Juliabkommen 1936#

Juliabkommen 1936, agreement between the Austrian government under Schuschnigg and the government of Nazi Germany under Hitler, signed on July 11, 1936, under pressure of the rapprochement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, which had brought the Austrian corporate state into a position of isolation. In this agreement, Germany promised to respect Austrian sovereignty, not to interfere in Austria´s internal affairs, ("including the question of Austrian National Socialism") and to revoke the Tausend-Mark-Sperre currency restriction. In return, Austria promised to grant amnesty to National Socialists who had been arrested, to follow a similar foreign policy to that of Germany, and to include two representatives of the nationalist opposition in the government. Consequently, Schuschnigg designated the committed German nationalist E. Glaise-Horstenau as Minister without Portfolio and Guido Schmidt, who had been instrumental in bringing the agreement to a conclusion, as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Austrian politics now entered on a course which was referred to as the "deutsche Weg" (pursuing the policy of a "German" state). As a result, the confrontational policy of the NSDAP, which was still illegal, was replaced by gradual infiltration of Austrian counter-intelligence.

Literature#