statement that the postponement had already taken place and that he had apparently resigned. When the chancellor asked if he could rely on the police to defend Vienna, he was told that since the amnesty, the Nazi officers who had been sacked had been reinstated, and their loyalty to the Austrian Republic was doubtful. Schuschnigg was sure that the army was reliable, but he was convinced that Austria should not go to war with Germany—there was to be no repeat of 1866. He decided to formally postpone the plebiscite at 2:45 PM. The scene in Vienna must have been rendered all the more absurd by the ubiquity of loudspeakers blaring out the national hymn “O Du mein Österreich.” Within a few weeks most of his ministers and senior bureaucrats would be breaking stones in Dachau.
Seyss-Inquart called Göring to inform him of the decision. Communication was not helped by a faulty telephone connection between the two countries. As there was insufficient power to take the calls in Hitler’s private apartments, Hitler and Göring had to wait for news at the Berlin Chancellery switchboard. Göring’s prodigious girth meant there was scarcely room for anyone else in the small room. Hitler stood with one knee on a sofa nervously twisting the curtain cord with his hand until Seyss finally came on the line. In his excitement he managed to pull down the curtain. “Yes, he should act!” Hitler shouted.
At 5:30, Seyss returned to Schuschnigg with a notebook containing the Reichsmarschall’s prescription: “The situation can only be saved if the Austrian Chancellor resigns immediately and if Dr Seyss-Inquart is appointed Chancellor within two hours. If these conditions are not fulfilled, German armies will move on Austria.” In Berlin it was still not certain whether the army would go in. Other conditions in the ultimatum had to be carried out by 7:30, and Seyss grumbled he was being treated like a receptionist. German forces were already mustered at the border.
In Austria, public loudspeakers told men born in 1915 to report to the colors, amounting to a partial mobilization. Troops were positioned here and there, morale was good, but nothing more came of it. A unit moving up to the border from the Neusiedlersee was greeted with mild enthusiasm in places, and at others—like the small towns of Melk and Amstetten—by a population that had already gone over to Hitler. The general inspector of the Austrian army, Sigismund Schilhawsky, described military resistance as “pointless,” since Austria could not hope for any immediate support from outside. By 6 PM the troops were sent back to their barracks.
Lothar experienced this firsthand: In Amstetten there was a Nazi parade, and the firemen’s band played the Nazi “Horst Wessel-Lied” tune. At that moment the Austrian army arrived, making for the Austrian-German frontier. Lothar talked to the captain, who told him, “We left Vienna to avoid bloodshed. From tomorrow we will be no more than a unit in the German armed forces.”
By the evening of the 11 th Hitler had still not fully decided on his course. The idea was to make him federal president, and the rest could come gradually. Austrian State Secretary Theodor Hornborstl madly telephoned potential saviors. The Italians had already washed their hands of Austria. Halifax replied that he could offer nothing. No one was prepared to guarantee the state’s security. In the circumstances Schuschnigg meekly did what was required of him and tendered his resignation. In his memoirs Schuschnigg allowed himself a reflection: “That day meant not only the end of Austrian independence, it also meant the end of international morals.” It is a wonder it took him so long to realize the gravity of the situation.
WHILE THE Austrian chancellor slowly divested himself of his offices, Seyss-Inquart and Glaise-Horstenau sat in a corner of the Chancellery and received messengers with close cropped or shaven heads, “most of them with heavy
Seyss-Inquart called Göring to inform him of the decision. Communication was not helped by a faulty telephone connection between the two countries. As there was insufficient power to take the calls in Hitler’s private apartments, Hitler and Göring had to wait for news at the Berlin Chancellery switchboard. Göring’s prodigious girth meant there was scarcely room for anyone else in the small room. Hitler stood with one knee on a sofa nervously twisting the curtain cord with his hand until Seyss finally came on the line. In his excitement he managed to pull down the curtain. “Yes, he should act!” Hitler shouted.
At 5:30, Seyss returned to Schuschnigg with a notebook containing the Reichsmarschall’s prescription: “The situation can only be saved if the Austrian Chancellor resigns immediately and if Dr Seyss-Inquart is appointed Chancellor within two hours. If these conditions are not fulfilled, German armies will move on Austria.” In Berlin it was still not certain whether the army would go in. Other conditions in the ultimatum had to be carried out by 7:30, and Seyss grumbled he was being treated like a receptionist. German forces were already mustered at the border.
In Austria, public loudspeakers told men born in 1915 to report to the colors, amounting to a partial mobilization. Troops were positioned here and there, morale was good, but nothing more came of it. A unit moving up to the border from the Neusiedlersee was greeted with mild enthusiasm in places, and at others—like the small towns of Melk and Amstetten—by a population that had already gone over to Hitler. The general inspector of the Austrian army, Sigismund Schilhawsky, described military resistance as “pointless,” since Austria could not hope for any immediate support from outside. By 6 PM the troops were sent back to their barracks.
Lothar experienced this firsthand: In Amstetten there was a Nazi parade, and the firemen’s band played the Nazi “Horst Wessel-Lied” tune. At that moment the Austrian army arrived, making for the Austrian-German frontier. Lothar talked to the captain, who told him, “We left Vienna to avoid bloodshed. From tomorrow we will be no more than a unit in the German armed forces.”
By the evening of the 11 th Hitler had still not fully decided on his course. The idea was to make him federal president, and the rest could come gradually. Austrian State Secretary Theodor Hornborstl madly telephoned potential saviors. The Italians had already washed their hands of Austria. Halifax replied that he could offer nothing. No one was prepared to guarantee the state’s security. In the circumstances Schuschnigg meekly did what was required of him and tendered his resignation. In his memoirs Schuschnigg allowed himself a reflection: “That day meant not only the end of Austrian independence, it also meant the end of international morals.” It is a wonder it took him so long to realize the gravity of the situation.
WHILE THE Austrian chancellor slowly divested himself of his offices, Seyss-Inquart and Glaise-Horstenau sat in a corner of the Chancellery and received messengers with close cropped or shaven heads, “most of them with heavy
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