Why did the Nazis claim that Adolf Hitler was German?

[Peter89]

If one historical event had turned out differently, that is the German war in 1866, then it’s highly likely that the Austrians would have unified Germany and excluded Prussia and thus people would be asking if people like Otto von Bismarck as a Prussian should be classified as a German or not.

Not really. There were many plans, but ultimately the Austrians wanted to unify Greater Germany, including the Prussians, while Prussia wanted to leave the Austrians out - Bismarck realized what the guys after WW1 not, namely that there must be a powerhouse in Central Europe that can withstand the Russian aggression.

There is no proof that Austria ( which did not exist ,as it was Austria-Hungary ) wanted to unify Greater Germany : the Hapsburgs were hostile to German nationalism,as nationalism meant democratisation and wanted to conserve the status quo and some of them wanted to restore the situation from before 1789 . Metternich was a typical example .
And the German powerhouse did not withstand the imaginary Russian aggression, but was a staunch ally of Russia til 1890 .
After 1890 the German nationalism, the German contempt for Slavs,the hostility of the SPD to the Tsar changed the situation, but a very big part of the ruling German class still considered Russia as a natural ally . The same happened in Vienna .

The unification of Germans first came up as a political idea on the Frankfurter Nationalversammlung in 1848, thus well before Austria-Hungary came to be in 1867. What actually happened is that the Habsburg-Austrians searched for a way to dominate the new German state. It is questionable whether they wanted to deal with the rebellious borderlands like Transsylvania, Hungary and the Military Frontier. Most likely they would let these provinces go in the same way as Romania gained its independence; a meaningless buffer state. After Königgrätz, the Austrians had to make a deal with the Hungarians, because the Prussian solution (Kleindeutsche Lösung) won. The alliance or hostility towards Russia is irrelevant in this regard; alliances changed all the time, the question was how the power centers should balance out each other.

The Frankfurter Nationalversammlung from 1848 was dominated by the Bildungsbürgertum ( in present terms : intellectuals ) and the Hapsburgers were very hostile to it .
The Hapsburgers searched for a way to dominate the actual German ''state '',not the new one .
The Hapsburgers could not afford the independence of Hungary, as this would be followed by the independence of the Czechs, Croatians, etc .
Their deal with Hungary was not caused by the victory of the Prussian solution, but by their defeats of Königgratz and earlier Magenta .The Russians had saved he Hapsburgers in 1848, but this could not be done a second time .
About the relationship between AH and Russia : both were multicultural states (Austrians were a minority in AH and Russians would become a minority in Russia ) with autocratic rulers,both faced by a growing pressure for democratization and nationalism .
Both were ideological allies and both knew that the disappearance of one of both would result in the disappearance of the other one .

Yes, the Heilige Allianz was a real concept, but Metternich & co. died by the time the German unification became a thing
Eventually, both the German Empire and Austria-Hungary opted to retain the monarchy but with a continous strengthening of the Bürgertum and a democratization process. The Prussians also did not democratize the German Empire and they were also quite hostile towards the Bildungsbürgertum, socialism and nationalism; yet they realized that Germany can not be governed without making some concessions for the intelligentsia and the working class. If the Grossdeutsche Lösung prevailed, roughly the same things would take place, except that the Slavic and Hungarian minorities would be treated like the Poles in the German Empire, or they would become buffer states (as they historically have been).

[ljadw]

The Grossdeutsche Lösung would be very risky for Prussia/Germany,as there would be two emperors :the German Emperor (not :Emperor of Germany ) and the Emperor of Austria .
And what would happen to Hungary? and to Bohemia-Moravia ? and to the 3,5 million Poles living in the Austrian Empire ?
They could not be included into Germany .If they became independent states ,republics, they would be a threat for the monarchies in Germany and for the German state and for Russia :there were also 3 million Poles in Germany and 6,5 million in Russia .
OTOH, I doubt very much that they could function as a buffer against Russian expansion ( which was also very unlikely ) and the position of an independent Hungary in the Transylvanian question against Romania would be weaker than if Hungary remained a part of AH .
If there was no danger of a Russian expansion, there was no need for the dissolution of AH.
If there was a danger of Russian expansion,the dissolution of AH would help the Russians .
The best situation was the Kleindeutsche Lösung ,but the big problem was that the situation of 1871 could,even without war, not continue after 1914 .
Hungary was becoming ,more and more ,a de facto independent state,and Franz Jozef would not live for eternity .And this would influence the evolution in the other states .

