June 1938: ‘Juni-Aktion’ and ‘Aktion Arbeitsscheu’

The situation for German-speaking Jews worsened 1938. After Germany’s annexation of Austria in March 1938 violence and public discrimination increased. In June 1938the Nazis started the so called “Juni Aktion” and “Aktion Arbeitsscheu”. Dr. Frank Mecklenburg, Director of Research and Chief Archivist, Leo Baeck Institute New York|Berlin, describes how Vienna after the “Anschluss” functioned as a laboratory for the implementation of new levels of brutality and violence later applied throughout all of Nazi territory.