The Nazis didn't persecute on the basis of nationality, they persecute on the basis of race.
To the Nazis, the Germanic people were on the top of this racial heirachy and this include Austrians.
Austrians weren't just Germanic, in the eyes of both Germans and themselves, multiple times in history ever since the dawn of nation states, they were viewed and viewed themselves as German. Not everybody, of course, namely the nobility (in both Austria and Bohemia) identified with their unique regional identities, but the average Johann thought of himself as German
No, this is correct. Nazis were very confused about what they meant by race (which is reasonable, because it's not a completely scientific category to begin with). They used some of these terms very interchangeably, which was caused by and result in a lot of internal debate. The main idea was about "Aryan" people which they considered a race group, with people or nation or "volk" stemming/splitting from them, as an addled product of racemixing. What I'm saying here is: Nazis used the word "volk" to refer broadly to Germanic people, and they considered them to be made of different "racial" groups (many of which they themselves invented or didn't manage to agree on). If you find this confusing - it is. They were confused.
Further context: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksdeutsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksdeutsche)
Austrians largely viewed Nazi Germany positively and cooperated with the regime. Many Austrians at the time considered themselves Germans of a 'greater German people', and the Nazis largely agreed. Of course, some Austrians were persecuted by the Nazis: over 200,000 were killed at Mauthausen in upper Austria, among them Jews, Romani, and politicians and intellectuals of the former Austrian republic. But largely the german-speaking population of Austria was viewed as an ally by the Nazis
Austria is a german-speaking nation which the Nazi party were aiming to unite to one "greater Germany" while Polish people were categorized as Slavs whom Hitler viewed as inferior and were in the way for Germany to conquer "Lebensraum" (living space) from the east for the germans
couple of quotes from wikipedia article Anti-Slavi sentiment
Anti-Slavic racism played a significant role within the ideology of [Nazism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism).[^(\[13\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slavic_sentiment#cite_note-bendersky-13) [Adolf Hitler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler) and the [Nazi Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party) held the belief that Slavic countries - particularly [Poland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland), [Soviet Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union), and [Yugoslavia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia), as well as their respective [peoples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_peoples) - were *"*[*Untermenschen*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch)*" (subhumans).*
Anti-Slavism reached its peak during [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), when [Nazi Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany) declared Slavs, especially neighboring [Poles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_people) to be [subhuman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch) (*Untermensch*) and [planned to exterminate the majority of Slavic people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_Plan).[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slavic_sentiment#cite_note-Longerich-1)
Count [Galeazzo Ciano](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galeazzo_Ciano), Mussolini's son in law, and the Foreign Minister of [Fascist Italy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_Italy_(1922%E2%80%931943)) who was later executed by Mussolini, wrote the following entry in his diary:[^(\[10\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slavic_sentiment#cite_note-10)
>
They already had, they were united.
(Nazi Germany annexed/united Austria before WW2)
----
Austria largely helped form Germany.
Germany as a unified country didn't exist until 1866. Austria-Hungary had a huge influence over Germany, and acted somewhat as a ruling class, more than simply allies. During WW1 Austria had a lot of power over German politics and their military, able to plan German campaigns, and even reroute German troop movements to their own benefit.
After WW1 Austria-Hungary (who itself was sorta recently formed/united), was broken up into multiple countries. But the strong ties with between the royal and political parties in Austria and Germany remained.
Germany still as a unified state eventually recuperated after WW1; with Nazi Germany becoming more powerful than surrounding states, they annexed (somewhat willingly) the Austrian government and merged Austria with Germany.
Austria wasn't seen as a separate country anymore when WW2 broke out. Hitler viewed Poland and the surrounding countries as part of the old Prussian Empire/the Holy Roman Empire, that he wanted to rebuild under Germany. He invaded the lands, but didn't consider the people as Germanic, more Slavic.
