1933: Nazi Party Ban

After the elimination of parliament, Austria’s conservative government soon banned political parties. The Nazis’ successes at local elections and Nazi terrorist attacks meant that their party was forced to disband as early as 1933. Fanatical supporters went to Germany, where the Nazi Party had taken power (and where SA men founded the Austrian Legion). Nazi Germany increased diplomatic and economic pressure on the Dollfuß-Schuschnigg dictatorship. Additionally, Nazi organization within Austria, which were actually banned, became more powerful due to a lack of counter-strategies and failure of the authorities. Nazis continued to organise within secret associations, especially in gymnastics clubs. Also the state considered women virtually incapable of political activism, meaning that Nazi women were able to maintain important structures in spite of the ban.

Constant terrorist attacks, the open use of violence, and propaganda showed that the state was losing control. In 1934, the attempted putsch by Nazi supporters soon failed but they had murdered Chancellor Dollfuß. Within Austria, therefore, preparations for the “Anschluss” (“annexation”) in 1938 had been going on for a long time. In some places, particularly in Styria and Carinthia, local Nazis took control even before the arrival of the German troops.