Nazi Dictatorship (1938 - 1945)

Following the Nazi take-over and the annexation of Austria into the German Reich (Anschluss) German local government practice was introduced, bound solely to Nazi ideology. Linz became a city with county status, headed by a National Socialist head mayor. Below him was a mayor (as his deputy mayor), six deputies (councillors) as well as council members in place of a city council. The head mayor was solely responsible and the final decision-maker, according to the Führer model, although he was subordinate to the governor and Gauleiter of Oberdonau. The National Socialist head mayors' actions contributed considerably to Nazi persecution of political opponents as well as of social and ethnic minorities.