Goering and Goering: Hitler's Henchman and his anti-Nazi Brother by Wyllie James

Author:Wyllie, James [Wyllie, James]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Goering and Goering
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

The run in to the Anschluss began in February 1938 with a meeting between Hitler and Schuschnigg, during which the Führer, flanked by his generals, subjected the Austrian chancellor to one of his hysterical tirades. On a calmer but no less threatening note, Hitler quipped that he might ‘turn up in Vienna overnight, like a spring storm’.4 Nevertheless Schuschnigg went home with a ten-point programme which he immediately called ‘an honourable peace . . . which will put a definite stop to the struggle’5 – which made it even harder to comprehend what he did next. On 9 March he announced that a plebiscite would be held four days later to decide the country’s future, and asked ‘for a free and German, independent and social, a Christian and united Austria’.6 Nobody was more surprised than Hitler, who prepared for invasion.

Hoping to avoid armed confrontation, Hermann berated the Austrian leaders into submission over the phone: ‘I, myself, set the pace and . . . brought everything to its final development.’7 He was ‘in his element’.8 Over the course of the afternoon and evening of 11 March, Hermann had twenty-seven separate phone conversations with Vienna, escalating the threats as he went. At 6.34 p.m., he bellowed down the line, ‘In five minutes the troops will march in by my order.’ Around 8.00, Schuschnigg got on the radio and announced the surrender of his government: ‘We are not prepared . . . to shed blood, and we decided to order the troops to offer no serious resistance.’9

Job done, Hermann left his office in Berlin and hurried to the Winter Ball, which he hosted every year at the Aviation Building. The US chargé d’affaires observed that the lavish party ‘would strike envy in the hearts of any one of our Hollywood directors’.10 Sir Nevile Henderson was there. Hermann told him that the Anschluss was under way but not to worry. Lord Halifax, now Foreign Secretary, explained the British position in a telegram sent to Vienna the following day: ‘His Majesty’s government is unable to guarantee protection.’11 Hermann also reassured the Czech government that the Anschluss was not a prelude to an attack on their country. Mussolini gave his response by not reacting at all, earning Hitler’s sincere gratitude and the promise that he would ‘never forget this’.

German troops moved in at dawn on the 12th. Hitler followed soon after, crossing the border at tea-time, near his birthplace. He headed for Linz, where he spent a triumphant forty-eight hours before moving on to Vienna. On 15 March, he spoke in front a crowd of 250,000: ‘I can in this hour report before history the fulfilment of my greatest aim in life – the entry of my homeland into the German Reich.’12

That day, Hermann’s sister Paula, no doubt pleased that her Austrian husband had been offered the post of minister for justice, wrote a thank-you letter to Hermann which conveyed her giddy mood: ‘For three days I have been going about in a dream, I just can’t believe this gigantic and wonderful event! I’m so deeply moved.

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