Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a rare German WWII NSDAP Anschluß Österreichs (Austrian Anschluss) Table Medal, commemorating the March 1938 annexation of the Federal State of Austria into NSDAP Germany. During this process German troops had crossed the Austrian border from Bavaria, which was followed by Adolf H, who crossed the bridge over the inn river to arrive in his birthplace of Branau am Inn, along with a 4000 man bodyguard. This served as an early test of the German Army's mobility, in addition to being a huge symbolic event. The party made many such commemorative propaganda items, both as a way to raise money, and as a way to make the symbolism of the party ubiquitous in everyday life.

This table medal measures 36mm in diameter with a thickness of 2mm, and is stamped on the side by maker BAYER. HAUPTMÜNZAMT, or the Bavarian State Mint, a known maker of these medals. The original designer of the metal was Karl Xaver Goetz, based in Munich, who designed many such medals during the WWI and WWII periods. This example looks to be made from gilt brass, however the gilding is definitely worn away on one one side, which is now lightly oxidized.

The front of the medal shows a bust of Adolf H from the side looking to the right, with a laurel leaf sprig behind his head. Around the edge is the following inscription, indicating that he is "Greater Germany's Creator":

GROSSDEUTSCHLAND'S SCHÖPFER

The reverse of the medal shows the Austrian double headed eagle at the top, with a mobile swas (hook cross) on top of it, and below that is a lovely image of a bridge with water flowing under it. Below this it is marked INNBRÜCKE BRAUNAU, or "Inn Bridge, Branau", referring to the bridge over the Inn river on the border between Simbach am Inn in Bavaria and Braunau am Inn in Upper Austria. Around the edge is the following inscription:

DIE OSTMARK IST HEIMGEKEHRT 13.3.1938

This translates to "The Ostmark has returned home 13 March 1938", and "Ostmark" is a historical name for Austria in German, later used to refer to other areas of Germany later in the WWII Period. The bridge in the image is the very bridge that Adolf H crossed during once the "invasion" was complete.

Condition is very good, with the obverse showing oxidation, while the reverse shows very little. We assume this was stored with the "heads" side up for a long period of time. A very interesting piece of Third Reich propaganda material!

The Munich Agreement was an agreement reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by NSDAP Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Republic, and Fascist Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, where more than three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. The pact is also known in some areas as the Munich Betrayal (Czech: Mnichovská zrada; Slovak: Mníchovská zrada), because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic.

Germany had started a low-intensity undeclared war on Czechoslovakia on 17 September 1938. In reaction, Britain and France on 20 September formally requested Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland territory to Germany. This was followed by Polish and Hungarian territorial demands brought on 21 and 22 September, respectively. Meanwhile, German forces conquered parts of the Cheb District and Jeseník District, where local battles included use of German artillery, Czechoslovak tanks, and armored vehicles. Lightly armed German infantry briefly overran other border counties before being repelled. Poland also grouped its army units near its common border with Czechoslovakia and conducted an unsuccessful probing offensive on 23 September. Hungary moved its troops towards the border with Czechoslovakia, without attacking. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's assistance, provided that the Red Army would be able to cross Polish and Romanian territory. Both countries refused to allow the Soviet army to use their territories.

An emergency meeting of the main European powers–not including Czechoslovakia, although their representatives were present in the town, or the Soviet Union, an ally to both France and Czechoslovakia–took place in Munich, Germany, on 29–30 September 1938. An agreement was quickly reached on Adolf H's terms, and signed by the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy. The Czechoslovak mountainous borderland marked a natural border between the Czech state and the Germanic states since the early Middle Ages; it also presented a major natural obstacle to a possible German attack. Strengthened by significant border fortifications, the Sudetenland was of absolute strategic importance to Czechoslovakia.

On 30 September, Czechoslovakia submitted to the combination of military pressure by Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and diplomatic pressure by Britain and France, and agreed to surrender territory to Germany following the Munich terms.