This historic Castle Film newsreel shows the start of WWII with the German invasion of Austria and the surrender of the Austrian government. The film also shows the Nazi aggression against Czechoslovakia, and Neville Chamberlain’s efforts to appease Hitler and keep the peace in Europe. At the 8 minute mark, American Secretary of State Cordell Hull is seen making comments about the situation in Europe might affect the United States of America which was neutral at the time.
The Anschluss was the Nazi propaganda term for the invasion and forced incorporation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938. The 1938 Anschluss stands in contrast to the Anschluss movement (Austria and Germany united as one country), initially attempted in 1918, when the Republic of German-Austria attempted union with Germany, but the Treaty of Saint Germain (10 September 1919) and the Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) forbade both the union and the continued use of the name “German-Austria” (Deutschösterreich). Previously, the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 had resulted in the dissolution of the 19th-century German Confederation, a loose association which had included Austria as well as the various independent German monarchies, such as Prussia and Bavaria.
Hitler’s journey through Austria became a triumphal tour that climaxed in Vienna on 15 March 1938 (seen at the 4 minute mark), when around 200,000 cheering German-Austrians gathered around the Heldenplatz (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler say that “The oldest eastern province of the German people shall be, from this point on, the newest bastion of the German Reich” followed by his “greatest accomplishment” (completing the annexing of Austria to form a Greater German Reich) by saying “Als Führer und Kanzler der deutschen Nation und des Reiches melde ich vor der deutschen Geschichte nunmehr den Eintritt meiner Heimat in das Deutsche Reich.” Translation: “As leader and chancellor of the German nation and Reich I announce to German history now the entry of my homeland into the German Reich.” Hitler later commented: “Certain foreign newspapers have said that we fell on Austria with brutal methods. I can only say: even in death they cannot stop lying. I have in the course of my political struggle won much love from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier (into Austria) there met me such a stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators.”
Hitler’s forces suppressed all opposition. Before the first German soldier crossed the border, Heinrich Himmler and a few SS officers landed in Vienna to arrest prominent representatives of the First Republic, such as Richard Schmitz, Leopold Figl, Friedrich Hillegeist, and Franz Olah. During the few weeks between the Anschluss and the plebiscite, authorities rounded up Social Democrats, Communists, and other potential political dissenters, as well as Jews, and imprisoned them or sent them to concentration camps. Within a few days of 12 March, 70,000 people had been arrested. The disused northwest railway station in Vienna was converted into a makeshift concentration camp.[citation needed] The plebiscite was subject to large-scale propaganda and to the abrogation of the voting rights of around 400,000 people (nearly 10% of the eligible voting population), mainly former members of left-wing parties and Jews.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
