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100-483: The German Anschluss of Austria in 1938 put an end to the country's independent film production. The German-Austrian Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, which had already been sold, under pressure, to the Cautio Trust Company, was transformed on 16 December into Wien-Film . The new company was officially presented with a new mission statement, signed by Joseph Goebbels : "In competition with the other arts,

200-518: A Großdeutsche Lösung (greater Germany solution), whereby the German states would unite under the leadership of the Austrian House of Habsburg . This solution would have included all the German states (including the non-German regions of Austria), but Prussia would have had to accept a secondary role. This controversy, called dualism , dominated Prusso-Austrian diplomacy and the politics of

300-540: A "German state" that would always follow Germany's lead in foreign policy, and members of the "National Opposition" were allowed to enter the cabinet, in exchange for which the Austrian Nazis promised to cease their terrorist attacks against the government. This did not satisfy Hitler and the pro-German Austrian Nazis grew in strength. In September 1936, Hitler launched the Four Year Plan that called for

400-634: A German minority. The empire caused tensions between the various ethnic groups. Many Austrian pan-Germans showed loyalty to Bismarck and only to Germany, wore symbols that were temporarily banned in Austrian schools and advocated the dissolution of the empire to allow Austria to rejoin Germany, as it had been during the German Confederation of 1815–1866. Although many Austrians supported pan-Germanism, many others still showed allegiance to

500-458: A Greater Germany. Bismarck had not chosen to include Austria in his 1871 unification of Germany , and there was genuine support from Germans in both Austria and Germany for an Anschluss . Hitler's forces suppressed all opposition. Before the first German soldier crossed the border, Heinrich Himmler and a few Schutzstaffel (SS) officers landed in Vienna to arrest prominent representatives of

600-578: A car, crossed the border at his birthplace, Braunau am Inn , with a 4,000 man bodyguard. In the evening, he arrived at Linz and was given an enthusiastic welcome. 250,000 Austrians gathered in Linz to meet Adolf Hitler and support Anschluss . The enthusiasm displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people had believed that a majority of Austrians opposed Anschluss . Many Germans from both Austria and Germany welcomed

700-867: A client relationship with Berlin that began with the formation of the Berlin–Rome Axis in 1937. The Austrian Nazi Party failed to win any seats in the November 1930 general election , but its popularity grew in Austria after Hitler came to power in Germany. The idea of the country joining Germany also grew in popularity, thanks in part to a Nazi propaganda campaign which used slogans such as Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer ("One People, One Empire, One Leader") to try to convince Austrians to advocate for an Anschluss to

800-552: A contract for a documentary about the restoration works in Vienna. After the Austrian State Treaty of 1955, the company passed into state ownership. Since the returns on production and the renting out of the studios were becoming less and less profitable, Wien-Film was wound up as a state company in 1985, leaving only a small holding company to maintain rights over earlier productions. The first directors of Wien-Film were general director Fritz Hirt , Paul Hach and

900-614: A dramatic increase in military spending and to make Germany as autarkic as possible with the aim of having the Reich ready to fight a world war by 1940. The Four Year Plan required huge investments in the Reichswerke steel works, a programme for developing synthetic oil that soon went wildly over budget, and programmes for producing more chemicals and aluminium; the plan called for a policy of substituting imports and rationalizing industry to achieve its goals that failed completely. As

1000-754: A screenwriter. Together with Luis Trenker he directed the Gebirgsjäger drama Berge in Flammen ("Mountains in Flames") in 1931. He then experimented with other genres, for example the comedy Die Gräfin von Monte Cristo ("The Countess of Monte Cristo") (1932) with Brigitte Helm and Gustaf Gründgens , and in the same year achieved his final breakthrough with the flying drama film F.P.1 antwortet nicht written by Curt Siodmak and produced by Erich Pommer , with Conrad Veidt, Leslie Fenton and Jill Esmond. His lavish science fiction film Gold , released in 1934,

1100-525: A secret speech before a group of German industrialists, Göring stated that the only solution to the problems with meeting the steel production targets laid out by the Four Year Plan was to annex Austria, which Göring noted was rich in iron. Göring did not give a date for the Anschluss , but given that Four Year Plan's targets all had to be met by September 1940, and the current problems with meeting

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1200-489: A slim majority in the event of a plebiscite, and not the 75 per cent necessary, and that the number of Anschluss supporters in 1919 was not more than 50 per cent of the population. Even Otto Bauer, leader of the Social Democratic party had to admit that both the bourgeoisie and the peasantry wanted 'an independent Austria fully capable of a national life of its own'. More telling is Bauer's admission that, because of

