Danube River Cruise #25: Vienna's Winter Palace, Hitler's Speech and Annexation of Austria

Winter Palace of Prince Eugene

Today's blog provides you with an introduction to the Habsburg Family's Winter (or City) Palace. You read about them a couple of blogs ago, and about how Mozart played here. This is also the site of where Adolf Hitler made a speech. Now we'll show you and tell you about the palace.

ABOUT THE WINTER PALACE - The Winter Palace of Prince Eugene, also known as the City Palace, is a high-Baroque palace in the "Innere Stadt" district of Vienna, Austria. Located on a narrow street at Himmelpfortgasse 8, the palace was used as the winter residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who spent his summers at the Belvedere.
Address: Himmelpfortgasse 8, 1010 Wien, Austria 
Stats: 53 acres, 19 courtyards, 18 buildings, 2,600 rooms. 
Architects: The Winter Palace was designed and constructed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach from 1695 to 1700, and by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt from 1702 to 1724 following his predecessor's plans.
Architectural style: Baroque architecture

PALACE USE OVER TIME - The palace was acquired through auction by Empress Maria Theresa for the imperial court in 1738, along with most of the prince's other buildings. In 1752, the palace was converted by Nicolò Pacassi into the seat of various state institutions. The palace housed the Finance Ministry of the Austrian Empire from 1848 to 1918 and the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire. Since 1919, the palace has housed the Ministry of Finance. From 2007 to 2013, the palace was extensively renovated. The Winter Palace of Prince Eugene is considered "one of the most magnificent Baroque edifices in Vienna"

The Hitler Speech Balcony

HITLER ANNOUNCES AUSTRIA GETS ANNEXED TO GERMANY - Adolf Hitler's ceremonial announcement of the Austrian Anschluss  (Annexation of Austria) to Nazi Germany on March 15, 1938. 

FAST FACT- Hitler was an Austria born German.

Palace layout

SCARY ! A MAJORITY OF AUSTRIANS WELCOMED HITLER - Hitler's journey through Austria became a triumphal tour that climaxed in Vienna on 15 March 1938, when around 200,000 cheering German Austrians gathered around the Heldenplatz (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler say that "The oldest eastern province of the German people shall be, from this point on, the newest bastion of the German Reich"

THE HORROR - NAZI ATTACKS JEWS IMMEDIATELY - The campaign against the Jews began immediately after the Anschluss (the merge of Austria with Germany) They were driven through the streets of Vienna, their homes and shops were plundered. November  9–10 , 1938 all synagogues and prayer houses in Vienna were destroyed, as well as in other Austrian cities such as Salzburg. Most Jewish shops were plundered and closed. Over 6,000 Jews were arrested overnight, the majority deported to Dachau concentration camp in the following days..


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