vote I think you'll find that much of the Bavaria vote went to local Bavarian conservatives. In the map Werenzuma linked it appears that the heaviest Nazis votes are in the parts of Germany bordering Poland - East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia. I wonder if that was due to their significant Polish population who may have been demanding border adjustments.

Pommern at the time didn't have many Poles. Poznan, Silesia and Ost Preuben, yes. Pommern had the highest concentration of the Junkers. Edit, I see that Heresson said the same thing. Heresson.

Traiditionally the Austrians were regarded as more tolerant by whom? I'll bet it wasn't the Galician Poles, Croats, Slovenes, Serbs, Romaians, Serbs or Bosnians.

Then why didn't they flee to live in Russia or Germany? As bad as Austria was compared with now, they were far more liberal then their neighbours.