1300-629: A split in the SPÖ . Austrian left circles vehemently opposed Anschluss, and Renner's declaration prompted many to defect to Revolutionary Socialists under Otto Bauer or the KPÖ . The relevance of Innitzer's endorsement is also disputed—he was reportedly "despised" by Austrian workers, and the Anschluss sparked Catholic protests in Austria under the slogan "Our Führer is Christ" (rather than Hitler). According to Hungarian historian Oszkár Jászi , writing in 1938,

1400-417: A stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators." Hitler said as a personal note to the Anschluss : "I, myself, as Führer and Chancellor, will be happy to walk on the soil of the country that is my home as a free German citizen." Hitler's popularity reached an unprecedented peak after he fulfilled the Anschluss because he had completed the long-awaited idea of

1500-669: A third of Wien-Film's 60 or so drama films. Not far behind them in productivity were Willi Forst , who was responsible for the best productions of this period, Géza von Bolváry and Hans Thimig , followed by the brothers Ernst and Hubert Marischka , as well as Géza von Cziffra , who with The White Dream (1943) achieved the most commercially successful of Wien-Film's productions. The most frequently used cameramen were Günther Anders , Georg Bruckbauer , Hans Schneeberger and Jaroslaw Tuzar . Wien-Film's principal composers were Anton Profes and Willy Schmidt-Gentner . Erich von Neusser and Fritz Podehl were producers. For premises

1600-626: A triumphal tour that climaxed in Vienna on 15 March 1938, 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 "As leader and chancellor of

1700-482: A unification with the Weimar Republic . Further plebiscites were then forbidden. However, Erich Bielka notes that the plebiscites were marred by electoral fraud and voter manipulation, and therefore do not reflect what the general Austrian opinion was at that time: In addition to the massive propaganda campaign and not insignificant Reich German influence, 'Ja' ballot papers were pre-printed and provided at

1800-422: A union, Schuschnigg met Hitler at Berchtesgaden on 12 February 1938, in an attempt to avoid the takeover of Austria. Hitler presented Schuschnigg with a set of demands including appointing Nazi sympathizers to positions of power in the government. The key appointment was that of Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Minister of Public Security, with full, unlimited control of the police. In return Hitler would publicly reaffirm

1900-480: A young age. Whilst infiltrating the German Workers' Party (DAP), Hitler became involved in a heated political argument with a visitor, a Professor Baumann, who proposed that Bavaria should break away from Prussia and found a new South German nation with Austria. In vehemently attacking the man's arguments he made an impression on the other party members with his oratorical skills and, according to Hitler,

2000-452: Is listed today as one of the most successful German films of the genre. In 1937, he directed the popular criminal comedy Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war ("The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes") starring Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann . After most of the talented directors, technicians, actors had been forced to leave in the course of the 1938 Anschluss annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany , Hartl became head of production for Wien-Film ,

2100-464: Is no longer willing to tolerate the suppression of ten million Germans across its borders." On 3 March 1938, Austrian Socialists offered to back Schuschnigg's government in exchange for political concessions, such as legalising socialist press, returning confiscated funds and "the lifting of the ban on the wearing of Social Democrat badges, show Social Democrat flags and standards and singing Social Democrat songs." Schuschnigg agreed to these demands and

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2200-777: The Anschluß Österreichs ( pronunciation , English: Annexation of Austria ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an Anschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ") arose after the 1871 unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German Empire . It gained support after

2300-669: The 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. For the Wehrmacht , the invasion was the first big test of its machinery. Although the invading forces were badly organized and coordination among the units was poor, it mattered little because the Austrian government had ordered the Austrian Bundesheer not to resist. That afternoon, Hitler, riding in

2400-740: The Allies as "German property". After Vienna had been divided up into five zones of occupation it became apparent that the film studios in Sievering and the main offices in Siebensterngasse came under the American administration, but that the film workshops at Rosenhügel were in the Soviet sector. The Sievering film studios , it was believed, were to be liquidated by the Americans, in

2500-418: The Anschluss as they saw it as completing the complex and long overdue unification of all Germans into one state. Hitler had originally intended to leave Austria as a satellite state with Seyss-Inquart as head of a pro-Nazi government. However, the overwhelming reception caused him to change course and absorb Austria directly into the Reich. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart announced the abrogation of Article 88 of

