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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2009
The scholarly record leaves no doubt that Austrian citizens played a major role in the criminal activities of the Third Reich. Even before the Anschluss, former Austrian citizens held prominent positions within Germany's Nazi hierarchy. Afterward, they played a key—and disproportionately large—role in the death of millions of people, among them Jews, Slavs, Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, and political dissidents of all stripes. Even the millions of Austrians who committed no crimes nonetheless supported Hitler's New World Order, either actively or passively. Hence, in recounting or analyzing the crimes of the Nazi period, no substantive distinction can be made between German citizens and those formerly Austrian citizens who came from the Ostmark.
1 The Generaldirektion für die Öffentliche Sicherheit was and is a special part of the Austrian police. In the First Republic it was attached to the secretary of the federal chancellor, coordinating the police throughout the republic. Normally, there would have been a chief of police in each provincial capital. This office reports all important facts to the Generaldirektion für die Öffentliche Sicherheit in Vienna, which returns special instructions. Today it is a part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
2 Because of a change in Austria's school system, the two types no longer exist in the same form. The Polytechnikum is now the final stage of the Grundschule for all pupils who want to work in a simple technical profession. The Maschinenbauschule is now called HTL (Höhere Technische Lehranstalt, or technical high school).
3 The reason for his dismissal is not known. Maybe he was as bad a salesman as he was a pupil, or perhaps the economic situation made it necessary. Eichmann sometimes said that he made the decision to quit the job, which is definitely not true.
4 The Austrian Legion was an SA-organized and -controlled organization comprising fugitives from Austrian prosecution who continued the struggle against the Austrian regime by engaging in terrorist activities. It is remarkable that Eichmann soon moved over to the SS because before the Röhm putsch in 1934 there was a rivalry between the two forces.
5 Hannah, Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, rev. ed. (Harmondsworth, England, 1985), 34.Google Scholar
6 Hans, Safrian, Die Eichmann-Männer (Vienna, 1993), 320.Google Scholar
7 Hans, Safrian, “Adolf Eichmann—Organisator der Judendeportation,” in Die SS. Elite unter dem Totenkopf, ed. Ronald, Smelser and Enrico, Syring (Paderborn, 2000).Google Scholar
8 Wassermann, Heinz P., Zuviel Vergangenheit tut nicht gut. Nationalsozialismus im Spiegel der Presse der 2. Republik (Vienna, 2000)Google Scholar; and Reinhard, Pohanka, Pflichterfüller. Hitlers Heifer in der Ostmark (Vienna, 1997)Google Scholar. With this argument, Pohanka acts as if he were already aware of the cited file.
9 Bukey, Evan Burr, Hitlers Österreich. Eine Bewegung und ein Volk (Vienna, 2001).Google Scholar
10 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, section Archiv der Republik, Bundeskanzleramt 04 Inneres, 22/Oberösterreich, 1933–1938, 321.267 GD2–35.
11 Although it is part of the same file, the report has its own number, 336.798 GD2–35.
12 “Adolf Eichmann, Direktor, der Elektrizitäts- und Straßenbahngesellschaft i.R., 3.9.77 Eberfeld Preussen geb., Linz zust., (auch reichsdeutscher Staatsangehöriger), ev., verh.”
13 At that time the provincial office was responsible for all citizenship matters. Therefore, they were able to determine that Eichmann Sr. was a citizen of Linz because his case files were kept there.
14 “Ich bin im Jahr 1915 von Solingen nach Linz verzogen und habe hier den Posten eines kaufmännischen Direktors bei der E.S.G. versehen. Im Jahr 1928 habe ich mich um die österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft beworben und die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft mit Bewilligung der österreichischen und deutschen Behörden beibehalten. Mein Sohn Adolf war damals bereits großjährig und erlangte daher nicht die österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft, wohl aber meine anderen Kinder, die damals noch minderjährig waren. Diese haben aber zugleich die Reichsdeutsche Staatsbürgerschaft mit ausdrücklicher Bewilligung der deutschen Behörden beibehalten.”
15 Neues Österreich, Apr. 5,1961; Arbeiter-Zeitung, Apr. 5, 1961.
16 “Es sei zweifelhaft ob Eichmann die österreichische oder die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft besitze,” Neues Osterreich, Apr. 5, 1961.
17 Wiener Zeitung, Apr. 15, 1961.