Editing Central Europe (section)

===Central Europe during World War II===
[[File:World War II in Europe, 1942.svg|thumb|[[German-occupied Europe]] at the height of the Axis conquests in 1942]]
During World War II, Central Europe was largely occupied by Nazi Germany. Many areas were a battle area and were devastated. The mass murder of the Jews depopulated many of their centuries-old settlement areas or settled other people there and their culture was wiped out. Both [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] diametrically opposed the centuries-old Habsburg principles of "live and let live" with regard to ethnic groups, peoples, minorities, religions, cultures and languages and tried to assert their own ideologies and power interests in Central Europe.<ref>Igor Lukes, "Central Europe Has Joined NATO: The Continuing Search for a More Perfect Habsburg Empire". ''SAIS Review'' (1999): 47–59.</ref> There were various Allied plans for state order in Central Europe for post-war. While Stalin tried to get as many states under his control as possible, [[Winston Churchill]] preferred a Central European Danube Confederation to counter those countries against Germany and Russia. There were also plans to add Bavaria and Württemberg to an enlarged Austria.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/churchill-und-die-deutschen-a-946593.html|title=Churchill und die Deutschen |first=Klaus |last=Wiegrefe |website=Der Spiegel|date=13 August 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930131008/https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/churchill-und-die-deutschen-a-946593.html |archive-date= Sep 30, 2023 }}</ref> There were also various resistance movements around [[Otto von Habsburg]] that pursued that goal. The group around the Austrian priest [[Heinrich Maier]] also planned in that direction, which also successfully helped the Allies to wage war by, among other things, forwarding production sites and plans for [[V-2 rocket]]s, [[Tiger tanks]] and aircraft to the United States.<ref>Peter Broucek "Die österreichische Identität im Widerstand 1938–1945" (2008), p 163.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Pirker |first=Peter |year=2012 |title=Suberversion deutscher Herrschaft. Der britische Geheimdienst SOE und Österreich |series=Zeitgeschichte im Kontext |volume=6 |location=Göttingen |publisher=V & R Unipress |isbn=9783862349906 |page=252}}</ref> Otto von Habsburg tried to relieve Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and northern Yugoslavia (particularly the territories of present-day Croatia and Slovenia) from German and Soviet influence and control.<ref>Olga S. Opfell "Royalty Who Wait: The 21 Heads of Formerly Regnant Houses of Europe" (2001), p 133.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/article190499367/Unternehmen-Margarethe-Wehrmacht-besetzt-1944-Ungarn.html|title="Unternehmen Margarethe": Wehrmacht besetzt 1944 Ungarn|first=Sven Felix|last=Kellerhoff|date=19 March 2019|work=Die Welt}}</ref> There were various considerations to prevent German and Soviet power in Europe after the war. Churchill's idea of reaching the area around Vienna before the Russians via an operation from the Adriatic had not been approved by the Western Allied chiefs of staff.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://orf.at/stories/3163144/|title=1945/2020: Die Sowjets und die Österreich-Idee |last=Heidegger|first=Gerald|date=26 April 2020|website=orf.at|language=de|access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref> As a result of the military situation at the end of the war, Stalin's plans prevailed and much of Central Europe came under Soviet control.<ref>Gerald Stourzh "Geschichte des Staatsvertrages 1945–1955" (1980), p 4.</ref><ref>Wolfgang Mueller "Die sowjetische Besatzung in Österreich 1945–1955 und ihre politische Mission" (German – "The Soviet occupation in Austria 1945–1955 and its political mission"), 2005, p 24.</ref>