2600-805: The Anschluss was ambivalent; but, since the Social Democratic Party of Austria leader Karl Renner and the highest representative of the Roman Catholic church in Austria Cardinal Theodor Innitzer both endorsed the Anschluss , approximately two-thirds of Austrians could be counted on to vote for it. What the result of the plebiscite meant for the Austrians will always be a matter of speculation. Nevertheless, historians generally agree that it cannot be explained exclusively by simply either opportunism or

2700-536: The Austro-Hungarian Empire fell in 1918. The new Republic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany, but the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Versailles forbade both the union and the continued use of the name "German-Austria" ( Deutschösterreich ); they also stripped Austria of some of its territories, such as the Sudetenland . This left Austria without most of

2800-622: The Entente with justification for demanding territorial compensations". During the Paris Peace Conference the French sought to forbid a union between Austria and Germany, with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephen Pichon stating that they "must see that Germany is not given an opportunity to rebuild her strength by utilizing the Austrian populations which remain outside of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Jugoslavia". A compromise

2900-540: The Habsburg monarchy and wished for Austria to remain an independent country. Erich Ludendorff wrote to the Federal Foreign Office on 14 October 1918 about the possibility of conducting an Anschluss with the German areas of Austria-Hungary as its dissolution removed the problem of the country's numerous ethnic groups. Secretary Wilhelm Solf opposed the proposal, stating that it "would provide

3000-622: The Kriegsmarine commander Admiral Erich Raeder and the Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum . At the conference, Hitler stated that economic problems were causing Germany to fall behind in the arms race with Britain and France, and that the only solution was to launch in the near-future a series of wars to seize Austria and Czechoslovakia , whose economies would be plundered to give Germany

3100-462: The Nuremberg Laws in 1935. The plan went awry when it became apparent that Hitler would not stand by while Austria declared its independence by public vote. Hitler declared that the referendum would be subject to major fraud and that Germany would never accept it. In addition, the German ministry of propaganda issued press reports that riots had broken out in Austria and that large parts of

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3200-595: The Reich or living outside it in order to create an "all-German Reich ". Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf (1925) that he would create a union between his birth country Austria and Germany by any means possible. The First Austrian Republic was dominated from the late 1920s by the Christian Social Party (CS), whose economic policies were based on the papal encyclical Rerum novarum . The First Republic gradually disintegrated in 1933, when parliament

3300-651: The Reichsfilmkammer . Despite Hartls professional ties to the regime, Wien-Film made largely propaganda-free entertainment films under Hartls leadership. Research has pointed to Hartls sophisticated use of local dialects and references to the Viennese court to subvert fascist expectations. After 1945 he resumed film-making. On 3 July 1947 he set up in Salzburg , with the support of the Creditanstalt ,

3400-554: The Social Democrats and their trade unions in return for their support in the referendum. He also set the minimum voting age at 24 to exclude younger voters because the Nazi movement was most popular among the young. In contrast, Hitler had lowered the voting age for German elections held under Nazi rule, largely to compensate for the removal of Jews and other ethnic minorities from the German electorate following enactment of

3500-590: The "professor" left the hall acknowledging unequivocal defeat. Impressed with Hitler, Anton Drexler invited him to join the DAP. Hitler accepted on 12 September 1919, becoming the party's 55th member. After becoming leader of the DAP, Hitler addressed a crowd on 24 February 1920, and in an effort to appeal to wider parts of the German population, the DAP was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). As its first point,

3600-622: The 1920 National Socialist Program stated, "We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the people's right to self-determination." Hitler argued in a 1921 essay that the German Reich had a single task of, "incorporating the ten million German-Austrians in the Empire and dethroning the Habsburgs, the most miserable dynasty ever ruling." The Nazis aimed to re-unite all Germans who were either born in

3700-508: The 1920s it was a target for German investment capital. By 1937, rapid German rearmament increased Berlin's interest in annexing Austria, rich in raw materials and labour. It supplied Germany with magnesium and the products of the iron, textile and machine industries. It had gold and foreign currency reserves, many unemployed skilled workers, hundreds of idle factories, and large potential hydroelectric resources. Hitler, an Austrian German by birth, picked up his German nationalist ideas at

3800-550: The Anschluss. While the population's true opinions are unknown, it has been estimated that about 70% of Austrians would have voted to preserve Austrian independence. The idea of grouping all Germans into one nation-state had been the subject of debate in the 19th century from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the break-up of the German Confederation in 1866. Austria had wanted

