# GERMANY INVADES AUSTRIA WORLD WAR II NEWSREEL ANSCHLUSS CASTLE FILMS SOUND VERSION 70792

Produced in 1938, this American newsreel shows the Anschluss -- the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938. Austria was annexed into the German Third Reich on 12 March 1938. There had been several years of pressure by supporters in both Austria and Germany (by both Nazis and non-Nazis) for the "Heim ins Reich" movement. Earlier, Nazi Germany had provided support for the Austrian National Socialist Party (Austrian Nazi Party) in its bid to seize power from Austria's Fatherland Front government. Under considerable pressure from both Austrian and German Nazis, Austria's Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg decided to hold a referendum to provide a popular vote on the issue, expecting Austria to vote in favour of maintaining its autonomy, but before this could take place there was a well-planned coup d'état by the Austrian Nazi Party, which seized control of Austria's state institutions in Vienna on 11 March 1938. The leaders of the coup then cancelled the referendum. They transferred power to Germany, and Wehrmacht troops entered Austria to enforce the Anschluss. The Nazis held a plebiscite within the following month, asking the people to ratify the fait accompli, and claimed that 99.7561% of the votes cast were in favor. Although the Allies were committed to upholding the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and that of St. Germain, which specifically prohibited the union of Austria and the German state, their reaction was only verbal and moderate. No military confrontation…

- Kind: Newsreel
- Genres: War, News, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/70792GermanyInvadesAustria)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/70792GermanyInvadesAustria?play=1)