The Reich Government has ordained the following law, which is hereby proclaimed:

ARTICLE I. The Federal Constitutional Law of March 13, 1938, ordained by the Austrian Federal Government, concerning the reunion of Austria with the German Reich, hereby becomes a law of the German Reich. It has the following text:

By virtue of Article 3, Section 2, of the Federal Constitutional Law concerning extraordinary measures in the constitutional field (R.G. BLatt, I, No. 255, 1934), the Federal Government has ordained:

Article 1. Austria is a province of the German Reich.

Article 2. On Sunday, April 10, 1938, a free and secret plebiscite shall be held for German men and women of Austria over twenty years of age on the question of reunion with the German Reich.

Article 3. In the plebiscite the majority of the votes cast shall decide the issue.

Article 4. The necessary regulations for the implementation and supplementing of this Federal Constitutional Law shall be provided by decree.

Article 5. This Federal Constitutional Law shall enter into force on the day of its proclamation.

The Federal Government is entrusted with the execution of this Federal Constitutional Law.

Vienna, March 13, 1938.

ARTICLE II. The laws at present in force in Austria shall remain in force until further notice. The introduction of Reich law into Austria will be effected by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor or by the Reich Minister to whom he may delegate this power.

ARTICLE III. The Reich Minister of the Interior, in consultation with the other Reich Ministers concerned, is empowered to issue the legal and administrative regulations necessary for the implementation and supplementing of this law.

ARTICLE IV. This law shall enter into force on the day of its proclamation.

ADOLF HITLER, Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor; GOERING, General Field Marshal, Reich Minister of Aviation; FRICK, Reich Minister of the Interior; VON RIBBENTROP, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs; R. HESS, Deputy Fuehrer.