[Sheldrake]

Austria had historically had a far greater role leading Germany as the ducal seat of the Hapsburgs, the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire from 1438-1806. The Prussians were upstarts - winners by picking up rapidly industrialising Westphalia as spoils for their part in defeating Napoleon.

Austria was Catholic while Prussia was Protestant. Bismark did not want Austria inside the Second German Empire as it would destabilise the balance of power. Austria remained the centre of a big multi national empire until 1918. Lviv was an Austrian city. The Hapsburgs were exciled from Austria, but the heads of the family have been promoting pan european EU. Otto von Hapsburg and his son Karl have served as MEPs

There was a piece of graffiti in the 1970s in the student union lavatory in the Univesity of Sheffield. "The Holy Roman Empire will rise anew from the ashes of the EEC"

That Prussia was protestant is a generalization and an exaggeration .

OK. Insert the adjective "mainly" in front of the religions.

[ljadw]

I would warn against the prevailing story about the importance of Catholicism in the political problems in Germany after 1871 : there was no war between Prussian protestant conservatives and Catholics from Bavaria and the Rhineland .
The Kulturkampf was mainly a war from the left liberals and a big part of the national liberals to eliminate religion in Germany .The term Kulturkampf was invented by the atheist Virchow,not by Bismarck .
The Kulturkampf became very soon uncontrollable and Bismarck could do nothing against it as he was depending on the Liberals for a majority in the Reichstag. The Conservatives did abandon him very soon .
What a lot of people don't know is that there was also something as a Kulturkampf in catholic Bavaria and Austria, but it did not go as far as in Prussia .But he started earlier in Bavaria than in Prussia .

[George L Gregory]

Germans could not stay together in one, unified country. Even now it is hardly possible to balance out Germany on the continent, and it would be outright impossible if the bloodbath of WW1 and WW2 didn't take place, and/or Austria and the German cantons of Switzerland would form a unified country with Germany.

How are you defining “Germans”?

The Austrian Germans and the Sudeten Germans were more than happy to be a part of the German Reich in the late 1930s and even until the end of WW2.

[George L Gregory]

In the face of Hitler’s threats, Schuschnigg called off the refer- endum and resigned. But Hitler still ordered the invasion to go ahead on 12 March. And contrary to the anxieties of the German generals, the move into Austria was an overwhelming success. German troops were pelted with flowers by welcoming Austrians amidst scenes of near ecstasy. “The Austrian Anschluss was like a ripe apple, it was at the moment to fall,”’ says Reinhard Spitzy, an Austrian-born Nazi who returned to his homeland with Hitler.

As they entered Austria, Germans like Foreign Office official Herbert Richter were astonished at the scale of the welcome they received. ‘On the day of the Amschluss, I was driving with my wife in my open-top car through the Austrian Tyrol. And we found that our Berlin licence plates were already provoking enthusiasm amongst the Austrians. And we ate lunch in a restaurant in Schwaz, which is a little town before you get to Innsbruck, and there was a Tyrolean farmer leading his oxen, and he had put little flags with swastikas between their horns... I remember it very clearly. That is the extent of the enthusiasm. Austria was in a very poor economic situation at the time. And they were hoping for an improvement in their economic situation. But anyway, the enthusiasm was immense.’’

