1938 why didn't Hitler move the German capital to Vienna after the merger of Germany?
His first victim was Dr. Kurt von Schusnigger, the Austrian Prime Minister. The country was torn apart by Nazi instigators and threatened internally by Germany's newly discovered military power. In order to reach a peaceful solution with Hitler, Schusniger agreed to hold face-to-face talks in Berchtesgaden. Former Austrian Ambassador franz von Papen held a meeting.
1938 February 12 On a cold winter morning, Papen met Schusniger's car at the German-Austrian border, and Papen went to Hitler's spectacular alpine retreat with him. Papen told Schusniger that Hitler was in a good mood this morning. However, Papen added that Hitler hoped that Shu Snygg wouldn't mind that three German top generals were present at the discussion that day.
Filias Adolf Hitler's awe-inspiring eyes in the study of the Best Garden apartment at the top of the mountain were the scene of the first diplomatic conquest.
Schusniger was a little surprised, but it's too late to change anything now. He came to the steps of Hitler's villa and was welcomed by Fleur himself. Standing behind Hitler are three generals. Senior commander William kittel, German-Austrian border commander Walter von Reichenau and air force general Hugo Parley.
Hitler led Schusnigger into his villa, all the way to the lobby on the second floor. This is a big room with a huge flat glass window and a panoramic view of the Alps. Austria itself is in the distance. Schusniger went all out, and a little discussion about this broke the deadlock. But Hitler immediately interrupted him. "We are not gathered here to talk about beautiful scenery or weather!"
So, two hours of hell began, and the silent Austrian Prime Minister lashed out at Ferrer. "You have made every effort to avoid adopting a friendly policy!" Hitler shouted. "The whole history of Austria is just a continuous act of treason ... I can tell you now, Mr. Shusnig, I am determined to end it all. The German Empire is one of the great powers. If the border issue is resolved, no one will raise his voice. "
After regaining his composure, Schusniger tried to appease Hitler and told him, "We will try our best to remove obstacles to deepen our understanding."
But Hitler did not relax. "That's what you said! ... but I tell you, I will solve the so-called Austrian problem in one way or another ... I have a historic mission, and I will complete it, because it is predestined ... all I need is the next command and all your ridiculous defense mechanisms will be blown up. You don't completely believe that you can stop me or even delay me for half an hour, do you?
Hitler pointed out that Austria was isolated diplomatically and could not stop the Nazi invasion. "Don't think about it, someone on earth will stop my decision. Italy? I met Mussolini ... England. Britain will not help Austria ... and France. "
Hitler said that France had the right to stop him during its occupation of Rhineland, but he did not take any action. "It's too late for France now." .
The angry Schusniger finally asked Hitler what his terms were. But Hitler interrupted him again, and now he is rudely fired. "We can discuss it this afternoon."
By the afternoon, Schusniger, who is 4 1 year old, is about1year old. Then, he was introduced to the new German Foreign Minister, an immoral man named Joachim troup, and showed him a two-page document containing Hitler's demands. All Nazis currently detained in Austria will be released. Lift the ban on the Austrian Nazi Party. Dr Arthur Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian lawyer and a staunch supporter of the Nazis, will become the new Minister of the Interior and be under the full control of the police. In addition, the Nazis will be appointed Minister of War and Minister of Finance to prepare for the integration of Austria's entire economy into the German Empire. Shusnig was told that this was Feiler's last request, so he could not discuss it. He wants to sign it at once, otherwise.
Under such pressure, the Austrian Prime Minister wavered and said that he would consider signing, but first of all, he should seek Hitler's assurance that he would no longer interfere in Austria's internal affairs. Rihbentrop, to which Papen joined, kindly promised that if Hitler met all his demands, he would respect Austria's sovereignty.
At this time, Shusnig was taken back to see Hitler. Hitler said to him, "either you sign as it is and meet my requirements in three days, or I will order the March into Austria."
Schuschnigg gave in and agreed to sign, but told Hitler that according to Austrian law, only the president of the country could approve the document and implement the terms. In addition, he added, there is no guarantee that the stubborn Austrian President wilhelm miklas will accept this agreement.
"You must promise! ! "Hitler exploded. But Shusnig said he couldn't do it at all. Hitler then rushed to the door and shouted at General kittel. Then he turned to Schusniger and suddenly sent him away. Schusniger was taken to the waiting room to think about what Hitler said to kittel.
Schuschnigg didn't know that he was just a victim of sheer bravado. When kittel came to ask for an order, Hitler grinned and said to him, "There is no order. I just want you here. "
An hour and a half later, Shusnig was taken back to see Hitler. He has three days to bring the agreement back to Austria and sign it by the president, otherwise.
