Why were so many Austrians Nazis?

[BeBMan]

I have to agree with that too

[Nikolai]

2. Polyglot of nationalities, particularly in Wien. You have a former majority power (Germans), suddenly transformed into a minority, and leaders of a rump state. Then, even in the rump, you have people from all over the empire in their capital. Familiarity can often breed contempt, as it did for Hitler.

What, you seriously think Germans were in a minority in Austria?

[Wernazuma III]

OK guys, nice tries, here comes the solution.

1) Austria was not especially more backwards or liberal, but it was certainly more Catholic than most of Germany.

2) Versailles did nothing to Austria, our treaty was St. Germain. Still, there lies part of the reason: "L'Autriche, c'est qui reste" was the formula of the French after the negotiations. I.e., all other parts of the Empire were granted Wilsonian "national self-determination", safe for the "German Austrians" who only wanted one thing, the Anschluss, since nobody believed in the ability of the Alpine rest of Austria to
survive economically, with all its connections to Bohemia and Hungary cut off. And St. Germain forbid Austria to join Germany and the new nation had to stop using the name of "Deutsch-Österreich", using Österreich instead.
So, the Anschluss was something most Austrians wanted - and who demanded and were capable to do it?
3) Add to this that since 1934, our proper conservative clerico-fascists (Dollfuß) forbid Socialists in 1934. Some proletarian former socialists considered the "national socialists" the better opposition to the "Vaterländische Front", joining their ranks. That differs from the German pattern where Socialists and national socialists more directly opposed.
4) Austrians after the Anschluss had to fight more for their position in the "unified Reich" - many Germans poured in and loyal party members got positions. Austrians thus reacted by joining the party more readily because it strengthened their standing.
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.

6) I'm not sure about your numbers, Oerdin. From what I know, the percentages were higher but not in that extreme.

[Kuciwalker]

Guys, is Ben being a Nazi apologist?

[Nikolai]

I wouldn't go that far. Yet.

[Heresson]

Yes, that was the case, especially in Galicia.

You don't know much about it, do You?
There were hardly any Germans in Galicia (0,3% according to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia...Eastern_Europe).)

There were many more Germans in Cieszyn Silesia, 14% or so, but they didn't form a majority in any place but an isolated city of Bielsko.

There were many Germans in Spisz / Speiss (?) region, formerly Hungary, nowdays Slovakia (apart from a couple of villages in Poland), especially the city of Kiezmark.

There was a big centre of Saxon Germans in Transsilvania.

And, of course, Sudetenland.

[Heraclitus]

I've actually herd Austrian apologists trying to spin Austria as a victim in WW2.

[Nikolai]

Victims? Well, perhaps some of them, but not the nation as a whole.

[Dinner]

I've been playing a lot of HOI2 lately to get ready for the release of HOI3 and I just had the weirdest game. Hitler didn't ask for Anschluss, he did take the Sudtenland, but let Czechoslovakia live, and then he didn't invade Poland. It's 1941 and still no war.

[Zkribbler]

I don't know if this has any relevance.

One of my former judges was in Austria. He commented that he had a German name, but it was spelled with only one "t." Gutman, not Guttman.
The Austrian looked at him and asked, "Are you Jewish?"
My judge (who is Jewish) told me that the way the Austrian said "Jewish" still sent shivers up his spine.

[JEELEN]

I'd say Prussia was more inclined. Most of Austria, particularly the Germans were Catholics. The Nazi recruits were from the section that either drifted away for whatever reason. It was the Prussians in the north who were the solid voting block for Hitler, and his prime target for recruits.

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.

[Wernazuma III]

I don't know if this has any relevance.
One of my former judges was in Austria. He commented that he had a German name, but it was spelled with only one "t." Gutman, not Guttman.
The Austrian looked at him and asked, "Are you Jewish?"
My judge (who is Jewish) told me that the way the Austrian said "Jewish" still sent shivers up his spine.

Must have had bad luck. Not that anti-semitism died out completely, but you'll hardly find an Austrian being overtly anti-semitic in this way. Also, the thing with the name has been misinterpreted. Gutmann, Goldmann, Rosenberg, Bernstein, etc., are simply very accurate indicators of Jewish origin, since at some point, jews could choose their surname and they often followed certain patterns.


@Austria=Victim

The issue is ambiguous. As a state, Austria was a victim since its political leadership - plus the socialist opposition - opposed the German "invasion". The Germans invaded right one day before a planned plebiscite about the Anschluss, so I guess they must have at least feared a close result, otherwise they could have relaxed and acted later. OTOH, in some Austrian cities such as mine, the illegal Nazis took over already a day or two before the Anschluss. And images of jubilant Austrians don't actually suggest that we were victims, as a people. Also, invasions normally look different than this:


Part of the "guilt" for the victim identity lies in the Allies who in the Declaration of Moscow in 1943 stated that Austria was the first free nation that fell victim to Nazi aggression, then adding that it also had a liability for "its" participation within the German system and that its "contribution to its own liberation" will be considered at the end of counts. After the war, partisan activities in the south and the self liberation of some western parts (Innsbruck) were acknowledged, along with the participation of certain Austrian contingents in allied armies and among Tito-partisans.

Our post-war politicians just tried to cover the past with as much dust as possible, and since all of them had been either exiled or in Kzs it was hard to blame them personally. The ordinary opportunist population could hide below that umbrella and whine "I've always been a victim" while burning their party membership document...
If you know German, you should definitely watch this video, parts 1-6, then you have understood everything about the "Austrian soul".: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvd0V...om=PL&index=42
@Part membership
My quick look-up gave me 10% membership in Austria, 8% in Germany.

@Nazi power base
Here's the result of the 1933 elections. Clearly, Prussia had most support for the Nazis.

[JEELEN]

@Nazi power base
Here's the result of the 1933 elections. Clearly, Prussia had most support for the Nazis.

Here? Where?

[BeBMan]

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:NSDAP_Wahl_1933.png&filetimestamp=20080131211749

Dark brown = more NSDAP, light brown less.

[Wernazuma III]

Hm, where's the link? I had it from Wikipedia.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/NSDAP_Wahl_1933.png