Ostmark (Austria)

History

Once Adolf Hitler completed the union between Austria and Germany (Anschluss), the Nazi government renamed the incorporated territory. The name Austria (Österreich in German, meaning "Eastern Realm") was at first replaced by "Ostmark", referring to the 10th century Marcha orientalis. The change was meant to refer to Austria as the new "eastern march" of the Reich. The Nazi authorities sought to erase all traces of an independent and distinct Austrian state. From 8 April 1942, even the term "Ostmark" was considered too closely associated with the former Austrian state, and the official designation for the seven administrative entities was changed to Alpen- und Donau-Reichsgaue ("Danubian and Alpine Reichsgaue").

Subdivisions

According to the Ostmarkgesetz with effect from 1 May 1939, the former States of Austria were further divided and reorganized into seven Reichsgaue of the German Reich, each under the rule of a government official holding the dual offices of Reichsstatthalter (governor) and Gauleiter (Nazi Party leader):

• Carinthia, including East Tyrol; increased by Slovenian Carinthia and Upper Carniola as occupied territories after the 1941 Balkans Campaign
• "Lower Danube" (Niederdonau), name for Lower Austria, with its capital at Krems an der Donau, including the northern districts of Burgenland with Eisenstadt, the South Moravian territories around Znojmo (Deutsch-Südmähren) annexed with the Sudetenland according to the 1938 Munich Agreement and also the Bratislava boroughs of Petržalka (Engerau) and Devín (Theben)
• Salzburg
• Styria, including the southern districts of Burgenland; increased by Lower Styria as occupied territory after the 1941 Balkans Campaign
• "Upper Danube" (Oberdonau), name for Upper Austria, including the Styrian Aussee region (Ausseerland) and the South Bohemian territories around Český Krumlov annexed with the "Sudetenland" according to the 1938 Munich Agreement
• Tyrol, i.e. North Tyrol, with the administrative district of Vorarlberg
• Vienna, i.e. "Greater Vienna", including several surrounding Lower Austrian municipalities incorporated in 1938.

A Reichsgau was a new, simple administrative sub-division institution which replaced the federal states in the otherwise completely centralized Third Reich. In the course of the Allied occupation after World War II, the Austrian state was restored in its pre-1938 borders according to the 1943 Moscow Declaration.

References

References

1. Eckart Reidegeld: ''Staatliche Sozialpolitik in Deutschland. Band II: Sozialpolitik in Demokratie und Diktatur 1919–1945'', 1. Aufl., VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, {{ISBN
2. "legal text at verfassungen.de".
3. "reconciliationfund".