AUSTRIA-POLITICS-HISTORY-ANSCHLUSS-WWII

Austrian President Heinz Fischer (C) pays his respects in front of the "Monument Against War and Fascism" during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Anschluss (Annexation) of Austria to the Third Reich in 1938, in Vienna on March 12, 2013. On March 12, 1938, Nazi troops marched into Austria. Three days later, Austrian-born Adolf Hitler gave a rousing speech from the balcony of Vienna's Imperial Palace to a jubilant crowd of 250,000 and Austria ceased to exist as an independent state. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER KLEIN (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP via Getty Images)