External links are disabled on the kiosk. Please visit archive links from desktop or mobile devices.

Forgone conclusion

Austrians (except for Jews) ratify the Anschluss

“A person who exercizes the right to vote even though he is barred from the right to vote, or is aware of descending from three fully Jewish grandparents, or as a person of mixed blood (at least two Jewish grandparents) married to a Jewish person, must immediately return this voter ID to the city hall and abstain from voting. Otherwise, he will be subject to severe punishment.”

Vienna

The entry of German troops into Austria on March 12 had preempted Chancellor Schuschnigg’s planned plebiscite on unification with Germany on March 13. The Nazis rescheduled the referendum for April 10 in conjunction with the first all-German Reichstag elections. Catholic bishops, under the leadership of Archbishop Theodor Innitzer, had issued a “solemn declaration” in which they called upon Catholic voters to cast their ballots in favor of the “Anschluss.” According to official figures, close to 100% of voters affirmed what was already an established fact. The document presented here is a voter ID to be used only by the addressee named on the front page. It explicitly excludes Jews from participating.


SOURCE

Institution:

Jüdisches Museum Wien

Collection:

Voter ID for referendum on April 10, 1938 (no. 225)

Original:

Inv. No. 26028/9

 

on the days before