3900-590: The Austrian Jews as well as "old Hapsburgist officers and officials and by a considerable part of Austrian capitalism". Most contemporary writers estimated that about two-thirds of Austrians wanted Austria to remain independent. Karl Hartl Karl Hartl (10 May 1899 – 29 August 1978) was an Austrian film director . Born in Vienna , Hartl began his film career at the Austrian Sascha-Film company of Alexander Kolowrat and from 1919

4000-583: The Austrian Nazis, cooperated with Catholic groups, and wanted to preserve a measure of Austrian identity within Nazi Germany. On 20 February, Hitler made a speech before the Reichstag which was broadcast live and which for the first time was relayed also by the Austrian radio network . A key phrase in the speech which was aimed at the Germans living in Austria and Czechoslovakia was: "The German Reich

4100-547: The Austrian government looked to a possible customs union with the German Republic in 1931. However, ultimately regional patriotism was stronger than pan-German sentiment. In the Austrian Empire, each Kronland had its own functional government and enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy from Vienna , with "each looking to their own capital" instead. According to Jody Manning, the idea of unification with Germany

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4200-406: The Austrian population were calling for German troops to restore order. Schuschnigg immediately responded that reports of riots were false. Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March, demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazis or face an invasion. The ultimatum was set to expire at noon, but was extended by two hours. Without waiting for an answer, Hitler had already signed

4300-707: The Austro-Hungarian Empire and offered to form a customs union with Austria. However, Austrian Chancellor Ignaz Seipel , an Anschluss opponent, rejected the offer. Seipel was replaced in 1929 by Johannes Schober , who pursued a pro-Germany policy and attempted to form a customs union. However, a political crisis led to Schober losing power and Seipel returning to the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Negotiations were restarted after Otto Ender became chancellor and were finalized with German Foreign Affairs Minister Julius Curtius on 5 March 1931, before being approved by Germany on 18 March. France opposed

4400-763: The Catholic elements of Austria's national identity and staunchly opposed union with Nazi Germany . Engelbert Dollfuss and his successor, Kurt Schuschnigg , turned to Benito Mussolini 's Fascist Italy for inspiration and support. Mussolini supported the independence of Austria, largely due to his concern that Hitler would eventually press for the return of Italian territories which had once been ruled by Austria. However, Mussolini needed German support in Ethiopia ( see Second Italo-Abyssinian War ). After receiving Hitler's personal assurance that Germany would not seek territorial concessions from Italy, Mussolini entered into

4500-516: 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, other potential political dissenters, and Austrian 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

4600-453: The Four Year Plan fell further and further behind its targets, Hermann Göring , the chief of the Four Year Plan office, began to press for an Anschluss as a way of securing Austria's iron and other raw materials as a solution to the problems with the Four Year Plan. The British historian Sir Ian Kershaw wrote: ...above all, it was Hermann Göring, at this time close to the pinnacle of his power, who far more than Hitler, throughout 1937 made

4700-624: The German Reich. Hugo Preuss , the drafter of the German Weimar Constitution , criticized efforts to prevent an Anschluss; he saw the prohibition as a contradiction of the Wilsonian principle of self-determination of peoples. The constitutions of the Weimar Republic and the First Austrian Republic both included the political goal of unification, which parties widely supported. In the early 1930s,

4800-480: The German Reich. Anschluss might have occurred by democratic process had Austrian Nazis not begun a terrorism campaign. According to John Gunther in 1936, "In 1932 Austria was probably eighty percent pro- Anschluss ". When Germany permitted residents of Austria to vote on 5 March 1933, three special trains, boats and trucks brought such masses to Passau that the SS staged a ceremonial welcome. Gunther wrote that by

4900-474: The German boycott was too great. That summer Schuschnigg told Mussolini that his country had to come to an agreement with Germany. On 11 July 1936 he signed an agreement with German ambassador Franz von Papen , in which Schuschnigg agreed to the release of Nazis imprisoned in Austria and Germany promised to respect Austrian sovereignty. Under the terms of the Austro-German treaty, Austria declared itself

5000-415: The German economic sphere of influence was sufficient. In this context, having Austria annexed to Germany was the key towards bringing Eastern Europe into Göring's desired Grossraumwirtschaft ("greater economic space"). Faced with problems in the Four Year Plan, Göring had become the loudest voice in Germany, calling for an Anschluss , even at the risk of losing an alliance with Italy. In April 1937, in

5100-420: 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

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5200-674: The German states in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1866 the feud finally came to an end during the Austro-Prussian War in which the Prussians defeated the Austrians and thereby excluded the Austrian Empire and German Austrians from Germany. The Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck formed the North German Confederation , which included most of the remaining German states, aside from a few in

