Almost overnight, the country of Austria ceased to exist - Hedi Argent on the Anschluss

To mark the 88 years since the Anschluss, Holocaust survivor Hedi Argent shares her memories from that time in Austria. She remembers those days in March 1938 – they were days that changed her family’s lives. Her father lost his job, she was expelled from school, and, within a month, her family was thrown out of their home; they lost many of their possessions. Hedi’s family arrived in England in 1939, and after the war, they wrote to the Red Cross to try to find their extended family. Sadly, they discovered that 17 members had been murdered in the Holocaust. When she speaks to students, Hedi doesn’t want them to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust. Rather, she wants to tell them what led to the horrors of the Holocaust. Anschluss, from Yad Vashem: German word meaning connection or annexation that is used to refer to the takeover of Austria by Germany in March 1938. In German political jargon, the term Anschluss came into use at the end of World War I to denote the desire to include Austria in a united Greater Germany. However, based on the peace treaty made in 1919 between Austria and the allies who won the war, known as the Treaty of St. Germain, Austria was forbidden to unite with Germany, and instead was made into an independent country - the Republic of Austria. On March 13, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and declared the country a part of the German Reich. The Anschluss was supported by many Austrians, among them Austrian Nazis, who saw it as a political, social and cultural reunification with their brother country, Germany. On the other hand, the leaders of the West saw the Anschluss as an invasion, pure and simple. Despite this, not one government made a move to stop Hitler, who, without interference, felt free to embark upon the next step in his scheme to conquer all of Europe. #RememberThis #Anschluss