When did the Nazis occupy Austria?
Anschluss
Anschluss ( "joining") refers to the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The word's German spelling, until the German orthography reform of 1996, was Anschluß and it was also known as the Anschluss Österreichs (, ).
Austria – the Nazis' first victim
In 1955 Austrians managed to solicit the Allies to exclude the provisions of Austrian responsibility for Hitlerite crimes from the Austrian State Treaty. Earlier Israel has renounced its claims to Austria. After the sovereignty had been recovered and the occupational troops been pulled out, the Austrian conservative rhetoric reached its climax. At last Austrians could openly express their attitude to the results of WWII: according to the "victim theory" of that period (1955-1962) the invasion of the victory states in 1945 was not a liberation, but a hostile occupation that superseded Hitlerite one. From this point of view Austria had been a "victim" not only of Hitler, but also of the victorious occupiers. The first of federal politicians to express this opinion in public was Figl during the celebrations of signing the Austrian State Treaty.