Ruth Deutschmann

Benjamin Epp

Wien

2008-04-29

Sylvia Manning - Baumgartner

Nicole D´Incecco

1938

I would like to emphasize that it wasn't a phenomenon unique to Tyrol or Innsbruck but that there was resistance in all of Austria. Don't forget that anti-National Socialist movements began between 1933 and 1938. They were known. Moreover, illegal Nazis repeatedly sent reports about certain people and their behaviour to Germany. As it turned out there were two illegal Hitler-youth members in school who wrote reports. When I was interrogated by the Gestapo these reports were held against me. In 1938 it was known who was opposed National Socialism. That's why the first wave of arrests, based on the records, took place very quickly, from one moment to the next. That's why it was so effective. A whole group of people who could potentially have become active against National Socialism were removed. That was the first blow against the resistance movement. Moreover, also pro-Austrian circles thought that the referendum would take place, until the last moment. Schuschnigg had announced it and was very determined. Everybody was shocked by the sudden reversal of the situation. I believe those were the first events that explain why there was no organised resistance movement from the beginning. Of course the resistance didn't have a military component at the beginning. The Austrian army had been ordered not to shoot. Besides, the Austrian army was only a small force. For example ? in France the situation was very different because military structures were preserved. For the Austrian resistance it wasn't like that at all. People didn't develop a strong negative attitude against National Socialism right away. The first impulse was: German-German-German. In Tyrol there was no basic organisation. A few people ? not a few but many people ? thought it would be good for South Tyrol. That South Tyrol would also be brought "home into the Reich", so to speak. Cardinal Innitzer, former President Karl Renner and other people advocated the election, so resistance didn't arise. At home I saw a man ? he was the president of the worker's union and lived on the fourth floor ? dragged feet first down four flights of stairs. That was horrible to watch. So brutality was present from the beginning. Afterwards we noticed that some people ? you wouldn't have expected ? proved to have behaved outstandingly. We found each other. Especially, my Catholic youth group at the Jesuits in Innsbruck was expressly anti-National Socialism for ideological and religious reasons. We stuck together, even afterwards. Some of us abandoned the cause, as always happens. But something was there.