German nationalism in Austria Austria falls and is swallowed up by Germany will mark the beginning of European chaos." The Austrofascist party, Fatherland Front, would echo the sentiments of Mussolini, and continue to struggle for an independent Austria. Nazis in both Germany and Austria intended that the German Reich would quickly annex Austria, the homeland of its leader, Adolf Hitler. They attempted to bribe many low-ranking Heimwehr leaders, and also attempted to bring Starhemberg into their fold, in effect merging the Heimwehr with the Nazi Freikorps. Gregor Strasser, an early, prominent Nazi figure, was charged with this effort. When Starhemberg, a fervent believer in
Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer for Contemporary History in Braunau am Inn in the beginning of 2007. Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer Egon Ferdinand Ranshofen-Wertheimer (September 4, 1894, in /Braunau am Inn – December 27, 1957, in New York City) was a diplomat, journalist, doctor of laws and state. Egon Ferdinand Ranshofen-Wertheimer was born as the son of the Catholic land owner and member of the Upper Austrian parliament Julius Wertheimer in Ranshofen near Braunau. His family had Jewish roots, so they fled Austria in 1938 because of the growing threat of the Nazi government. During World War I, he was introduced to Marxist ideology and studied in