Volk will zu Volk – Österreichs deutsche Stunde – Austria’s German Hour – A lavishly album rich with photographs, presenting the annexation of Austria as a German-Austrian union, accompanied by an introduction by the Head of the Reich Press Office – Dr. Otto Dietrich. Edited by Heinrich Hansen, published by Westfalen-Verlag GmbH, Dortmund, 1938 – first edition. The photographs in the album were taken from a wide variety of over 15 different sources – professional photographers, press photographers, private individuals, and various photography agencies operating in Vienna at the time of the Anschluss (all are listed by name on the last page).
A visual album published during 1938, shortly after the occupation of Vienna and the orchestrated political plebiscite in which the Austrian people “approved” the annexation to Nazi Germany. The album was intended to justify the Anschluss and present it as a natural unification between “two parts of the German people”: the title Volk will zu Volk = “The people yearn for the people” refers to the Austrian people’s desire to join the German people, as does the subtitle Österreichs deutsche Stunde = “Austria’s German Hour.” Throughout the booklet are countless high-quality photographs (many spanning across two pages), showing Adolf Hitler in the streets of Vienna and at propaganda rallies, numerous images of Austrians cheering in the streets for German soldiers and for Adolf Hitler – holding swastika flags and waving with excitement, mass gatherings saluting the Führer, and more. Across the entire album are heroic depictions documenting the Nazi entry into Vienna, speeches by the Nazi leadership, and condescending rhetoric glorifying the “positive German unity” occurring with the occupation of Austria.
In his foreword to the booklet, Dietrich quotes Hitler’s words following the occupation of Austria: “As Führer and Chancellor of the German nation and the Reich, I now proclaim to history the entry of my homeland into the German Reich.” He then adds about the booklet: “The photographs in this book are meant to tell the story of the Austrians’ struggle to return to their great homeland, and of the joy when their longing was fulfilled. But may it be that all those who were not able to personally take part in the historic events of the past weeks in the German Upper Danube region will see from these images that only after much struggle and suffering throughout those years was it possible to realize the ancient longing of all Germans: One Empire, One People, One Leader!”
After the annexation of Austria in March 1938 (the Anschluss), Nazi Germany did not present the move as an occupation, but rather as a “natural unification between two parts of the German nation.” The Nazi propaganda apparatus – headed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels – operated at full force to shape public opinion: posters, booklets, films, and visual imagery depicted the event as a moment of national brotherhood and the historical realization of the people’s will. Within days of the military entry, various publications such as the present booklet appeared, portraying Austria not as a victim of occupation, but as an enthusiastic partner in German unification. The political reality of fear, repression, and the elimination of opposition was silenced, replaced with images of cheering Austrian crowds, supposedly of their own free will, erasing all mention of the persecution of dissidents, Jews, and leftists upon the entry of the German army into Vienna. Through total control of message and imagery, the Nazis succeeded in embedding the myth of the “will of the people, ” which served to legitimize internationally a move that was, in fact, aimed at expanding the borders of the Reich and subjecting a sovereign nation to totalitarian rule.
The author of the foreword, Dr. Otto Dietrich, served as Reich Press Chief (Reichspressechef) and was a close advisor to Adolf Hitler on communication matters. He was a key figure in Nazi propaganda, issuing direct instructions to newspaper editors across Germany. After the war, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to seven years in prison in the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (Ministries Trial). Henrich Hansen, a lesser-known Nazi propaganda editor, participated in the production of publications marking “historic” events for the Reich, often accompanied by photographs.
128 pages. 23×25 cm. Original cover. Good – very good condition.