It was a dramatic success for Hitler, especially since none of the foreign problems that Beck and his colleagues had feared ever transpired. Hitler had received Mussolini’s blessing for the invasion just before it was launched, and Britain and France never looked as if they would go to war over the Anschluss. The attitude in Britain was summed up by Sir Frank Roberts, a British diplomat: ‘I suppose a lot of people in England would say “well, they are Germans [in Austria] after all, and if that’s what they really want...”?) And this view was set against a broader feeling that perhaps Germany had previously been badly treated. ‘The general view in Britain,’ says Sir Frank, ‘was that the French had imposed, and we had obviously been connected with it, too harsh a settlement on Germany in 1918, and that this should be rectified. And to that extent there was a slight feeling of “we ought to have done better”. If you call that a senti- ment of guilt, all right. I’m not sure we felt it as guilt, quite.’

Laurence Rees, The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler, pages 188-190.

Even people abroad at that time considered the Austrians to be Germans and that’s why no foreign country bothered to intervene when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938.

Even Kurt Schuschnigg who wanted an independent Austria admitted that the Austrians were Germans.

Also, the judge at the court for the Beer Hall Putsch refused to deport Hitler to Austria because he considered him to be an Austrian German.

[Peter89]

Germans could not stay together in one, unified country. Even now it is hardly possible to balance out Germany on the continent, and it would be outright impossible if the bloodbath of WW1 and WW2 didn't take place, and/or Austria and the German cantons of Switzerland would form a unified country with Germany.

How are you defining “Germans”?

The Austrian Germans and the Sudeten Germans were more than happy to be a part of the German Reich in the late 1930s and even until the end of WW2.

Their reduced happiness in the late 1940s was a result of them being together in one country (except Swiss Germans of course - they remained happy even afterwards).

Germans are German speaking people who identify themselves as Germans and share a common cultural affiliation based on the language.

If the roughly 100m Germans unite in the middle of Europe, there will always be a war or an economic-diplomatic imbalance.

[George L Gregory]

Their reduced happiness in the late 1940s was a result of them being together in one country (except Swiss Germans of course - they remained happy even afterwards).

The overwhelming of them were more than happy to be a part of the German Reich until the bitter end of the Third Reich. Mind you, there is evidence that many the Austrians and Prussians still had a mutual dislike of each other.

Their reluctance to identify as “Germans” after the war is because of the atrocities that happened during the Nazi era.

Germans are German speaking people who identify themselves as Germans and share a common cultural affiliation based on the language.

So how would you reply to someone who would say “Hitler was an Austrian not German!” That’s what many people believe these days. It’s based on ignorance and a reluctance to say that Austrians are Germans despite not being part of Germany since 1866 apart from the 7 years between 1938-1945. I guess it depends on how one uses “Austrian” and “German” because he wasn’t an Austrian citizen by birth. I always make the comparison that someone is ethnically English/Scottish/Welsh/Northern Irish but is a British citizen.

I wonder, how many of the people who repeat that sentence are aware of the Bavarian national identity and the amount of Bavarians who would more than happily see Bavaria as an independent country?

Speaking of Bavarian, Hitler’s birthplace has changed between Austrian rule and Bavarian rule so at one point the people born there would have been known as Bavarians rather than Austrians and that’s why he said it was Bavarian by blood in Mein Kampf.

Mozart considered himself to be German but people try and say he wasn’t German but an Austrian because his birthplace Salzburg is now a part of Austria.

If the roughly 100m Germans unite in the middle of Europe, there will always be a war or an economic-diplomatic imbalance.

That’s an assumption based on what exactly?

Can we really reach any conclusions about that idea based on what happened in the 1800s and 1900s?

[George L Gregory]

Shortly after Hitler came to power he publicly declared in a speech on the 22 February 1933 that he was a Bavarian:

Und Sie mögen eines zur Kenntnis nehmen: Ich selbst bin meinem Herkommen nach, meiner Geburt und meiner Abstammung nach ein Bajuware. Zum erstenmal seit der Gründung des Reiches ist die Würde Bismarcks in die Hände eines Bayern gelegt worden.

