762.63/76

The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Secretary of State

No. 2341

Sir: I have the honor to report that the visit to Rome of the Austrian Chancellor, Dr. Dollfuss, simultaneously with that of Vice Chancellor von Papen and Minister Goering, has evoked considerable editorial comment on Austro-German-Italian relations from the German press. The general impression was that the primary object of Dr. Dollfuss’ visit was to obtain financial support for Austria in view of the “enslavement of Austrian finances” by France, and the “threatening danger of her definite political enslavement as well”. German comment gave manifest evidences of vexation at the check experienced by the policy of Anschluss in view of the fact that Mussolini did not regard this question as acute at the present time, and resentment was expressed at the manner in which the Austrian Chancellor acquiesced in the dropping of this problem. The consensus of opinion, however, was that some form of union between Austria and Germany was ultimately inevitable.

In this connection, the growth of the Nazi Party in Austria is significant, in consideration of its close association with the Hitler Movement in Germany. The German Nazi attitude towards the question of Anschluss was indicated by an article which, according to the Berliner Tageblatt of April 24, appeared the previous day in the Deutsch-Oesterreichische Tageblatt in Vienna, and in which Theo Habicht, a member of the German Reichstag and “Inspector of the Nazi Party for Austria”, stated that the attitude of the Nazi movement both in Austria and the Reich had been definitely and finally fixed in that point of its program, which had been characterized as inalterable, wherein the cancellation of the treaties of Versailles1 and Saint Germain,2 and the union of all Germans in one Greater Germany was demanded. [Page 427] A difference, however, was to be made between this programmatic aim and the practical possibility of achieving it, which depended on how long the opposing forces would be stronger than those in favor of it. Six million Germans in Austria with the moral support of sixty millions in the Reich, would legally obtain their union.

I am transmitting herewith, as an enclosure, summaries of pertinent German press comment3 on the subject of this despatch.

Respectfully yours,

George A. Gordon
  1. Treaties, Conventions, etc., Between the United States of America and Other Powers, 1910–1923 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1923), vol. iii, p. 3329.
  2. Ibid., p. 3149.
  3. Not printed.