In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed neighbouring Austria in the Anschluss; later that year it also annexed the still-separate from Bratislava Petržalka and Devín boroughs on ethnic grounds, as these had many ethnic Germans. Bratislava was declared the capital of the first independent Slovak Republic on March 14, 1939, but the new state quickly fell under Nazi influence. In 1941–1942 and 1944–1945, the new Slovak government cooperated in deporting most of Bratislava's approximately 15,000 Jews; they were transported to concentration camps, where most were killed or died before the end of the war in the Holocaust.