Talk:Anschluß

Old intro

The previous introduction did not contain the basic information needed for this page. For the time being I moved the old intro to the bottom of the page. It needs to be rewritten and integrated into the main body of the page. --Peter Schmitt 01:56, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

The article certainly would benefit from expansion.

Peter, I'm sorry, but in this phrase "a new government was formed by Seyß-Inquart." 'Seyß' cannot be read by an English speaker, and consequently it is extremely distracting and off-putting to an English language reader. It needs to be rendered Arthur Seyss-Inquart (in German: Seyß-Inquart) or something similar; you handle this very well in the opening (Anschluss and Austria).

Aleta Curry 02:32, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

I absolutely agree from expansion, given that I started it specifically to support Nazi activities of the 1930s, not to be a complete history of the Austrian perspective. As an Austrian, Peter obviously has perspective that I don't. I encourage cooperative on the lede, although I would point out that while it was certainly an idea in Pan-German nationalism, English speakers probably know it best in terms of the completed acquisition of Austria by Germany.

Separately, I have started an article on Pan-German nationalism, which complements this since it will include 19th century influences. Again, I welcome collaboration.

Aleta's point on the German orthography is well taken. With my remaining fragments of high school German, which, whatever nasty people say, was not taken while Bismarck was becoming a political leader, :-), I can read it, but I can't directly type it since it is not part of the ISO/IEC 646 character set and not available on common keyboards. Die Hexe, or Frau Bender, my German teacher, never suggested it is pronounced differently than "ss". Is this true? If so, there is even less argument than diacritic vs. dipthong. Howard C. Berkowitz 03:23, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Reorganization

Howard, I do not agree with your reorganization. The introduction is meant to give the basic information (as I tried to give it). Splitting this up into one-sentence paragraphs destroys this purpose. The body of the page may expand the basic information with details. On the other hand, in this form, remarks on Hitler's views and motivations do not fit into the introduction. --Peter Schmitt 10:14, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

It certainly was not my intention to leave those as one-sentence paragraphs, and I continue to add material. You are correct about the Hitler material in the introduction, but neither does it fit to put the failed 1918 attempt, as more than a summary, there. The 1938 actually happened, and I've tried to balance this.

No one-paragraph sections remain, and most will be expanded and sourced. Your introduction could suggest to a reader unfamiliar with the situation that the major event was 1918. Howard C. Berkowitz 11:00, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

The lede states that "Nazi Germany incorporated Austria, by force, as the Ostmark". I think it's important to acknowledge at the ouset that this appears to have had the overswhelming support of the Austrian people [1]; "by force" has the implication of military engagement, but I'm not aware that there was any active conflict. It was a bloodless coup d'etat by the Austrian Nazis, backed by Germany, followed by a plebiscite (probably rigged to exaggerate the undoubted strong support) , or wasn't it? It had the support of Austrian politicians and clergy Gareth Leng 10:19, 13 January 2011 (UTC)