5300-509: The Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as his replacement. Hitler's plan was for Seyss-Inquart to call immediately for German troops to rush to Austria's aid, restoring order and giving the invasion an air of legitimacy. In the face of this threat, Schuschnigg informed Seyss-Inquart that the plebiscite would be cancelled. To secure a large majority in the referendum, Schuschnigg dismantled the one-party state. He agreed to legalize

5400-581: The Rosenhügel Studios a synchronisation complex was built, with a large and a small synchronisation hall, cutting rooms and offices. Between 1939 and 1945, fifty films were made. There were also a number of delegated productions, which were carried out under the names of Forst-Film , Emo-Film , and Styria-Film . Anschluss The Anschluss ( German: [ˈʔanʃlʊs] , or Anschluß , lit.   ' joining ' or ' connection ' ), also known as

5500-479: The Treaty of Saint-Germain , which prohibited the unification of Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of the Austrian states with Reichsgaue . The seizure of Austria demonstrated once again Hitler's aggressive territorial ambitions, and, once again, the failure of the British and the French to take action against him for violating the Versailles Treaty. Their lack of will emboldened him toward further aggression. Hitler's journey through Austria became

5600-450: The Viennese film director Karl Hartl , who also remained chief of production right to the end. The making of cultural films was under the direction of Dr. Josef Lebzelter of the former Selenophon-Film company. Overall control of film productions – from the initial idea to the screening - was the responsibility of the Reichsfilmdramaturg and later the Reichsfilmintendant . The first board meeting took place on 16 December 1938, at which

5700-465: The advisers were also appointed. These were: The stars of Wien-Film until 1945 were Wolf Albach-Retty , Elfriede Datzig , Marte Harell , Hans Holt , Olly Holzmann , Attila Hörbiger , Paul Hörbiger , Winnie Markus , Hans Moser , Rudolf Prack , Jane Tilden and Paula Wessely . The directors most used by Wien-Film were Gustav Ucicky , experienced in getting across National Socialist propaganda content, and E. W. Emo , who between them produced

5800-426: The belief that Austria, stripped of its imperial land, was not viable economically. Popular support for the unification faded with time, although it remained as a concept in the contemporary Austrian political discourse. After 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, desire for unification could be identified with the Nazis, for whom it was an integral part of the Nazi " Heim ins Reich " ("back home to

5900-417: The changes and allowed the Nazis to take over the government 'to avoid the shedding of fraternal blood [ Bruderblut ]'. Seyss-Inquart was appointed chancellor after midnight on 12 March. It is said that after listening to Bruckner's Seventh Symphony , Hitler cried: "How can anyone say that Austria is not German! Is there anything more German than our old pure Austrianness?" On the morning of 12 March 1938,

6000-420: The customs union, stating that it was in violation of Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . When the Nazis , led by Adolf Hitler , rose to power in the Weimar Republic, the Austrian government withdrew from economic ties. Like Germany, Austria experienced the economic turbulence which was a result of the Great Depression , with a high unemployment rate, and unstable commerce and industry. During

6100-445: The desire of socioeconomics and represented the genuine German nationalist feeling in Austria during the interwar period. Also, the general anti-Semitic consensus in Austria meant that a substantial amount of Austrians were more than ready to "fulfill their duty" in the "Greater German Reich". However, British historian Donny Gluckstein notes that Austrian socialists reacted with "disgust" to Renner's endorsement of Anschluss, provoking

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6200-472: The end of 1933 Austrian public opinion about German annexation was at least 60% against. On 25 July 1934, chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in a failed coup. Afterwards, leading Austrian Nazis fled to Germany but they continued to push for unification from there. The remaining Austrian Nazis continued terrorist attacks against Austrian governmental institutions, causing a death toll of more than 800 between 1934 and 1938. Dollfuss's successor

6300-445: The entire world just how little hold National Socialism really had on that tiny country." Schuschnigg desperately sought support for Austrian independence in the hours following the ultimatum. Realizing that neither France nor Britain was willing to offer assistance, Schuschnigg resigned on the evening of 11 March, but President Wilhelm Miklas refused to appoint Seyss-Inquart as Chancellor. At 8:45 pm, Hitler, tired of waiting, ordered

6400-441: The film production company Neue Wiener Filmproduktionsgesellschaft. One of his most acclaimed films of this period was Der Engel mit der Posaune ("The Angel with the Trombone") in 1949, which brought together many compatriot Austrian stars: Paula Wessely , Attila and Paul Hörbiger , Oskar Werner and Maria Schell . His later films included Weg in die Vergangenheit ("Way into the Past") from 1954 and Mozart , which entered