After leaving Berchtesgaden, Papen felt a little embarrassed on his way back to the border. "You will see it sometimes," he comforted. "But next time I believe it will be different. You know, absolutely charming. "
In this way, several diplomatic coups in Berchtesgaden ended. When all the heads of state and all kinds of diplomats get there, they will be at a terrible disadvantage like Shusnig. They are dealing with someone who is always willing to go beyond the limit. They are willing to send troops and bleed to get what he wants.
Hitler knew that civilized people like Schusnigger and those followers would easily compromise to stop their lives. They will all be too late. Hitler did not cherish life, and war was his ultimate goal.
A few years ago, Hitler confessed to his friend Herman Rauschning: "We must prepare for the most difficult struggle a country must face. Only through this endurance test can we mature to what we call dominance. My responsibility is to fight this war at all costs, and it would be great to sacrifice my life. We all know the significance of world war; As a country, we will be forged by the hardness of steel. Will disappear from us, but the forged central block will exist forever. I'm not afraid of being annihilated. We will have to give up many things that we cherish. Today, it seems irreplaceable. The city will become ruins, and the noble monuments in the city will disappear forever. This time our sacred land will not be spared. But I am not afraid of this. "
Hitler's Germany was on the right track in the war. Making new weapons day and night. According to Goering's four-year plan, the whole economy is in a state of war. At the same time, Hitler's youth paramilitary organizations hardened German youth like steel, elevated Hitler to the status of god, and endowed him with the highest responsibility and sacrifice value. Young people are told that personal life, their life is not important. This is very important for Fuller and his country.
Now in mid-February 1938, Hitler has sent the Austrian Prime Minister back to China to persuade President miklas to approve the final passage of Atom. But the stubborn miklas refused to accept all the demands. He is willing to pardon the imprisoned Nazis, but he is unwilling to hand over the police to Nazi sympathizer Seth Inquart.
At the same time, Hitler ordered General kittel to conduct military exercises near the Austrian border, so that an invasion seemed imminent. The bluff worked its magic, and President miklas soon gave in. He pardoned all Nazis in Austria, appointed Seth Inquart as Minister of the Interior, and took complete control of the police. Seth immediately rushed to Germany to meet Hitler and accept his instructions.
On the evening of February 20th, Hitler gave a speech in Berlin, which was broadcast all over Austria. Describing the Austrian Nazis as a persecuted minority, he said: "It is unbearable for a conscious world power to know that it is surrounded by its own compatriots, because they sympathize with and unite the entire German race and ideology. . "After the speech, Nazis all over Austria were saying" Long live! " Screaming and taking to the streets. And "Hitler!"
To some extent, Prime Minister Schusnigger regained his courage and delivered his own speech in Vienna four days later in response to Hitler. He said that Austria had made enough concessions to the Nazis and would never give up its independence. He announced: "That's it, never again." The boundaries have been drawn.
However, timid Nazi demagogues are devouring Austria from within. The mob brutally tore off the red, white and red Austrian flag and raised the ast flag, while under the control of Seth, the police stood by and watched.
The escalating political turmoil soon caused economic panic. People rushed into the bank and took all the money. Orders for overseas goods and services were suddenly cancelled. Tourists stay at home. The Austrian Nazis occupied some peripheral provinces. In Vienna, Schusniger's government began to collapse under pressure, which was exactly what Hitler and the Austrian Nazis wanted.
Schusniger stopped his death in a desperate attempt and avoided Hitler. He announced that a referendum would be held on Sunday, March 13, so that Austrians could vote on whether their country should be independent from Germany.
Hitler flew into a rage when he heard the unexpected news. He decided to send German troops to the scene to stop the voting. General keitel and General von Manstein hastily made plans to invade Austria, including three army regiments and the air force.
But for Hitler, this is still a big problem. He was not sure how the powerful Italian fascist leader benito mussolini would react to the German invasion of neighboring Austria. So Hitler rushed to the special envoy in Rome with a personal letter and asked Mussolini for approval on the grounds that the letter mentioned the upcoming military action. This letter contains a very cruel false statement that Austria and Czechoslovakia are plotting to restore the old Habsburg monarchy and attack Germany.
By Friday morning, March 30th, President Schuschnigg was aware of the impending invasion. At 2 pm, he informed Seth Kwaquart in Vienna that the referendum would be cancelled to avoid bloodshed. Then Seth called Green in Berlin and told him Schusniger's decision. The position of the prime minister was hopelessly weakened, and Goering immediately jumped on him like a tiger.
A series of phone calls followed, which amounted to extortion. First, Goering succeeded in making Schusniger resign, and then he asked President miklas to appoint Seth as the new Austrian Prime Minister. But miklas refused. Goering then released the final press release, saying that Seth must be appointed as Prime Minister, or the Germans would invade that night. But miklas stubbornly persisted.