And you may take note of one thing: I myself am a Bavarian according to my origins, my birth and my descent. For the first time since the founding of the empire, Bismarck's dignity has been placed in the hands of a Bavarian.

Austria emerged as a March out of Bavaria and that’s why he thought of himself as such, just like most Austrians back then considered themselves to be Bavarians i.e. Germans.

[DavidFrankenberg]

The german people was not limited to Germany, and Germany was also inhabited by non-german people.
Hitler was part of the german volk like the most part of austrians. He was also of german language and culture. Indeed he was german with austrian nationality.
Austrians themselves know they were german volk. Anschluss was no mystery. Most of austrian people didnt see the problem. As soon as 1918 austrian people claimed to unite to Germany. Deutschvolk is not only an ideological word, but also a reality.

[George L Gregory]

The german people was not limited to Germany, and Germany was also inhabited by non-german people.
Hitler was part of the german volk like the most part of austrians. He was also of german language and culture. Indeed he was german with austrian nationality.
Austrians themselves know they were german volk. Anschluss was no mystery. Most of austrian people didnt see the problem. As soon as 1918 austrian people claimed to unite to Germany. Deutschvolk is not only an ideological word, but also a reality.

That’s right. The words above the Reichstag were “Dem Deutschen Volke” (To the German People), it was in honour of the German people and not Germany or the German Empire.

Austria had been a part of Germany for centuries until it was excluded in 1866 after being defeated by Prussia.

Ernst Moritz Arndt wrote in 1813 “The German Fatherland”:

Which is the German’s fatherland?
Is’t Prussia’s or Swabia’s land?
Is’t where the Rhine’s rich vintage streams?
Or where the Northern sea-gull screams?—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!
Which is the German’s fatherland?
Bavaria’s or Styria’s land?
Is’t where the Marsian ox unbends?
Or where the Marksman iron rends?—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so.

Which is the German’s fatherland?
Pomerania’s, or Westphalia’s land?
Is it where sweep the Dunian waves?
Or where the thundering Danube raves?—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!

Which is the German’s fatherland?
O, tell me now the famous land!
Is’t Tyrol, or the land of Tell?
Such lands and people please me well.—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!

Which is the German’s fatherland?
Come, tell me now the famous land.
Doubtless, it is the Austrian state,
In honors and in triumphs great.—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!

[ljadw]

Austrians themselves know they were german volk. Anschluss was no mystery. Most of austrian people didnt see the problem. As soon as 1918 austrian people claimed to unite to Germany. Deutschvolk is not only an ideological word, but also a reality.

As soon ? You mean : as late ? Because before 1918 the Anschluss idea was without any influence in Austria.And the alliance between both countries was more theory than reality .
The Anschluss idea became important in 1918 only because Great Austria had disappeared and only a small core state remained ,of which its inhabitants were convinced that it could not survive .
Other point : a lot of these Austrian people were not Austrians ,due to the immigration from Slavic territories .Not only Great Austria was a multicultural society, but also actual Austria .The majority of the population of Vienna was not born in Vienna .

[DavidFrankenberg]

The german people was not limited to Germany, and Germany was also inhabited by non-german people.
Hitler was part of the german volk like the most part of austrians. He was also of german language and culture. Indeed he was german with austrian nationality.
Austrians themselves know they were german volk. Anschluss was no mystery. Most of austrian people didnt see the problem. As soon as 1918 austrian people claimed to unite to Germany. Deutschvolk is not only an ideological word, but also a reality.

That’s right. The words above the Reichstag were “Dem Deutschen Volke” (To the German People), it was in honour of the German people and not Germany or the German Empire.

Austria had been a part of Germany for centuries until it was excluded in 1866 after being defeated by Prussia.

Ernst Moritz Arndt wrote in 1813 “The German Fatherland”:

Which is the German’s fatherland?
Is’t Prussia’s or Swabia’s land?
Is’t where the Rhine’s rich vintage streams?
Or where the Northern sea-gull screams?—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!
Which is the German’s fatherland?
Bavaria’s or Styria’s land?
Is’t where the Marsian ox unbends?
Or where the Marksman iron rends?—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so.

