Danube-Auen National Park Danube-Auen National Park Donau-Auen National Park () covers 93 square kilometres in Vienna and Lower Austria and is one of the largest remaining floodplains of the Danube in Middle Europe. The German word Aue (variant Au) means "river island, wetland, floodplain, riparian woodland", i.e. a cultivated landscape in a riparian zone. The words Aue and Au occur in a large number of German place names—including Donau, the German word for the Danube River—and refer to forests, meadows, and wetlands in river and stream lowlands and floodplains. The Danube-Auen National Park protects a large area of lowland forests, meadows, wetlands, and
Nazi rule over the Danube River Germany and Italy had withdrawn and Britain and France were nonfunctioning members. "German quarters noted with satisfaction that this ends the existence of a valuable source of information for the Allies on the economic situation in Danubian territory," reported the "New York Times." Meanwhile, the upstream International Danube Commission was undergoing similar Nazi-imposed changes. The Reich had pulled out of the commission in November 1936, with an announcement that it was assuming "full sovereignty" over all German watercourses. After the Anschluss in 1938, Austria's membership also came to a close. Early in 1940, German sources were quoted in the "Times"