Hitler's contempt for Austria now is enough. At 8: 45 pm, he ordered the generals to invade at dawn the next day. Hitler had been waiting for news of Mussolini at that time. Hitler learned by telephone that Austria was regarded as "irrelevant" by the Italian dictator. Nazi invasion will not be disturbed.
Hitler's mobile troops drove into a small town in Upper Austria, when a group of townspeople were waiting for their arrival. Below: The turbulent scene when Hitler's entourage entered Vienna.
Bottom: Hitler and Imperial Governor Arthur Seyis Inquart (left), followed by heinrich himmler and Reinhard Heydrich.
Bottom: Jews in Vienna are facing a grim and uncertain future, and there is nowhere to find them.
"Tell Mussolini that I will never forget him!" Hitler told his envoy on the phone. "forever, forever, forever, forever, no matter what happens ... even if the whole world has confidence in him, no matter what happens, I will stick to it!"
Around midnight, President miklas realized that his position was in jeopardy and appointed Seth as the new Austrian Prime Minister. At dawn on Saturday, March 1938, German soldiers on tanks and armored vehicles roared across the German-Austrian border as scheduled. They met no resistance and were welcomed like heroes in most places. Many of Austria's 7 million Germans are eager to keep in touch with Germany's rising stars and energetic sons of Austria.
When the news of the invasion reached Britain and France, their reaction was the same as when Hitler occupied the Rhineland a few years ago. They didn't do anything. In France, internal political problems once again prevented any military response. Britain, now led by Prime Minister neville chamberlain, has indicated that it will pursue a policy of appeasement to maintain peace. To make matters worse, Austria felt proud and resisted when needed, and never formally requested any external assistance.
In Germany, Saturday editions of all Nazi newspapers published a forged telegram, which was allegedly sent to Berlin by Minister Seth, demanding that "the German government send German troops as soon as possible" to restore order. Goebbels also had false reports about the Vienna riots and street fighting in party member. This is the version of events that Hitler showed to the world. The Austrians themselves were eager to restore order and asked Germany to provide military assistance.
Realizing that his troops were greatly welcomed, Hitler decided to accompany his soldiers to his birthplace, Inn Braunau Amin, and then to Linz, where he was a primary school student. He also visited his parents' cemetery in Leontin and laid a wreath.
In Linz, he gave an emotional speech. He said, "If providence ever let me leave this town and become the leader of the empire, then it must have made me undertake a mission, and this mission can only be to return my dear home to the German Empire."
Hitler therefore ordered the drafting of a law stipulating that Austria and Germany should immediately establish an Anshulusi alliance. The next day, on Sunday, March 13, the law was approved by the Austrian government led by Seth. The official announcement was then released to the world. Austria no longer exists. It is now a province of the German Empire. When Hitler received the document of the real Ann Schluss, he wept with joy.
On Monday afternoon, he strode into Vienna, a city famous for sinking homeless people many years ago. He stayed at the Imperial Hotel, which was a half-starved day's work. In that hotel, he shoveled the snow from the sidewalk outside the entrance, respectfully took off his hat and watched the rich people come and go. As a poor young man, he can never go in. Today, he is an important person.
After returning to Germany, Hitler arranged another referendum, just like after he occupied the Rhineland. Now the German and Austrian people are required to approve Ann Schluss. In April 10, 99% people voted "Ja", fearing that they would never vote, because they knew that their votes were easy to find.
Nazi occupation of Austria was characterized by the outbreak of anti-Semitic violence, which was not even seen in Germany. There are about 6,543,800 Jews in Vienna. Throughout the city, Jewish men and women were arbitrarily taken away by the Nazis and forced to scrub walls and sidewalks and remove any slogans supporting independence. Other humiliations include cleaning public toilets and toilets in SS camps with sacred Hebrew prayer cloth. When the police allowed open looting of Jewish houses and businesses, thousands of people were also imprisoned for no reason.
SS leader heinrich himmler and reinhard heydrich accompanied Hitler into Vienna. They soon realized that the Jews there would leave the country at all costs. Then, heydrich set up a Jewish immigration office, managed by an Austrian SS named adolf eichmann, who extorted money and valuables from Jews in exchange for freedom. The office was very successful and became a model for setting up an office in Germany.
Himle also established the first concentration camp outside Germany in Mauthausen near Linz. In the granite quarry in the camp, about 6.5438+0.2 million people will be killed or "shot when trying to escape".
As for Dr. Kurt von Schusniger who resisted Hitler, he was arrested by the Gestapo and spent several years in Nazi concentration camps such as Dachau and Saxony Hausen.
Hitler occupied Austria without shooting. Czechoslovakia next door now feels jittery because it is surrounded by Germans on three sides. Hitler spared no effort to give full play to his advantages. He began to consider the plan to occupy the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia, where about 3 million Germans lived.
A month ago, Hermann Göring assured the nervous Czech government: "I want to tell you that Czechoslovakia is not afraid of the empire."