![]() Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage. ![]() An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. “Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service. ![]() Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. “After the election, German officials were appointed, and, like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. The new government opened up big field kitchens and “We were overjoyed,” remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. “Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. “Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group – Jewish or otherwise. “We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. “We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.” she recalls. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.’ “My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Not that they didn’t want to work there simply weren’t any jobs. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest rates.įarmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. “In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. “Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.” She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. “We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. Her family chose to stay in her native Austria. If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. “I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns it would distort history.
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