I will state without a cite, that there is an organized and widespread program in Germany to “remember the past”, take responsibility for it, and learn from it. Some extreme examples of this include making it illegal to display a swastika (except for educational/historical purposes) or to claim that the Holocaust never happened or was ‘greatly exaggerated’. Less sensational examples of what I have termed a “program” include class time devoted in public schools spent examining Germany’s actions during the Nazi era (especially with respect to its treatment of the Jews). I think you can see what I’m getting at.
Is there anything similar to this in Austria?
I ask because, after the Anschluss anyway, Austria was part of Germany. Beyond that (and this is just my opinion/impression), it seems that a disproportionate number of Nazi war criminals (and war criminal types), such as worked at extermination camps, or were members of the Einsatzgruppen, were Austrian. Even if I’m wrong about this last bit, there is no dispute that Austria was part of the German Reich and thus, presumably, shares whatever 'guilt" Germany proper has. So I ask again: Is there any “program” (i.e. organized, systematic attempt) in Austria to confront its Nazi past as is/was done in Germany itself?
There are efforts like you describe but they are generally much more recent and less extensive than those in Germany. In the aftermath of the war, Austrians were able to portray themselves as victims of the Nazis and the Allies for various reasons went along with it and treated them as if they had simply been conquered by the Nazis. The “victim doctrine” (a good google term for further reading) was more or less the official government line and position of most Austrians through the 80’s and was slow to change even then. It’s still controversial today, although the non-victim camp has picked up a lot more momentum in the last 10 years or so, partly because people from that generation are dying off. I have a friend who graduated from secondary school there in the late 90’s and she says that the World War 2 era was mostly just not taught, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s no longer the case.
Kurt Waldheim’s rocky later career illustrated, I think, that Austria had not faced up to its Nazi past nearly as forthrightly as Germany: Kurt Waldheim - Wikipedia
Austrians and Austria as victims? I would never have even thought of looking at it that way. Really, that is more than disingenuous. The crowds in the streets welcoming their Deutsche brothers were positively euphoric. And huge.
I forgot about the Waldheim affair. Indeed, it is a good exemplar.
I’ve read (no cite) that Austria’s greatest accomplishment of the postwar period was to convince the world that Beethoven was Austrian and Hitler was German.
The Anschluss was definitely done against the wishes of the Austrian government. Now whether the people welcomed it or not is another question (indeed, that may be why Austria was a fascist dictatorship in the years preceding the Anschluss) but there is a definite argument to be made that Austria was conquered by the Nazis. Even among the Austrian Nazi party there was apparently an anti-annexation faction.
I recall a point made just after the Waldheim affair, not long after the Nixon impeachment… If the world exploded and disappeared at that time, only 3 names of human beings woul survive - a plaque on the moon saying “We came in peace for all mankind - signed Niel Armstrong, astronaut; Richard M.Nixon, President of USA” and a recording on Voyager 1 saying “Hello, this is Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General” and an invitation to visit Earth.