ABSTRACT
The chapter addresses a variety of themes arranged in six sections: the organization and structure of the Anschluss regime, regional developments, socio-economic changes, educational and cultural trends, the persecution of the Jews, and denazification and the impact of Nazism on the Second Republic. Winfried R. Garscha shows that as early as 28 June 1945, Vienna had enacted legislation to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity, political denunciation, and "Nazi atrocities". Florian Freund and Bertrand Perz also provide new data on the number of concentration camp inmates and Hungarian Jews forced to excavate underground factories, clear rubble, or engage in other odious tasks in Nazi Austria. As both the Austrian insurance industry and the Postal Savings Bank were now bankrupt, the Second Republic assumed the burden of replenishing the coffers of these and other private institutions. The chapter reviews Nazi Austria and the Holocaust, especially the fate of Austrian Jewry and the complexities of postwar restitution.
