Editing Vienna (section)

=== Anschluss and World War II===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-028-14, Anschluss Österreich.jpg|thumb|Crowds greet [[Chancellor of Germany|German Chancellor]] [[Adolf Hitler]] as he rides in an open car in Vienna following the March 1938 [[Anschluss|annexation of Austria]] by [[Nazi Germany]]]]
{{Main|Anschluss}}
On 15 March 1938, three days after German troops had first entered Austria, [[Adolf Hitler]] arrived in Vienna. 200,000 Austrians greeted him at the [[Heldenplatz]], where he held a speech from a balcony in the Neue Burg, in which he announced that Austria would be absorbed into [[Nazi Germany]]. The persecution of [[History of the Jews in Austria|Jews]] started almost immediately, Viennese Jews were harassed and hounded, their homes and businesses plundered. Some were forced to scrub pro-independence slogans off the streets. This culminated in the [[Kristallnacht]], a nationwide [[pogrom]] against the Jews carried out by the [[Schutzstaffel]] and the [[Sturmabteilung]], with support of the [[Hitler Youth]] and German civilians. All [[synagogue]]s and prayer houses in the city were destroyed, bar the [[Stadttempel]], due to its proximity to residential buildings.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erlanger |first1=Steven |title=Vienna Skewered as a Nazi-Era Pillager of Its Jews |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/world/vienna-skewered-as-a-nazi-era-pillager-of-its-jews.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=11 May 2017 |date=7 March 2002 |url-status=live |archive-date=2 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702054818/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/world/vienna-skewered-as-a-nazi-era-pillager-of-its-jews.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Expulsion, Deportation to concentration camps and mass murder – History of the Jews in Vienna From racist mania to genocide |url=https://www.wien.gv.at/english/culture/jewishvienna/history/nationalsocialism.html |access-date=11 May 2017 |work=wien.gv.at |quote=The entry of Hitler's army into Austria in March 1938 triggered unprecedented suffering and hardship for Vienna's Jews. Grave acts of violence against the Jewish population began to proliferate. |archive-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320223715/https://www.wien.gv.at/english/culture/jewishvienna/history/nationalsocialism.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Vienna lost its status as a capital to [[Berlin]], as Austria had ceased to exist. The few [[Austrian resistance|resistors]] in the city were arrested.

[[Adolf Eichmann]] held office in the expropriated Palais Rothschild and organized the expropriation and persecution of the Jews. Of the almost 200,000 Jews in Vienna, around 120,000 were driven to emigrate and around 65,000 were killed. After the end of the war, the Jewish population of Vienna was only about 5,000.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.doew.at/erkennen/ausstellung/1938/die-verfolgung-der-oesterreichischen-juden |title=DÖW – Erkennen – Ausstellung – 1938 – Die Verfolgung der österreichischen Juden |website=www.doew.at |access-date=3 February 2021 |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706103854/https://www.doew.at/erkennen/ausstellung/1938/die-verfolgung-der-oesterreichischen-juden |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/u-z/2087-wien-oesterreich |title=Jüdische Gemeinde – Wien (Österreich) |website=www.xn—jdische-gemeinden-22b.de |access-date=3 February 2021 |archive-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610035119/https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/u-z/2087-wien-oesterreich |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wien.gv.at/english/culture/jewishvienna/ |title=Jewish Vienna |website=www.wien.gv.at |access-date=11 May 2017 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619120020/https://www.wien.gv.at/english/culture/jewishvienna/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.zeit.de/2018/11/nationalsozialismus-oesterreich-anschluss-antisemitismus-adolf-eichmann/komplettansicht |title=Hitlers willige Vasallen |newspaper=Die Zeit |date=12 March 2018 |access-date=3 February 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505105703/https://www.zeit.de/2018/11/nationalsozialismus-oesterreich-anschluss-antisemitismus-adolf-eichmann/komplettansicht |url-status=live |last1=Riedl |first1=Joachim }}</ref>
[[File:Rachel whitereadwien holocaust mahnmal wien judenplatz.jpg|thumb|The [[Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial]].|left]]
In 1942 the city suffered its first [[Bombing of Vienna in World War II|air raid]], carried out by the [[Soviet Air Forces|Soviet air force]]. Only after the [[Allied invasion of Italy|Allies had taken Italy]] did the next raids commence. From 17 March 1944, 51 air raids were carried out in Vienna. Targets of the bombings were primarily the city's [[Oil refinery|oil refineries]]. However, around a third of the city center was destroyed, and culturally important buildings such as the State Opera and the Burgtheater were burned, and the Albertina was heavily damaged. These air raids lasted until March 1945, just before the Soviet troops started the [[Vienna offensive]].

The [[Red Army]], who had previously [[Budapest offensive|marched through Hungary]], first entered Vienna on 6 April. They first attacked the eastern and southern suburbs, before moving on to the western suburbs. By the 8th they had the center of the city surrounded. The following day the Soviets started with the infiltration of the city center. Fighting continued for a few more days until the [[Soviet Navy]]’s [[Danube Flotilla (Soviet Union)|Danube Flotilla]] naval force arrived with reinforcements. The remaining defending soldiers surrendered that same day.
[[File:Vienna Operations.jpg|thumb|Soviet soldiers entering Vienna in Spring 1945]]