Finis Austriae It is already clear that the regimentation of
Austria will not proceed in accordance with the hopes of those who imagined that National Socialism would be adopted and diluted to meet Austrian conditions. The number of arrests, including " protective " arrests, has been estimated by the Nazis at 1,742 and by others at to,000 ; they include two former Mayors of Vienna, Baron Louis de Rothschild, and, it is credibly reported, Professor Freud. The number of suicides is an appalling indication of the despair the Gleichschaltung has brought to many Austrians ; it is interesting to recall that one of Herr Hitler's favourite argu- ments against the Weimar Republic was based on the rise in the suicide rate ; it did not rise as rapidly as in Vienna in the last fortnight. Jews are reported to be receiving even worse treatment than in Germany. The counterpart of these brutalities is the extreme efficiency of the Gleich- schaltung. Austria is now enclosed in 'the German system of exchange restrictions, her painfully built-up gold reserve has gone to swell the dwindling resources of the Reichsbank, her army has been co-ordinated with the forces of the Reich, her police and administration purged. It appears even that Dr. Seyss-Inquart, having served his purpose, may soon retire into the obscurity he deserves. * *
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