With the so-called “Anschluss” in March 1938, Austria became part of the Third Reich of Nazi Germany. The “Anschluss” was founded upon the notion that Austrians were “true” Germans and that Austria was also “German soil.”

What you see here is a box of what the Nazis called the “Sacred Soil of the Ostmark”. It was made for an exhibition in Berlin in May 1938.

Ostmark was the name for the Austrian part of the German Reich. Each section of the box contains soil and a coat of arms from each of the Austrian provinces, which the Nazis did away with shortly after these samples were taken.

The bond between earth, soil and man was an important part of Nazi ideology. In the German Reich, “earth” and “soil” were portrayed as “holy” or sacred. They believed that the people and—their supposed characteristics—were bound to the place that they supposedly “belonged”.

The Nazi’s idea of “blood and soil” was linked to their idea of race, which they thought one belonged to forevermore. The Nazis used their concept of “race” to justify their systematic mass murder of people, who they considered not “German” or “Arian”.

The idea and connection between “German” soil and the people they defined as “Arian” were in turn considered “natural” and worthy of protecting. The Nazis drew certain consequences from this definition of “nature”. One of which was the “Reich Nature Conservation Act” of 1935.

The effectiveness of this Act was limited, because Paragraph 6 of the law provided exceptions for the armed forces, public transportation and enterprises.

The Reich Nature Conservation Act is but one instance that shows there is no such thing as a neutral idea of nature and environmental protection: each time nature is addressed, it is done so with some form of political interest in mind.

The Nazi’s idea of nature conservation was in accord with interfering and endangering nature on a large scale. At the next station, you will hear more about this.