"Anschluss"

The articles in this volume, based on the presentations at a workshop organized by the Centre for Cultural Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, deal with what was seen, heard, experienced and suffered in Austria during March and April, 1938. They examine the events of these months from a wide range of viewpoints, including the photo albums of the Viennese police force, which document the shift of how the public sphere was viewed by the police, graphic and linguistic characteristics of Nazi leaflets, the audio-visual medium of the “Wochenschau”, the musical elements of large Anschluss gatherings, rituals of humiliation and pogromlike acts of violence known as “Reibpartien”, and the aesthetic objectives behind using central historical spaces like the Heldenplatz in Vienna, which was declared the “Thingstätte of Greater Germany”. The contributors to this volume have come from a number of disciplines and in their attempt to shed new light on the Anschluss use the special perspectives of their respective fields, making this publication an innovative contribution to the field of contemporary historical studies.