Posted on 05/05/2012 7:00:09 PM PDT by iowamark
Son of Austrian Chancellor shares fascinating perspective of events in When Hitler Took Austria
SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- In March 1938, Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg found himself under house arrest by invading German troops who stormed the country as part of the Nazi takeover of Europe. Chancellor von Schuschnigg spent time in Gestapo prisons from May 1938 to December 1941, when his wife Vera and daughter Sissi joined him in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Ignatius Press has published the gripping true story of von Schuschnigg as told by his son, who came of age during these dramatic events.
When Hitler Took Austria begins with the junior von Schuschnigg's youth and his father's efforts to maintain Austrian independence amid the rise of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and political unrest in his homeland. After the Nazis annexed Austria, they sent Chancellor von Schuschnigg and his wife to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp but allowed his son to finish his education in Germany.
Kurt von Schuschnigg, Jr., attended the German naval academy to avoid the draft and ended up on a Third Reich warship, serving the dictator who held his family captive. He recounts a number of harrowing escapes as a young naval cadet and later as a Third Reich deserter. He recalls in vivid detail the many times his life was saved through the surprising heroism of ordinary people.
When Hitler Took Austria is a story of survival -- one co-author Janet von Schuschnigg calls "a testimony to the faith, hope and perseverance of the many people who, at great risk to themselves, resisted the evil of tyranny by doing good for others."
Although untold numbers of Europeans witnessed and suffered through Hitler's maniacal attempt at world domination, few can offer the kind of perspective found in When Hitler Took Austria. Throughout its 350 pages, readers will find behind-the-scenes accounts of pivotal historical events, along with glimpses into the private life of a European head of state during the rise of Nazi Germany and its attempt to overrun Europe and the world. The book also includes 24 pages of photographs.
"This is a graphic and dramatic first-person account of a crucial period in modern history," says St. Louis University Professor of History James Hitchcock. "It is both riveting and inspiring."
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, another Austrian native whose family also suffered in World War II, provides the book's foreword.
To request a review copy of When Hitler Took Austria or to schedule an interview with co-authors Kurt and Janet von Schuschnigg, please contact Tim Lilley (678-990-9032 or TLilley@MaximusMG.com) or Kevin Wandra (678-990-9032, or KWandra@MaximusMG.com) with The Maximus Group.
we probably should be reading up.
Pinging myself for later.
Sounds like a good book, as well as a timely one. I’ve been a big fan of the Internet Archive for quite a while, and this reminds me of something I found there not too long ago. I was on a tear, enjoying stick footage movies (a neat way to travel in time, as it were). One is about Italy under fascism, narrated by Lowell Thomas, and rather sympathetic to the fascists. See here: http://archive.org/details/AFP-80D_Mussolini_Speaks_Pt5
Once, our predecessors thought well of (at least) the ability of people like the fascists to get things done. This was a surface view, not universal but noted, and well before the evil was unavoidable, outside of men like Mr. Churchill.
Modern Germany was created when Bavaria and other small German states merged with Prussia in 1871. A republican government emerged after the monarchy was toppled in 1918.
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The Austrian Nazis were even more fanatical than the German ones.
In my freshman year of college,before I went into WWII service, I took a course on ‘Contemporary Literature’. Subject matter included discussion and reading of works by Lippmann, Hitler, Mussolini, Chase, and others especially communists such as Marx and Lenin. This was a time of world turmoil with all kinds of groups in the USA each promoting their own brand of society/government. The Professor, who was known to be left leaning, had a question on the final exam to define propaganda. My answer very pointedly was the stuff he had us reading and discussing especially as to communism. I recall he commented that my answer was unique but I got an A for the course.
Thanks, will check this book out.
Also, you might be interested in a book that becomes available free at the Amazon Kindle Store from time to time (you don’t have to have a Kindle, you can download the app and read it on your pc).
The Secret Holocaust Diaries; The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister....Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna’s writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness.
A quick yet informative, interesting read.
BFL
I’ll check out both books!
The creation in 1871 followed a war between Prussia and Austria to determine which of those large German states would dominate the smaller ones. After Prussia won, Austria looked southwards for expansion (resulting in Austria-Hungary, which encompassed much of the Balkans as well). Hitler always felt that Austria should have been included in the new Germany, and made it clear in his book.
“Germany was created after WWI”
really...and just WHO were we @ war w/ 1917-1919?
Apparently a lot of Austrians agreed.
“Greek neo-Nazis already threatening rivals after winning parliament seats”
This is an article that appeared in HOTAIR.
http://hotair.com/headlines/
Here we go again. The times are ripe.
Sorry for the misstatement. I guess I wasn’t concerned about how we got to where we were. My point was and I’m sure you understand, we are heading back there again.
Hitler was Austrian.
That, too, my point is everybody dumps on Germany for the Nazis, while Austria gets a pass for some reason.
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