European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 12, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A nation shrouds its legacy in half truths by round Prinz associated presso n March 12, 1945. Tho Vienna stale opera was destroyed in an Allied air raid. Many who scrambled Lor Sheller Well Al the sight of Austria s Greal cultural shrine in flames ii was two months Belore the bitter end of a bloody War that had begun for Austria seven years earlier when the nazi army matched in on March 12. 1938, o the cheers of hundreds of thousands of austrians the Day before Adoll Hitler had forced Kum von Schuschnigg Austria s conservative Chancellor to resign enabling German troops to enter the country. The Vienna government had decided against any resistance and police operations Swilly Lell under total nazi control. Within Days thousands were arrested and Many of them Send to concentration Camps the so called anschluss or Union with Ifie third Reich wiped Austria Oil the map of Europe As an Independent anti by Lor seven years. Only one country publicly protested the invasion Mexico. The overwhelming majority of austrians welcomed the Union with nazi Germany enthusiastically. After 1918. Many austrian politicians including socialists had advocated Union will Germany As a Way of building up the Economy ruined by world War i and the end of Tho hapsburg Empire but he Fervour of most political parties waned As nazi Power look hold in Germany alter 1933 ye1 Austria s  unemployed envied Germany s economic expansion under the austrian born Adoll . When hitlers no his troops across the Frontier hundreds of thousands of aus nans lined the roads to cheer. Many joined or supported the nazis and a Largo proportion a those who even fully ran he nazi extermination machine were austrians. In Austria these grim facts Ocie nol widely acknowledged until recently. Tho official version All Loo readily espoused by Iho War generation is thai Austria was Tho Lirosi a Crim of Adolf Hitler s aggression and paid an enormous Picicc in human lives and material destruction the historic has truth has prevailed in official comments to this Day and has been cited by critics in the juror Over president Kurt Waldheim s treatment of his War Limo past. In a 1943 declaration the three anti Hitler allies declared Austria the hrs free country to All victim to 1968 Flag waving aug Tram Greet hitter standing in hit open car As he enters Vienna in Triumph March 14,1s3s. Kurt Waldhalm focus of controversy. Hit Lente aggression and shall be. Liberated from German  but they a Decd thai Ausna Hasa responsibility which she cannot evade for Parli ipalion in the War on the Side of h Lech to Germany " a similar text appeared in the preamble to a 1947 draft Independence trealy. However on Iho Day Detoro the signing of the 1955 treaty Hal ended 10 years of four. Power occupation foreign minister Leopold Figl got the reference struck from the text. The allies acquiesced apparently acc pling Figl s arguments the clause was not needed for his now no ural country. Figl s diplomatic skills seemed la absolve Austria irom is share in nazi atrocities and Tho holocaust for decades Austria s darkest Chapler never surfaced in a nationwide Public Debaylo Austria h0d experienced  blood letting during the War. Some 97.000 of Austria s 6 7 million prewar citizens including 65,000 jews polished in nazi prisons and deals Camps. Another 60,000 austrian were billed in air raids As soldiers partisans or resistance he leis and to the a i euthanasia programs Aboul 247,000 austrians about 2 5 percent of Iho population lost their lives As soldiers on the Fiona Whilo tens of thousands returned As cripples there was also Little Lime Lor self criticism As Aust nans emerged from the ruins of the War lacing malnutrition and even starvation bombed out Homos and schools and numbing cold tout other left overs irom the War included an estimated s40.000 austrian nazis Many of them intellectuals who were not allowed of Lake part in who Fissel elections in 1945. Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesen Leaf says Theio we a As Many is 660.000 registered nazi parly members alter Tho War. Tho socialists Ihnn said. Nazis to Siberia and decided that no former nazi would be allowed to fill an important Posl which resulted in a big election Victory of the conservatives Wiesenthal recalls. They had to give up their stand a year Laler he noted recalling that most socialist intellectuals were jews who wore killed or forced to emigrate by the nazis. This Lefi the socialists with almost no leaders capable of assuming important posts. Alfred Matatia a former president of parliament and one Lime concentration Camp inmate recalled thai Austria s Laws to punish nazi crimes were harsher than those in Germany. Critics often forget thai thousands of nazis note  Maleta 82. Said Only we did l make a big Luss about it in the 1949 elections Iho nazis Scro allowed Lovola and the association of the Independent a parly that absorbed Many of Ihm. Gained 16 seals in parliament the association Laler became Ihori Ghisi Freedom parly which garnered 9.73 percent in Austria s last elections in 1936 while Tho nazis regained a political platform in the Lale 1940s, discussion of the a i past faded away Long suppressed by Iho political parties and rarely mentioned in schools. La was always a political calculation wies Nihal says. Still Iho country s burdensome legacy occasionally surfaced in uncomfortable ways. In october 1975. Wiesenthal revealed Hal one Inch pc or head of the Small Freedom party had been a member of an is unit thai killed jews and of her civilians in wartime Russia. Peter remained in Olica in january 1985. Enol her Freedom parly member triggered neg Alivo headlines around Iho world As Ino world jewish Congress was meeting in Vienna Welense minister feed Helrn fisc Hinschlager Wen i to Graj in soul Horn Austria to shake the hand of paid once War criminal Waller Hador who had just arrived in Anusuia alter having been imprisoned in Italy although heavily criticized Frischen Schlago. Tike Peler. Stayed in Tolice strangely enough Many Vaji i clams favored silence Over possible controversy about the War years we did not want to car open old wounds said Malta. Who had been Arr sled by the nazis on the Day they invaded Ausilia ii a Man like me has been Able to Cope with what he lived through of thurs should be Able to do the  he said. The stars and stripes Page 15