6500-416: The idea of Anschluss was opposed amongst most political circles in Austria. Jászi noted that "the annihilation of the German labor movement showed to Austrian socialism what it could expect from an Anschluss under Nazi rule", while "Austrian Catholicism realized what its fate would be under a system which crushed the great Catholic Party of Germany, the Centrum ". It was also opposed by other groups, such as

6600-428: The industry kept to German terms. In the drama films produced by the new company Austrian themes dominated, typified by the standard Viennese light romantic comedy, the Wiener Film , lavish in music, costumes and sets, which mostly portrayed past times in rosy hues. From 1943/44, Wien-Film also made colour films , a privilege previously restricted to the UFA company. Wien-Film also produced cultural films. Besides

6700-465: The interests of eliminating all possible competition to Hollywood productions. At the end of 1945, the former head of Vienna film production, Karl Hartl , was nominated the industry's business leader. While the Soviets, according to the provisions of the Potsdam Agreement , took over all former "German" businesses as war reparations, the western occupying powers - Great Britain , the United States and France - waived their rights in this regard. For

6800-429: The invasion to commence at dawn on 12 March regardless. Around 10 pm, a forged telegram was sent in Seyss-Inquart's name asking for German troops, since he was not yet Chancellor and was unable to do so himself. Seyss-Inquart was not installed as Chancellor until after midnight, when Miklas resigned himself to the inevitable. In the radio broadcast in which Schuschnigg announced his resignation, he argued that he accepted

6900-496: The lead in the arms race. In early 1938, Hitler was seriously considering replacing Papen as ambassador to Austria with either Colonel Hermann Kriebel , the German consul in Shanghai , or Albert Forster , the Gauleiter of Danzig. Significantly, neither Kriebel nor Forster was a professional diplomat, with Kriebel being one of the leaders of the 1923 Munich Beerhall putsch who had been appointed consul in Shanghai to facilitate his work as an arms dealer in China, while Forster

7000-627: The leadership of Bismarck and Prussia formed—this excluded Austria. Besides ensuring Prussian domination of a united Germany , the exclusion of Austria also ensured that Germany would have a substantial Protestant majority. The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , the Ausgleich , provided for a dual sovereignty, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary , under Franz Joseph I . This diverse empire included various different ethnic groups including Hungarians, Slavic ethnic groups such as Croats, Czechs, Poles, Rusyns, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as Italians and Romanians ruled by

7100-416: The newly created body through which the UFA, and beyond it, Joseph Goebbels , controlled the Austrian film industry. In this role, which he retained until the end of the war , Hartl seldom undertook work on individual films himself but was nevertheless involved at a senior level with some of the most significant entertainment films of the Nazi period. He was a member of the Advisory Council (Präsidialrat) of

7200-457: The newly established Ostmärkische Filmtheater Betriebsgesellschaft m.b.H. ("Ostmark Film Theatre Company Ltd"). The film production programme laid down by Berlin was to make films that were rooted in the soil of the Ostmark and provided distraction, in line with the government slogan Kraft durch Freude ("Strength Through Joy"). After the end of World War II , Wien-Film was confiscated by

7300-646: The newly refounded Wien-Film, this meant that they could continue work at the studios in Sievering and Schönbrunn , but had to write off the studios and workshops at Rosenhügel. These were incorporated into USIA , the Soviet body responsible for administering Austrian assets as war reparations, and operated from then on as "Wien-Film am Rosenhügel" . On 21 August 1945, Wien-Film and the State Department for Reconstruction ( Staatsamt für Wiederaufbau ) signed

7400-577: The only two large studio complexes in Austria - the former Sascha-Film studios in Sievering and the former Vita-Film workshops at Rosenhügel - were acquired. In addition to these, there was also the small workshop formerly belonging to Wiener Kunstfilm in the Bauernmarkt in the Innere Stadt and another small studio in Schönbrunn . In the three years between 1939 and 1941 next to

7500-478: The order to send troops into Austria at one o'clock. Nevertheless, the German Führer underestimated his opposition. As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edgar Ansel Mowrer , reporting from Paris for CBS News , observed: "There is no one in all France who does not believe that Hitler invaded Austria not to hold a genuine plebiscite, but to prevent the plebiscite planned by Schuschnigg from demonstrating to

