The 1921 referenda on Anschluss

In 1921, referenda were planned in the Länder of Tirol and Salzburg, on the desireability of uniting with the post-war German Republic. Other Länder considered doing the same, but were 'persuaded' not to.

Tirol

In the Tirol, the plebiscite was called by the Land government for Sunday 24 April 1921, according to the "Salzburger Chronik für Stadt und Land" of 12 April 2021 (left column, ½ way down). The actual wording of the voting paper was given as "Wird der Anschluss an das Deutsche Reich gefordert?" which means "Is the connection to the German Reich demanded?"

The "Allgemeine Tiroler Anzieger" began its Saturday coverage with the actual wording of the voting paper, and on Monday reported at the bottom of the page the result as 107,234 'Ja' versus 1,454 'Nein' which is 98.66% in favour.

The "Innsbrucker Nachrichten" of Saturday 23 April carried numerous pages of exhortations-to-vote-YES from the great and the good. The Monday issue reported the result: 73,347 votes cast; 72,213 'Ja'; 1,134 'Nein'; percentage in favour 98.45%. The turnout was 80%.

The result was reported in the "Wiener Zeitung" for Monday 25 April (left hand column, at the bottom).

Other sources and textbooks give different numbers, but they all agree that the result was overwhelmingly in favour of an Anschluss with Germany.

Salzburg

The Salzburg plebiscite was supposed to have been held on 24 April 1921, according to a Kundmachung in the "Volksfreund" newspaper (right-hand column) and with the wording "Ich bin dafür, daß dem Völkerbund der Antrag vorgelegt wird: Der Anschluß Oesterreichs an Deutschland wolle ehestens vollzogen werden!". This translates as "I am in favour of submitting the motion to the League of Nations [that] Austria should be annexed to Germany as soon as possible!". This may have been rejected as far too complex; and may also have been blocked by the French who were anxious that Germany should not be allowed to grow in size.

The plebicite in Salzburg was actually held on 29 May 1921. According to the "Salzburger Chronik für Stadt und Land" for 29 April 1921 (middle column at the top), the question was "Wird der Anschluss an Deutschland gefordert?" which means "Is the connection to Germany demanded?", the same question as asked in Tirol.

The result also was reported in the "Wiener Zeitung" for Monday 25 April (left hand column, at the bottom).