Which is the German’s fatherland?
Pomerania’s, or Westphalia’s land?
Is it where sweep the Dunian waves?
Or where the thundering Danube raves?—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!

Which is the German’s fatherland?
O, tell me now the famous land!
Is’t Tyrol, or the land of Tell?
Such lands and people please me well.—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!

Which is the German’s fatherland?
Come, tell me now the famous land.
Doubtless, it is the Austrian state,
In honors and in triumphs great.—
Ah, no, no, no!
His fatherland’s not bounded so!

Very interesting and nice poem.
This poem dated 1813, the time of the french occupation and the war of liberation against Napoleon (battle of Lepizig 1813). This battle is commonly considered as the awakening of the german nationalism.
What is interesting is that untill the date you quote, the battle of Sadowa 1865, the question was "around which country will be united the German people ?" : Prussia or Austria. The victory of Prussia at Sadowa over Austria answered the question.
Bismarck at the time refused to "eat" Austria and let it free. He didnt want to provoke England. He didnt want to appear as the new Napoleon and provoke a war with England. So from 1865 until 1938 Austria remained distinct of the Reich, but it has been always a claim of at least a part of german völkisch movement to annex Austria. Hitler himself regretted deeply that Bismarck didnt unite Austria to the german reich. As a young man in Austria he enraged being surrounded by Czechs or Jews having the same rights than the german volk who was the true bone of the Austrian state. No surprise he enjoyed living in Munich, Germany, as soon as 1913. No surprise he despised the bavarian secessionists in 1918-1919. Hitler wanted above all to unite Germany and Austria, he wanted to unite all the german people. And that's why he provoked the war.

Austrians themselves know they were german volk. Anschluss was no mystery. Most of austrian people didnt see the problem. As soon as 1918 austrian people claimed to unite to Germany. Deutschvolk is not only an ideological word, but also a reality.

As soon ? You mean : as late ? Because before 1918 the Anschluss idea was without any influence in Austria.And the alliance between both countries was more theory than reality .
The Anschluss idea became important in 1918 only because Great Austria had disappeared and only a small core state remained ,of which its inhabitants were convinced that it could not survive .
Other point : a lot of these Austrian people were not Austrians ,due to the immigration from Slavic territories .Not only Great Austria was a multicultural society, but also actual Austria .The majority of the population of Vienna was not born in Vienna .

Anschluss was wanted as soon as 1865-1866 and the victory of Prussia over Austria at the battle of Sadowa. Since then people wanted to unite. In 1918, they saw the opportunity of doing so but the allies didnt permit it.
This wish was so strong and common that the constitutions of the Weimar Republic and the First Austrian Republic both included the political goal of unification, which parties widely supported. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss ... background

[George L Gregory]

Other point : a lot of these Austrian people were not Austrians ,due to the immigration from Slavic territories .Not only Great Austria was a multicultural society, but also actual Austria .The majority of the population of Vienna was not born in Vienna .

The same argument can be made against the actual people living in Germany. Historically Slavic tribes have settled in many Eastern parts of Germany and quite a few Germans even have Slavic surnames. Prior to the Slavs settling in parts of Germany, historically Celts were settled in both modern-day Austria and Germany. So what?

The Old Prussians weren’t even a Germanic tribe but a Baltic tribe that was Germanised. Are you going to argue that the people who unified weren’t even really Germans?

[ljadw]

People living in Austria but coming from outside Austria did not consider themselves as Austrians/Germans and can not be considered as Austrians/Germans .
Proof : after 1918 a big part of them left Austria and returned to the country where they were born: Czechs to Czechia, because they always remained Czechs, Hungarians to Hungary,etc...
The old Prussians considered themselves as Germans,because they did not leave Germany : they were quickly totally assimilated .This assimilation did not happen in Austria .
And this assimilation does not happen in actual Germany .