7600-479: The philosophy Austrians were "superior Germans"). Schuschnigg called Austria the "better German state" but struggled to keep Austria independent. In an attempt to put Schuschnigg's mind at rest, Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichstag and said, "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria or to conclude an Anschluss." By 1936, the damage to Austria from

7700-537: The polling stations and ballots were to be handed to an election official, undermining voter confidentiality. In addition, voter eligibility rules were liberally conceived and, therefore, open to abuse. Not only were those registered for the Nationalrat elections of October 1920 permitted to vote, but also those who registered themselves as living in Tyrol before April 1921, that is, less than a fortnight before going to

7800-466: The polls, as were all those Tyroleans who lived outside of the state; a train was even chartered from Bavaria to mitigate the financial burden of travelling 'home'. In the aftermath of a prohibition of an Anschluss, Germans in both Austria and Germany pointed to a contradiction in the national self-determination principle because the treaties failed to grant self-determination to the ethnic Germans (such as German Austrians and Sudeten Germans ) outside of

7900-479: The popular will in Austria and Germany, Hitler threatened an invasion and secretly pressured Schuschnigg to resign. A day before the planned referendum, the German Army crossed the border into Austria on 12 March, unopposed by the Austrian military. A plebiscite was held on 10 April, in which the ballot was not secret, and threats and coercion were employed to manipulate the vote, resulting in 99.7% approval for

8000-417: The production of dramas and cultural films, Wien-Film concentrated on the management of cinemas . Across Austria, the company owned 14 cinemas in Vienna , Berndorf , Linz , Steyr and Steyrermühl . The Vienna cinemas were the "Scala", the "Apollo", the "Busch" and the "UFA-Ton", which were used for premieres. Wien-Film also ran the cinemas formerly owned by KIBA ( Wiener Kinobetriebsanstalt ) and UFA, under

8100-488: The purpose of film is to give form to what satisfies human hearts and what makes them shudder, and by the revelation of the eternal, transports them into better worlds." The company's expected propaganda function was thus made unmistakably clear. Jews had been forbidden to work in the Austrian film industry since 1935, as the German Reichsfilmkammer had threatened to ban the import of Austrian films unless

8200-580: The racial dogmatism central to Hitler's ideology. Göring was far more interested in the return of the former German colonies in Africa than Hitler was, believed up to 1939 in the possibility of an Anglo-German alliance (an idea that Hitler had abandoned by late 1937), and wanted all Eastern Europe in the German economic sphere of influence . Göring did not share Hitler's interest in Lebensraum ("living space") as for him, merely having Eastern Europe in

8300-523: The realm") concept, which sought to incorporate as many Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans outside Germany) as possible into a " Greater Germany ". Nazi Germany's agents cultivated pro-unification tendencies in Austria, and sought to undermine the Austrian government, which was controlled by the Austrofascist Fatherland Front , which opposed unification. During an attempted coup in 1934 , Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss

8400-401: The referendum. On 9 March 1938, in the face of rioting by the small, but virulent, Austrian Nazi Party and ever-expanding German demands on Austria, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg called a referendum (plebiscite) on the issue, to be held on 13 March. Infuriated, on 11 March, Adolf Hitler threatened invasion of Austria, and demanded Chancellor von Schuschnigg's resignation and the appointment of

8500-441: The rump Republic of German-Austria after 1918 largely favored some sort of union with Germany. An Austrian provisional national assembly drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German Austria is a component of the German Republic" (Article 2). Later plebiscites in the Austrian border provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg yielded majorities of 98% and 99% in favor of

8600-538: The running and pushed the hardest for an early and radical solution to the 'Austrian Question'. Göring was not simply operating as Hitler's agent in matters relating to the 'Austrian Question'. His approach differed in emphasis in significant respects...But Göring's broad notions of foreign policy, which he pushed to a great extent on his own initiative in the mid-1930s drew more on traditional pan-German concepts of nationalist power-politics to attain hegemony in Europe than on

8700-677: The southwestern region of the German-inhabited lands, and further expanded the power of the Kingdom of Prussia . Bismarck used the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871) as a way to convince southwestern German states, including the Kingdom of Bavaria , to side with Prussia against the Second French Empire . Due to Prussia's quick victory, the debate was settled and in 1871 the " Kleindeutsch " German Empire based on

8800-625: The steel production targets, suggested that he wanted an Anschluss in the very near-future. Hitler told Goebbels in the late summer of 1937 that eventually Austria would have to be taken "by force". On 5 November 1937, Hitler called a meeting with the Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath , the War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg , the Army commander General Werner von Fritsch ,