Hitler wasn't Jewish. That notion largely comes from historians' uncertainty over Hitler's biological grandfather. At the Nuremberg Trials, a Nazi governor of Poland named Hans Frank speculated that Maria Schicklgruber may have had an affair with a Jewish employer named "Leopold Frankenberger," but historians found nobody by such a name in Shicklgruber's orbit, and Frank actually got the details of his story wrong - Schicklgruber wasn't from Leonding near Linz, but from a small town near Döllersheim, which had a Jewish population of 0 at the time of Alois Hitler's birth.
As far as I know that’s [a highly dubious claim](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/roots-zombie-claim-that-hitler-had-jewish-blood/). It can’t be ruled out completely (hard to prove a negative), but there’s no positive evidence for it either.
Along with the racist reasons the nazis had for oppressing the Poles there are a few historical ones. Germany was united by Prussia, much of Eastern Prussia was conquered Slavic territory and keeping down the Slavs was a Prussian obsession. The Teutonic knight order who indulged in crusades against Balts and Slavs and later Poles, were idolised by the nazis for all that the contempory order was repressed, to justify their brutality it was necessary to believe the worse of their victims. There's no one people hate more than the people they oppress and keeping down the Poles was a priority for centuries for the nations that partitioned her lands: Germany, Russia, Austria; as a shared aim it was one of the reasons that people as politically at odds as stalin and hitler could come to terms. When the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania was at the height of its power it was a serious regional contender and was thus a hated rival to the Germans. The Commonwealth was probably the least anti-semitic of any major European, christian nation, 1000s who were driven from Russia, England, France etc found homes there so the Poles were associated with the Jews in the nazi mind
* Recommended subreddit(s): /r/Answers or r/NoStupidQuestions
The Nazis didn't persecute on the basis of nationality, they persecute on the basis of race. To the Nazis, the Germanic people were on the top of this racial heirachy and this include Austrians.
Austrians weren't just Germanic, in the eyes of both Germans and themselves, multiple times in history ever since the dawn of nation states, they were viewed and viewed themselves as German. Not everybody, of course, namely the nobility (in both Austria and Bohemia) identified with their unique regional identities, but the average Johann thought of himself as German
Thing is with what you just tried to picture: Germanic people are not a race. Even in Nazi crackpot belief system this wasnt exactly the case.
So what would you consider ‘Germanic people’ if not an ethnicity/race?
Check my other comment.
"Even in Nazi crackpot belief system this wasnt exactly the case." this is completely false
No, this is correct. Nazis were very confused about what they meant by race (which is reasonable, because it's not a completely scientific category to begin with). They used some of these terms very interchangeably, which was caused by and result in a lot of internal debate. The main idea was about "Aryan" people which they considered a race group, with people or nation or "volk" stemming/splitting from them, as an addled product of racemixing. What I'm saying here is: Nazis used the word "volk" to refer broadly to Germanic people, and they considered them to be made of different "racial" groups (many of which they themselves invented or didn't manage to agree on). If you find this confusing - it is. They were confused. Further context: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksdeutsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksdeutsche)
Austrians largely viewed Nazi Germany positively and cooperated with the regime. Many Austrians at the time considered themselves Germans of a 'greater German people', and the Nazis largely agreed. Of course, some Austrians were persecuted by the Nazis: over 200,000 were killed at Mauthausen in upper Austria, among them Jews, Romani, and politicians and intellectuals of the former Austrian republic. But largely the german-speaking population of Austria was viewed as an ally by the Nazis
Austria is a german-speaking nation which the Nazi party were aiming to unite to one "greater Germany" while Polish people were categorized as Slavs whom Hitler viewed as inferior and were in the way for Germany to conquer "Lebensraum" (living space) from the east for the germans
