Choosing Unfreedom: the Anschluss of 1938 as Depicted in the Austrian Press

Abstract

With the establishment of the Dollfuss-Schuschnigg regime in Austria in the 1930s, the Austrian press came under strict state control, which, to a certain extent, led to its unification and high controllability by public opinion. These trends manifested themselves most clearly during the preparation and implementation of the Anschluss in 1938. Despite the differing political orientation of the newspapers that were formally representing the entire spectrum of social thought, every issue would broadcast identical patterns, whose content depended on the government’s position at any given moment. Throughout January and February, every newspaper actively made patriotic statements justifying the viability of an independent Austrian state and defending the government’s policy of maintaining close ties between the First Austrian Republic and the Third Reich. However, as the government of Kurt Schuschnigg showed more and more compliance with the demands of the German Führer for the reunification of the two German-seaking states, the tone in the Austrian press moved towards increasing approval of the idea of the Anschluss and justifying the need to hold a referendum on the fate of Austria. As a result, after the occupation of Austrian lands by German troops, the local press quickly reoriented itself towards supporting the Nazification of Austria and called for voting for the inclusion of the state in the German Reich in the plebiscite on 10 April. Such adaptability of the Austrian press was to a large extent impelled by the authoritarian regime of Dollfuss/Schuschnigg and reflected the disappointment in the viability of one’s own state that had taken shape among the Austrian population by the end of the 1930s.