Law declaring Austria to be "a province of the German Reich," subject to a plebiscite by German Austrians in April 1938

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Authors

Adolf Hitler (Fuehrer, Reich Chancellor, Supeme Commander of Wehrmacht)

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Adolf Hitler

Austrian nationalized German politician, leader of the National Socialist party and dictator of Germany (1889-1945)

Born: 1889-01-01 1889-04-20 (Braunau am Inn) (country: Austria-Hungary; located in the administrative territorial entity: Archduchy of Austria above the Enns; statement is subject of: Adolf-Hitler-Geburtshaus)
Died: 1945-04-30 (Berlin Führerbunker) (country: Nazi Germany; located in the administrative territorial entity: Berlin; statement is subject of: death of Adolf Hitler)
Country of citizenship: Cisleithania (period: 1889-04-20 through 1918-11-11); First Republic of Austria (period: 1919-01-01 through 1925-04-30); Nazi Germany (end cause: death of Adolf Hitler; period: 1933-01-30 through 1945-04-30); Republic of German-Austria (period: 1918-01-01 through 1919-01-01)
Occupation: painter (statement is subject of: paintings by Adolf Hitler); political writer; politician (reason for preferred rank: generally used form); soldier
Member of political party: German Workers' Party (period: 1919-09-12 through 1921-07-11); Nazi Party (series ordinal: 556)
Member of: Nazi Party
Participant in: Aktion T4; Beer Hall Putsch; The Holocaust; ethnic cleansing
Significant person: Albert Speer; Benito Mussolini; Eva Braun; Joseph Stalin

Hermann Goering (Reich Marshal; Commander in Chief, Luftwaffe; Commissioner for Four-Year Plan)

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Hermann Göring

German Nazi politician, military leader and convicted war criminal (1893–1946)

Born: 1893-01-12 (Rosenheim)
Died: 1945-01-01 1946-10-15 (Nuremberg Court Prison Nuremberg) (reason for deprecated rank: error in referenced source or sources; reason for preferred rank: most precise value)
Country of citizenship: German Empire; Nazi Germany
Occupation: aircraft pilot; art collector; politician; war criminal
Member of political party: Nazi Party (period: 1922-11-01 through 1923-11-23, 1928-04-01 through 1945-04-29)
Member of: Sturmabteilung
Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch; Nazi plunder; genocide; war crime
Significant person: Alma Hedin (role: friend)

Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior; chief of Nazi delegation, Reichstag; admin. Plenipotentiary)

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Wilhelm Frick

German Nazi official (1877-1946)

Born: 1877-03-12 (Alsenz)
Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
Country of citizenship: Germany
Occupation: diplomat; lawyer; politician
Member of political party: German Völkisch Freedom Party; National Socialist Freedom Movement; Nazi Party
Member of: AGV München; Thule Society
Participant in: Aryanization; Beer Hall Putsch; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
Position held: Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (period: 1943-08-24 through 1945-05-04; replaces: Konstantin von Neurath); Reichsminister des Innern (period: 1933-01-30 through 1943-08-20; replaced by: Heinrich Himmler; replaces: Franz Bracht); member of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany; member of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic

Joachim Ribbentrop, von (Minister for Foreign Affairs (1938-45))

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Joachim von Ribbentrop

German Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany (1893–1946)

Born: 1893-04-30 (Wesel)
Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
Country of citizenship: Germany
Occupation: diplomat; politician
Member of political party: Nazi Party
Member of: Schutzstaffel; Travellers Club
Participant in: International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
Military rank: Oberleutnant

Rudolf Hess (Deputy to the Fuehrer; minister without portfolio)

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Rudolf Hess

German Nazi leader (1894-1987)

Born: 1894-04-26 (Alexandria)
Died: 1987-08-17 (Spandau Prison) (located in the administrative territorial entity: West Berlin)
Country of citizenship: Germany
Occupation: aircraft pilot; politician
Member of political party: Nazi Party
Member of: Thule Society
Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch
Military rank: lieutenant

Reich Legal Gazette (Reichsgesetzblatt)

Date: 13 March 1938

Literal Title: 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt . . . Law concerning the Reunion of Austria with the German Reich, March 13, 1938

Defendants: Wilhelm Frick, Hermann Wilhelm Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim Ribbentrop, von

Total Pages: 2

Language of Text: English

Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)

Evidence Code: PS-2307

Citation: IMT (page 586)

HLSL Item No.: 450705

Notes:This document was presented for judicial notice without an exhibit number. Another copy was later entered as UK exhibit 133.

Trial Issues

IMT count 2: crimes against peace (wars of aggression) (IMT) Wars of aggression

Document Summary

Staff Evidence Analyses

PS-2307: Law about the reunion of Austria with the German Reich

Doc Book Tables of Contents

PS-2307: Decree of 13 March 1938 (RGBl 1938, I, p 237), signed by Hitler, Goering, Frick, Ribbentrop, and Hess, which made Austria a province of the German Reich.

1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 237 Law concerning the Reunion of Austria with the German Reich, March 13, 1938
The Reich Government has ordained the following law, which is hereby proclaimed:
ARTICLE I. The Federal Constitutional Law of March 13, 1938, ordained by the Austrian Federal Government, concerning the reunion of Austria with the German Reich, hereby becomes a law of the German Reich. It has the following text:
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2307—PS
By virtue of Article 3, Section 2, of the Federal Constitutional Law concerning extraordinary measures in the constitutional field (R.G. Blatt, I, No. 255, 1934), the Federal Government has ordained:
Article 1. Austria is a province of the German Reich.
Article 2. On Sunday, April 10, 1938, a free and secret plebiscite shall be held for German men and women of Austria over twenty years of age on the question of reunion with the German Reich.
Article 3. In the plebiscite the majority of the votes cast shall decide the issue.
Article 4. The necessary regulations for the implementation and supplementing of this Federal Constitutional Law shall be provided by decree.
Article 5. This Federal Constitutional Law shall enter into force on the day of its proclamation.
The Federal Government is entrusted with the execution of this Federal Constitutional Law.
Vienna, March 13, 1938.
ARTICLE II. The laws at present in force in Austria shall remain in force until further notice. The introduction of Reich law into Austria will be effected by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor or by the Reich Minister to whom he may delegate this power.
ARTICLE III. The Reich Minister of the Interior, in consultation with the other Reich Ministers concerned, is empowered to issue the legal and administrative regulations necessary for the implementation and supplementing of this law.
ARTICLE IV. This law shall enter into force on the day of its proclamation.
Linz, March 13, 1938.
ADOLF HITLER, Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor; GOERING, General Field Marshal, Reich Minister of Aviation; FRICK, Reich Minister of the Interior; VON RIBBENTROP, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs; R. HESS, Deputy Fuehrer.
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