Talk Elections

Part of the left-liberal "Standard" newspaper's "Christmas Poll":


  3% support
90% oppose
  7% undecided

https://derstandard.at/2000094808388/Oesterreicher-sehen-Deutschland-als-wichtig-aber-nicht-als-Vorbild-an

On the other hand, I wonder how many Germans want to be annexed by Austria ???

Do you think more or less than 3% ?

More

Here's an interesting question in a highly unlikely case Austria were to be annexed to Germany: would Austria become a land, or each of Austrian lands would separately gain the status?

Looking at population figures, I think both could be possible.

Austria as a whole has a population of 8.9 million, the largest state in Germany has a population of 17.8 million (North Rhein Westphalia). So Austria at large certainly fits

Alternatively, the Austrian Lands could enter individually but some consolidation would be needed.

At the very least Burgenland would have to join Lower Austria and Voralberg would need to join Tyrol. Carinthia (557k) and Salzburg (538k) may or may not to be consolidated as well, as they are only marginally below the quota set by Bremen (661k)

Well., the last time it happened, Bergenland was split between Lower Danube (fka Lower Austria) and Styria; Carinthia gained East Tyrol; North Tyrol and Voralberg were combined into the Gau of Tirol and Voralberg; and last but not least Vienna was larger.

3% of Germans want to annex Austria.  90% want to annex Austria, but only after they learn how to speak German.  7% did not know what an “Austria” was.

Austria would become the 17th state of course. It's very unlikely that the 9 different states would become individual German states, making it 25 states.

Also, the re-organisation mentioned by tack50 and True Federalist is unlikely, because citizens of the 9 Austrian states are very associated with their own states and do not like these states to be abolished or merged with other states. For example, I as a Salzburg resident would not like to be merged with Carinthia. I cannot say why exactly, but it is like that. I assume many people from Virginia would also object to being merged with West Virginia ... :P

All of this assumes a democratic scenario of a merger with Germany, assuming that the population of Austria and its states have a say about what to do in terms of re-organisation.

If there was a dictatorial takeover, none of this would matter anyway - as Germany would re-organise Austria and its territory as they wish (like the Nazis).

Since when does Germany ask if someone wants to be annexed? 

You'd be in Tyrol-Voralberg if the Nazi-era borders were restored. It was only East Tyrol (Lienz) that was added to Carinthia, which makes sense if you hate exclaves and aren't willing to start an irredentist war with Italy over South Tyrol.

But what if the Nazi-era borders were not used, and the merger with Germany was in a democratic manner (hypothetically) and the population has a say ?

I think in this case, Austrians would like to be the 17th state at-large and the 9 Austrian states some kind of Regierungsbezirke (governing districts), like it is the case now already in the 16 other German states. It's virtually impossible that people here would be willing to give up their alignment to their states voluntarily.

Then we'd have a very uninteresting scenario, especially for a forum such as this where we like to discuss with maps.

Wait, the Nazi Party still literally exists in Austria?

BBC News: 'Support for Anschluss grows massively. When will Austrian politicians listen to the people?'

  Had an annexation referendum been held right after WW1, a strong majority of Austrians would have supported it, probably. Fascinating question is what would a free and fair referendum held in the 1930's have yielded, when yes voters knew that a vote for Anschluss was a vote to join Nazi run Germany?

The concept of combining Austria and Germany into a "Greater Germany" was a relatively popular proposition from the 19th century right up until the first half of the 20th century. After WWII, this idea became associated with the Third Reich, so in this day and age, people/groups which advocate for this idea will likely be labeled as fascist and/or Neo-Nazi. This poll is further evidence of this.

I would assume that a free and fair (lol) referendum without any interference after the economic crisis of the late 1920s would still have resulted in a big annexation wish: the referendum would have passed with something like 70-30 or 75-25. But there were still numerous people opposed, in Social Democracy and among the Catholics/CS voters.


I think you don't necessarily have to be a Nazi now to support joining Germany.

You only have to be a weirdo or someone who likes the 2 countries combined ... :P

I think there are also some 2-5% of Canadians who want to join the US (maybe not now under Trump, but under Obama).

They're already governed by Berlin. :)

Suppose you are an Austrian who believes in the pan-Germanic idea. Even then, would you want to be ruled by Berlin and be part of a country with a deep identity crisis that is behaving completely erratically and self-destructively as a result of it? I think not. I think such a person would be far more happy with the current political constellation in Austria, which is unachievable in Germany.

I think there are knife buddies in Vienna, who believe in larger Germany, it used to be large element in FPÖ. Obviously, nowadays these fellows support independence of Saxony etc. because they represent traditional German nationalism.