Anschluss Referendum 1938

[Hifly]

As we mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of an independent Austria, I think a vote on the referendum of 1938 would be appropriate.

Anschluss was supported by the DNSAP/NSDAP and the left-wing SPOe, against the incumbent Catholic Conservative government led by the CSP/VF (the predecessor to the current OeVP).

Instead of R, D, and I/O please select based on your general political leaning.

Yes (Left), as a matter of principle.

[Comrade Funk]

Nope. I support anything the Nazis didn't want.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I agree with Hifly. Germany and Austria are two masculine nations who must be entwined in a holy union. People that do not respect that union are bigots.

[Murica!]

No(Left, not a Nazi)

[Hifly]

Nope. I support anything the Nazis didn't want.

High unemployment? What?

[Dr. Cynic]

Nope. I support anything the Nazis didn't want.

High unemployment? What?

Slave labor will get that unemployment rate down.

[ingemann]

I support the people's right to self determination, which includes state's right to decide to unite with each others. So in theory I support it, in practice I would support overthrowing Hitler and then let them Austria and Germany unite with each other.

[Lief 🗽]

Would I have supported Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938? No. But I don't see any reason why Austria shouldn't be part of Germany. David Alaba would be very helpful in the national team.

[Cranberry]

No (Austrian)

1938 was obviously a vastly different time, but since the question appears to point towards an Austrian integration into Germany in principle and now, I certainly don't support that.

[H. Ross Peron]

While I generally would have been friendly to Anschuluss, I'd have opposed it in 1938 due to it having the effect of strengthening the Third Reich.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

No (Normal, Right).

[Tender Branson]

Obviously No (Austrian).

I'd rather jump into a barrel of acid than vote for a merger with Germany.

...

With that said, it's easy to say this now, 77 years later, for me and for you Americans and others.

But I'm not actually sure if it would have been so easy to say (or vote) in 1938 as a citizen back then ...

For that you need to understand how the Nazi machine worked:

This was the ballot:



In the voting precincts there were flyers saying:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

...

Of course there was much enthusiasm among Austrians after the Anschluss, but there have been some studies that have shown that while 99%+ voted Yes, there were "only" about 30-60% who were really enthusiastic and determined to vote YES, while the rest was mobbed and terrorized into voting "YES".

Because every precinct and every small town was now "supervised" by Nazis, many people who would have never voted for the Nazis, were unable to vote anything else than YES - otherwise they and their family would have risked a witchhunt, heavy punishment or death.

400.000 Austrians (Jews, "suspicious" people with a "previous political record other than voting for the NSDAP" such as "activists" etc.) were banned from voting and already earmarked for the slave labour camps.

...

As you can see it would have been hard to vote NO, unless you had the guts in accepting A) that you yourself would have been singled out by the Nazis as a traitor and heavily punished afterwards and/or B) that they single out your family and send them to the concentration camps too.

Pretty much every person who voted YES through intimidation, but who were secretly on the NO-side, had the "new methods of the Nazi-machine" in mind when casting their YES-vote ...

Fear can get people to do many things ... the recent example being the Anschluss-referendum in Crimea.

[Hifly]

There is probably a reason that Dollfuss did away with elections after the last regional and municipal election results showed not dissimilar patterns to what occurred up north...

[Cranberry]

There is probably a reason that Dollfuss did away with elections after the last regional and municipal election results showed not dissimilar patterns to what occurred up north...

No one in this thread tried to make a point that the austrofascist dictature was any more democratic than the Nazis.

[free my dawg]

what the christ

[TDAS04]

No.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Yes, as a republic of Austria is a contradiction of terms. Annexing Austria, next to banning animal vivisection, was probably the least-bad thing the Nazis ever did.

[Cranberry]

Yes, as a republic of Austria is a contradiction of terms. Annexing Austria, next to banning animal vivisection, was probably the least-bad thing the Nazis ever did.

I beg your pardon?

[YL]

Trying to imagine myself as an Austrian of the period, I can imagine that I might have supported Anschluss in the 1920s, but I can't imagine that I'd have continued to support it once the nature of the Nazi regime was clear.  Austrofascism wasn't great, but it was better than the Nazis.

Of course, in the actual "referendum", I probably have some Nazi watching me as I vote so...

[Franzl]

Nah I don't want Austria. They're nice to have as that weird, small brother and to go skiing there every once in a while.

Good to keep it that way

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Yes, as a republic of Austria is a contradiction of terms. Annexing Austria, next to banning animal vivisection, was probably the least-bad thing the Nazis ever did.

I beg your pardon?

I don't think that there is an authentic Austrian nation any more than there is an authentic Canadian nation. Both countries are geopolitical fictions invented for the convenience of their respective monarchies. I support the republic of Austria being integrated into the German state just as I would support a republican Canada being integrated into the USA.

I'll add that opposing Anschluss made sense in 1938 when Germany was being run by a group of mobsters and murderers but it certainly doesn't in 2015 when both Austria and Germany are governed by centre-left social democrats.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Yes, as a republic of Austria is a contradiction of terms. Annexing Austria, next to banning animal vivisection, was probably the least-bad thing the Nazis ever did.

I beg your pardon?

I don't think that there is an authentic Austrian nation any more than there is an authentic Canadian nation. Both countries are geopolitical fictions invented for the convenience of their respective monarchies. I support the republic of Austria being integrated into the German state just as I would support a republican Canada being integrated into the USA.

I'll add that opposing Anschluss made sense in 1938 when Germany was being run by a group of mobsters and murderers but it certainly doesn't in 2015 when both Austria and Germany are governed by centre-left social democrats.

The poll is about the 1938 vote, not a hypothetical 2015 vote.