The University of Vienna during the Nazi Era

With the “Anschluss” of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938, the University of Vienna was radically transformed into a National Socialist institution in a very short time. It was a takeover from below, from above, from within, and from without. The “self-alignment” of university members – among whom anti-Semitic, German nationalist, and anti-democratic ideas had already been widespread – and “alignment” by the new rulers went hand in hand and complemented one another.