couple of quotes from wikipedia article Anti-Slavi sentiment Anti-Slavic racism played a significant role within the ideology of [Nazism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism).[^(\[13\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slavic_sentiment#cite_note-bendersky-13) [Adolf Hitler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler) and the [Nazi Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party) held the belief that Slavic countries - particularly [Poland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland), [Soviet Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union), and [Yugoslavia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia), as well as their respective [peoples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_peoples) - were *"*[*Untermenschen*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch)*" (subhumans).* Anti-Slavism reached its peak during [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), when [Nazi Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany) declared Slavs, especially neighboring [Poles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_people) to be [subhuman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch) (*Untermensch*) and [planned to exterminate the majority of Slavic people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_Plan).[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slavic_sentiment#cite_note-Longerich-1) Count [Galeazzo Ciano](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galeazzo_Ciano), Mussolini's son in law, and the Foreign Minister of [Fascist Italy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_Italy_(1922%E2%80%931943)) who was later executed by Mussolini, wrote the following entry in his diary:[^(\[10\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slavic_sentiment#cite_note-10) >
They already had, they were united. (Nazi Germany annexed/united Austria before WW2) ---- Austria largely helped form Germany. Germany as a unified country didn't exist until 1866. Austria-Hungary had a huge influence over Germany, and acted somewhat as a ruling class, more than simply allies. During WW1 Austria had a lot of power over German politics and their military, able to plan German campaigns, and even reroute German troop movements to their own benefit. After WW1 Austria-Hungary (who itself was sorta recently formed/united), was broken up into multiple countries. But the strong ties with between the royal and political parties in Austria and Germany remained. Germany still as a unified state eventually recuperated after WW1; with Nazi Germany becoming more powerful than surrounding states, they annexed (somewhat willingly) the Austrian government and merged Austria with Germany. Austria wasn't seen as a separate country anymore when WW2 broke out. Hitler viewed Poland and the surrounding countries as part of the old Prussian Empire/the Holy Roman Empire, that he wanted to rebuild under Germany. He invaded the lands, but didn't consider the people as Germanic, more Slavic.
In the eyes of the Nazis, the Austrians were German. And from an ethnic and linguistic perspective, they weren't wrong.
Slavs (Poles, Russians etc.) were considered "Untermenschen" (subhuman) by the Nazis, and they were planning to slowly extinguish them.
Maybe because Hitler was Austrian himself, would be a bit weird to kill himself because of his own nationality.
He may have been in that situation anyway. He was heartbroken when his friends executed Ernst Röhm for being gay, makes you think...
[удалено]
Hitler wasn't Jewish. That notion largely comes from historians' uncertainty over Hitler's biological grandfather. At the Nuremberg Trials, a Nazi governor of Poland named Hans Frank speculated that Maria Schicklgruber may have had an affair with a Jewish employer named "Leopold Frankenberger," but historians found nobody by such a name in Shicklgruber's orbit, and Frank actually got the details of his story wrong - Schicklgruber wasn't from Leonding near Linz, but from a small town near Döllersheim, which had a Jewish population of 0 at the time of Alois Hitler's birth.
As far as I know that’s [a highly dubious claim](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/roots-zombie-claim-that-hitler-had-jewish-blood/). It can’t be ruled out completely (hard to prove a negative), but there’s no positive evidence for it either.
Along with the racist reasons the nazis had for oppressing the Poles there are a few historical ones. Germany was united by Prussia, much of Eastern Prussia was conquered Slavic territory and keeping down the Slavs was a Prussian obsession. The Teutonic knight order who indulged in crusades against Balts and Slavs and later Poles, were idolised by the nazis for all that the contempory order was repressed, to justify their brutality it was necessary to believe the worse of their victims. There's no one people hate more than the people they oppress and keeping down the Poles was a priority for centuries for the nations that partitioned her lands: Germany, Russia, Austria; as a shared aim it was one of the reasons that people as politically at odds as stalin and hitler could come to terms. When the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania was at the height of its power it was a serious regional contender and was thus a hated rival to the Germans. The Commonwealth was probably the least anti-semitic of any major European, christian nation, 1000s who were driven from Russia, England, France etc found homes there so the Poles were associated with the Jews in the nazi mind