8900-473: The strength of the conservative opposition to Anschluss and the real possibility that the majority would have voted against the Anschluss, the Socialists did not dare to hold a referendum in 1919. The French attempted to prevent an Anschluss by incorporating Austria into a Danubian Confederation in 1927. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Gustav Stresemann opposed it, as he saw it as an attempt to re-form

9000-476: The territories it had ruled for centuries and amid economic crisis. By the 1920s, the Anschluss proposal had strong support in both Austria and Germany, particularly to many Austrian citizens of the political left and center. One vehement supporter was Otto Bauer , the prominent Social Democrat leader who served as Austria's Foreign Minister after the war. Support for unification with Germany came mainly from

9100-459: The treaty of 11 July 1936 and reaffirm his support for Austria's national sovereignty. Browbeaten and threatened by Hitler, Schuschnigg agreed to these demands and put them into effect. Seyss-Inquart was a long-time supporter of the Nazis who sought the union of all Germans in one state. Leopold argues he was a moderate who favoured an evolutionary approach to union. He opposed the violent tactics of

9200-426: Was Kurt Schuschnigg , who followed a political course similar to his predecessor. In 1935 Schuschnigg used the police to suppress Nazi supporters. Police actions under Schuschnigg included gathering Nazis (and Social Democrats) and holding them in internment camps . The Austrofascism of Austria between 1934 and 1938 focused on the history of Austria and opposed the absorption of Austria into Nazi Germany (according to

9300-717: Was a Gauleiter who had proven he could get along with the Poles in his position in the Free City of Danzig ; both men were Nazis who had shown some diplomatic skill. On 25 January 1938, the Austrian police raided the Vienna headquarters of the Austrian Nazi Party, arresting Gauleiter Leopold Tavs, the deputy to Captain Josef Leopold , discovered a cache of arms and plans for a putsch . Following increasing violence and demands from Hitler that Austria agree to

9400-469: Was assassinated by Austrian Nazis. The defeat of the coup prompted many leading Austrian Nazis to go into exile in Germany, where they continued their efforts to unify the two countries. In early 1938, under increasing pressure from pro-unification activists, Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced that there would be a referendum on a possible union with Germany versus maintaining Austria's sovereignty to be held on 13 March. Portraying this as defying

9500-573: Was assistant to the Hungarian director Alexander Korda . As a production manager, he in the 1920s accompanied Korda to Berlin , until in 1926 he returned to Vienna to work for his former class-mate director Gustav Ucicky . From 1930 he worked for Universum Film AG (UFA) and debuted as director of Ein Burschenlied aus Heidelberg ("A Fraternity Song from Heidelberg") starring Hans Brausewetter and Willi Forst , with young Billy Wilder as

9600-479: Was converted into a makeshift concentration camp. American historian Evan Burr Bukey warned that the plebiscite result needs to be taken with "great caution". The plebiscite was subject to large-scale Nazi propaganda and to the abrogation of the voting rights of around 360,000 people (8% of the eligible voting population), mainly political enemies such as former members of left-wing parties and Austrian citizens of Jewish or Romani origin. The Austrians' support for

9700-557: Was dissolved and power was centralized in the office of the chancellor , who was empowered to rule by decree . Rival parties, including the Austrian National Socialists, were banned, and government evolved into a corporatist , one-party government that combined the CS and the paramilitary Heimwehr . It controlled labor relations and the press. ( See Austrofascism and Patriotic Front ). The new regime emphasized

9800-507: Was not overwhelmingly popular among the Austrian population in 1919, which is one of the reasons why no nationwide referendum was held, even before it was forbidden by the Entente: Despite the initially compelling statistics, overall, it appears doubtful that a qualified majority of Austrians would have supported Anschluss with Germany. From the sparse evidence available, it appears that the pro-Anschluss movement could only hope for

9900-646: Was reached and Article 80 of the Treaty of Versailles stated that "Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly the independence of Austria, within the frontiers which may be fixed in a Treaty between that State and the Principal Allied and Associated Powers; she agrees that this independence shall be inalienable, except with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations ." Elite and popular opinion in

10000-536: Was supported by the united front of socialists and communists, as well as the Heimwehr, monarchist groups and the majority of the Austrian police. The Social Democrats also declared their readiness to support Schuschnigg in the event of a plebiscite under the conditions that immediately after such a plebiscite a definite negotiation be begun to include them in the Government. This support led Schuschnigg to announce

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