Otto von Habsburg Defied Hitler

In 1938, Otto von Habsburg, the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary and pretender to the Austrian throne, offered to take over the Austrian government expressly to organize resistance against the Nazis. Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg declined, and Nazi Germany later annexed Austria in the Anschluss. The Nazi regime then sentenced Otto to death, while Rudolf Hess ordered his immediate execution if authorities caught him. Adolf Hitler also ordered the confiscation of Otto's personal property and the House of Habsburg's assets.

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