Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938-1945

by Evan Burr Bukey

Overview

Using evidence gathered in Europe and the United States, Evan Bukey crafts a nuanced portrait of popular opinion in Austria, Hitler's homeland, after the country was annexed by Germany in 1938. He demonstrates that despite widespread dissent, discontent, and noncompliance, a majority of the Austrian populace supported the Anschluss regime--particularly in its economic, social, and anti-Semitic policies--until the bitter end."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469650357
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	08/25/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Evan Burr Bukey is professor of history at the University of Arkansas and author of Hitler's Hometown: Linz, Austria, 1908-1945.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Glossary
Part I. The Road to Greater Germany
1. Before the Ostmark
2. The Austrians and the Anschluss
Part II. From Anschluss to War
3. The Nazi Populace: Between Acclamation and Disappointment
4. The Working Class: Acceptance and Apathy
5. Austrian Catholicism: Antipathy and Accommodation
6. The Farming Populace: Anger and Anguish
7. The Popular Assault on the Jews
Part III. The Austrian People and Hitler's War
8. A Distant Conflict, 1939-1943
9. Between Stalingrad and the Moscow Declaration
10. Conquest and Collapse, 1944-1945
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

In this lucid, lively, meticulously argued book, the author. . . [has] produce[d] a crystal clear rejection of the notion of Austria as victim. . . . Bukey has given us a deft analysis that is surely a welcome point of departure for further discussion and study of a host of difficult questions that assemble around the problematic rubric 'Austrian identity.'—Central European History



Bukey's work is tightly organized, well written, thoroughly researched, and solidly argued. It belongs in every university library collection. Though Hitler's Austria has many virtues, not the least of them is the fact that no reader can turn its final page still under the illusion that Austria in the Anschluss era was a nation peopled by morally upright, politically correct von Trapps.—Historian



[Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era] is a most welcome addition to the historiography of the period. It is highly readable.—Patterns of Prejudice



Other scholars have addressed major pieces of the story, but Bukey undertakes a comprehensive survey of the way Austrians responded to, and in some instances participated in, events during the years in which they were included in "Greater Germany." His book provides a timely and sobering reminder of the depths of antisemitism in Austria . . . . . The results of Bukey's efforts amply demonstrate his dedication and industry . . . . Bukey succeeds in providing a thorough chronicle of the vagaries . . . of popular opinion over seven tumultuous years.—Journal of Modern History



[This] book is remarkable for Bukey's ability to distinguish between subtle variations in popular attitudes and his successful attempt to identify ambiguous feelings, uncertainty, and inconsistent, wavering or irresolute behavior among ordinary people. . . . Bukey uses reports of the security service of the SS and other administrative accounts of popular sentiment. . . . [The] book is a convincing example of a productive use of these sources.—Journal of Social History



From a wealth of previously unknown archival sources, Bukey has put together a fair, conscientiously multifaceted though unsparingly frank picture of the Austrian people during the period of Nazi rule.—Historische Zeitschrift



Bukey's book is based on solid research in Austrian and foreign archives and on a mastery of the secondary literature. Now our best study on Austria's embrace of Nazism.—American Historical Review



A thorough account of the Austrian embrace of Hitler and Nazism, with some interesting parallels to the present.—Foreign Affairs



This important work analyzes the response of various social groups—workers, farmers, and the Roman Catholic Church—to Nazism and shows that Austrians were among Hitler's most enthusiastic followers between 1938 and 1945.—Choice



[An] excellent new book. . . . Warmly recommended for those experts on Austria recruited since the arrival of Haider's Freedom Party in Vienna's corridors of power.—Times Literary Supplement

Editorial Reviews

Remarkable for Bukey's ability to distinguish between subtle variations in popular attitudes and his successful attempt to identify ambiguous feelings, uncertainty, and inconsistent, wavering or irresolute behavior among ordinary people.

Journal of Social History

A thorough account of the Austrian embrace of Hitler and Nazism, with some interesting parallels to the present.

Foreign Affairs

A fair, conscientiously multifaceted though unsparingly frank picture of the Austrian people during the period of Nazi rule.

Historische Zeitschrift

Now our best study on Austria's embrace of Nazism.

American Historical Review

[An] excellent new book. . . . Warmly recommended for those experts on Austria recruited since the arrival of Haider's Freedom Party in Vienna's corridors of power.

Times Literary Supplement

That many Austrians welcomed the Anschluss that made Austria into "Ostmark," an integral part of Hitler's Greater German Reich, is well-known to historians. More recently, controversy both inside and outside of Austria has raged over the extent and depth of Austrian anti-Semitism and complicity in Nazi atrocities, as well as the continuation of some of these strains into the post-Cold War era. In this book, Bukey (Hitler's Hometown: Linz, Austria, 1908-1945) offers an important contribution to the debate surrounding Austrians' acceptance of Nazism. Even-handed, thoroughly documented, clearly written, and utterly fascinating, the book deals with rural and urban populations, with individuals and social groupings, and with the enormous range of life-changing consequences of the German Anschluss. This is an important and thought-provoking book that should be in all European history collections.--Barbara L. Walden, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

A fair, conscientiously multifaceted though unsparingly frank picture of the Austrian people during the period of Nazi rule. ("Historische Zeitschrift")

A thorough account of the Austrian embrace of Hitler and Nazism, with some interesting parallels to the present. ("Foreign Affairs")

Now our best study on Austria's embrace of Nazism. ("American Historical Review")

Remarkable for Bukey's ability to distinguish between subtle variations in popular attitudes and his successful attempt to identify ambiguous feelings, uncertainty, and inconsistent, wavering or irresolute behavior among ordinary people. ("Journal of Social History")

From the Publisher