Austria marked the 80th anniversary of its annexation by Nazi Germany in Vienna on Monday at the square where Adolf Hitler was greeted by thousands of supporters in 1938.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said that Austrians "were not only victims, but also perpetrators, often in leading positions" during German occupation. He warned of how vulnerable democracies can be to populism, noting that "there is no excuse for self-inflicted ignorance."

Read more: Austrian Holocaust survivor trolled after warning about FPÖ

"The German Wehrmacht came overnight. But the contempt for human rights and democracy did not come overnight," he added, highlighting that support for Nazism and anti-Semitism in the country existed even before 1938.

Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said his government would create a new memorial commemorating more than 65,000 Austrian Jews murdered during the Holocaust. "We must never forget this dark chapter of our history," said Kurz.

On March 12, 1938, German army divisions entered Austria as part of the so-called "Anschluss" uniting German speaking peoples. Hitler, a native of Austria, was greeted by boisterous crowds three days later as he addressed supporters in Vienna's Heldenplatz Square.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen remarked on the weaknesses of democracies in the face of populism

Rising extremism

The commemoration comes after Kurz and the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) of Heinz-Christian Strache took control of a coalition government in December.

International attention has been focused on the FPÖ, which ran on an anti-immigrant platform and includes some former Nazis among its ranks.

Read more: Inside the secretive fraternities of Germany and Austria

The FPÖ denies any links to Nazis and since becoming a part of the ruling coalition has sought to distance itself from right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism.

Strache told local television that everyone should remember "the National Socialist (Nazi) terror regime that murdered people on a large scale because of their religion, their origin and their political opinions."

Demonstrators have held mass protests against the decision to include the far-right FPÖ in the Austrian government

Christians 'did not stand up'

Once the Nazi's took control of Austria, tens of thousand of political opponents, Jews and other minorities were rounded up.

Austria had long hidden behind the label of Nazi victim, despite widespread support and participation in Nazi atrocities.

Read more: Is it illegal to call someone a Nazi?

The Catholic Church said Monday that it hurts that Christians and even the bishop in 1938 "did not stand up stronger to hate, inhumanity and dictatorship." The Church had played a key role after 1938 in legitimizing Nazi rule.

The Anschluss between German and Austria is viewed as setting the stage for Nazi occupation of the Sudetenland later in 1938 and the invasion of Poland in 1939, which triggered World War II.

The men who led Nazi Germany Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945) As Hitler's Propaganda Minister, the virulently anti-Semitic Goebbels was responsible for making sure a single, iron-clad Nazi message reached every citizen of the Third Reich. He strangled freedom of the press, controlled all media, arts, and information, and pushed Hitler to declare "Total War." He and his wife committed suicide in 1945, after poisoning their six children.

The men who led Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) The leader of the German National Socialist Workers' Party (Nazi) developed his anti-Semitic, anti-communist and racist ideology well before coming to power as Chancellor in 1933. He undermined political institutions to transform Germany into a totalitarian state. From 1939 to 1945, he led Germany in World War II while overseeing the Holocaust. He committed suicide in April 1945.

The men who led Nazi Germany Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) As leader of the Nazi paramilitary SS ("Schutzstaffel"), Himmler was one of the Nazi party members most directly responsible for the Holocaust. He also served as Chief of Police and Minister of the Interior, thereby controlling all of the Third Reich's security forces. He oversaw the construction and operations of all extermination camps, in which more than 6 million Jews were murdered.

The men who led Nazi Germany Rudolf Hess (1894-1987) Hess joined the Nazi party in 1920 and took part in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, a failed Nazi attempt to gain power. While in prison, he helped Hitler write "Mein Kampf." Hess flew to Scotland in 1941 to attempt a peace negotiation, where he was arrested and held until the war's end. In 1946, he stood trial in Nuremberg and was sentenced to life in prison, where he died.

The men who led Nazi Germany Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962) Alongside Himmler, Eichmann was one of the chief organizers of the Holocaust. As an SS Lieutenant colonel, he managed the mass deportations of Jews to Nazi extermination camps in Eastern Europe. After Germany's defeat, Eichmann fled to Austria and then to Argentina, where he was captured by the Israeli Mossad in 1960. Tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity, he was executed in 1962.

The men who led Nazi Germany Hermann Göring (1893-1946) A participant in the failed Beer Hall Putsch, Göring became the second-most powerful man in Germany once the Nazis took power. He founded the Gestapo, the Secret State Police, and served as Luftwaffe commander until just before the war's end, though he increasingly lost favor with Hitler. Göring was sentenced to death at Nuremberg but committed suicide the night before it was enacted. Author: Cristina Burack



cw,ls/ng (dpa, ARD, AFP)