History of Austria wanting to annex the country to the German Third Reich, resulting in the assassination of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. While the coup failed, Adolf Hitler succeeded in annexing Austria on 12 March 1938 as "Ostmark", until 1945. Austria was partitioned after the Second World War and then in 1955 became the independent sovereign state (Second Republic) that has existed to the present day. In 1995, Austria joined the European Union. The modern state of Austria is considered to have three geographic zones. The biggest third consists of the Alps, which covers 62.8% of the country's landmass. In the north, across the
Islam in Austria the center-left Chancellor Christian Kern. Anyone wearing clothes that obscure their face in public is liable to a fine of €150 and must remove the offending garment “on the spot” if ordered by police. Many activists and experts labeled the law Islamophobic arguing that it discriminated against Muslim women who wore religious face veils. Among the opponents of the law were President Alexander Van der Bellen, Georgetown University senior research fellow Farid Hafez, and Austrian Islamic Religious Authority spokeswoman Carla Amina Baghajati. Face veils in Austria are rare, with about 100-150 Muslim women wearing some type of face covering. Prior