Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938-1945

by Evan Burr Bukey

Although Austrians comprised only 8 percent of the population of Hitler's Reich, they made up 14 percent of SS members and 40 percent of those involved in the Nazis' killing operations. This was no coincidence. Popular anti-Semitism was so powerful in Austria that once deportations of Jews began in 1941, the streets of Vienna were frequently lined with crowds of bystanders shouting their approval. Such scenes did not occur in Berlin.

Exploring the convictions behind these phenomena, Evan Bukey offers a detailed examination of popular opinion in Hitler's native country after the Anschluss (annexation) of 1938. He uses evidence gathered in Europe and the United States--including highly confidential reports of the Nazi Security Service--to dissect the reactions, views, and conduct of disparate political and social groups, most notably the Austrian Nazi Party, the industrial working class, the Catholic Church, and the farming community.

Sketching a nuanced and complex portrait of Austrian attitudes and behavior in the Nazi era, Bukey demonstrates that despite widespread dissent, discontent, and noncompliance, a majority of the Austrian populace supported the Anschluss regime until the bitter end, particularly in its economic and social policies and its actions against Jews.


"Excellent. . . . Warmly recommended for those experts on Austria recruited since the arrival of Haider's Freedom Party in Vienna's corridors of power.--Times Literary Supplement

"Even-handed, thoroughly documented, clearly written, and utterly fascinating. . . . An important and thought-provoking book.--Library Journal

"Now our best study on Austria's embrace of Nazism.--American Historical Review

"From a wealth of previously unknown archival sources, Bukey has put together a fair, conscientiously multifaceted though unsparingly frank picture of the Austrian people during the period of Nazi rule.--Historische Zeitschrift

Using evidence gathered in Europe and the United States, Evan Bukey crafts a nuanced portrait of popular opinion in Austria, Hitler's homeland, after the country was annexed by Germany in 1938. He demonstrates that despite widespread dissent, discontent, and noncompliance, a majority of the Austrian populace supported the Anschluss regime--particularly in its economic, social, and anti-Semitic policies--until the bitter end.

Evan Burr Bukey is professor of history at the University of Arkansas and author of Hitler's Linz, Austria, 1908-1945.

Genres: History, Germany, World War II, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly solid exploration of the attitudes of Austrians before and throughout WWII.

The author explores people's reactions to the Anschluss and the eventual war, and how these reactions differed among the various provinces, rural and urban environments, and various other categorizations of Austrians... all at a number of different time points within the Third Reich's existence. This level of granularity may be too much for some casual history readers, though I personally found it interesting; in any case, readers should familiarize themselves at the start with the provinces and main cities of Austria (and the districts of Vienna if feeling especially ambitious).

The author focuses in particular on how Austrians' reactions to events differed and were similar to those of their neighbors in Germany. He paints a picture of an Austria, still shaped by the Habsburg dynasty and the Catholic Church's policies of Counter-Reformation, that was struggling to find its own real identity (and thus ultimately welcoming of the Anschluss with Germany) yet still not fully identifying with the values of the "Prussians". The people of this Austria were generally quite receptive to Nazism, not always as a coherent political movement per se, but at least to several specific parts, among them its antisemitism. Animosity towards Jews was deep-seated in Austria (perhaps more so than in Germany), was fueled in part by a history of Counter-Reformational practices by the Catholic Church, and led to some of the most violent anti-Jewish pogroms occurring in Vienna, which were carried out by the local inhabitants (not merely by party officials in secret) with a ruthlessness that surprised even leading party officials. The causes and consequences of this violence are just one of several dimensions of Austrians' reception of Nazism that are covered in the second part of the book.

The book is quite thorough, although at times it begins to feel repetitive as if the author has little new to add beyond what he has already said. This is particularly true of the third of three parts of the book, which describes the war years and feels less polished than the earlier parts. These war years, in the author's telling, essentially followed a repeated cycle: people all over Austria fear the war will never end, bad rumors are spreading about military defeats, the government or army does something to boost morale (e.g. wins a battle, announces higher rations, Hitler speaks publicly to motivate the masses), people are elated and have new hope, but the economic situation is still horrible and people are afraid of air raids, repeat cycle. This cycle does capture the roller coaster of emotions that are undoubtedly felt during such a long conflict, but at a certain point here each description of an additional cycle ceases to add much new insight.

One key strength of the book is that the author refrains from oversimplifying or overgeneralizing about all Austrians, while still highlighting some trends and distinctions so as to also avoid simply claiming that nothing can be concluded. With so many different viewpoints explored, the narrative occasionally becomes confusing, as the author occasionally makes a claim, only to present evidence on the next page that seems to suggest the exact opposite. However, the last few pages at the end of each chapter typically do provide a clear restatement of the overall conclusions.

This book is definitely for a niche audience, but I learned quite a bit from it.

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is difficult to review since it was originally published in 2000. What may have been original arguments then, no longer appear that original with the passage of time. Specifically, the author challenges the once popular representation of Austria as Nazi Germany's first victim. Through an analysis of popular sentiment in various sectors of Austrian society, the author shows that deep-seated Pan-German nationalist sentiment and antisemitism accounted for Austrians' enthusiastic embrace of the Anschluss rather than recent economic woes caused by the Great Depression. In fact, the author contends that Austrians' support of a unified Germany under Hitler remained firm even after Germany's defeat at Stalingrad. Thus, he rejects the argument of some historians that this defeat marked the emergence of a growing sense of Austrian-ness.

The book opens with a brief history of Austria prior to the Anschluss. For non-scholars of the region, this history is too brief to be helpful. For example, the author never explains why Austrian leaders trying to prevent a German takeover turned to an alliance with fascist Italy and with Hungary. Similarly, the author never explains why this alliance ultimately collapsed and Mussolini chose to align with Hitler.

That said, the book's discussion of the changing relationship between Pre-Nazi and Nazi Austria and the hierarchy of the Austrian Catholic Church is well developed and an interesting read.

I only wish that this particular edition had not contained so many typos, as their large number detracted from what otherwise appeared to be a well-researched monograph.

[Matthew Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging discussion of how Austria came under Nazi control and then a detailed analysis of what Austria under the nazis looked like. The author arguably shows that while there were elements of Austrian society for whom the Nazis were the ideal government, that other sections of Austrian society remained deeply antagonistic to the policies of the nazis.

[Steve Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a student of Dr. Bukey. His lectures are as good as this book.