Hitler was born in Austria near the border with Germany. One of his earliest political aspirations was to re-unite the two separate nations—to create a “greater German Reich.” He passionately wished to break down the boundary separating Austria and Germany so that they could merge into a single nation. As one historian put it, “Hitler became obsessed that there should be no border between these two German-speaking people.”

In the first pages of Mein Kampf, Hitler set forth his project for uniting Austria and Germany. It was providential, Hitler said, that “Fate should have chosen Braunau on the Inn” as his birthplace, for this town lies on the border between “two German states which we of the younger generation at least have made it our life work to reunite by every means at our disposal.” Austria, Hitler declared must “return to the great German mother country.” The desire for union, Hitler insisted, had nothing to do with economic considerations. The union must take place because “one blood demands one Reich.”

Hitler wrote that Austria’s destiny was so bound up with the life and development of all Germans that a separation of history into Germany and Austria “does not seem conceivable.” He described the desire for political reunification as the “elemental cry of the German-Austrian people for union with the German mother country.”

This desire for re-union was the result of a longing that slumbered in the heart of the entire people to “return to the never-forgotten ancestral home.” Hitler identified himself with the country where he was born—Austria. His deeper identification, however, was with Germany. More precisely, Hitler sought to identify with and bring into being a more inclusive political unit—the “Greater German Reich”—that would encompass both Austria and the mother country, Germany. Hitler dreamt of breaking down the boundaries separating Austria and Germany so that the two nations could fuse into a single entity.