well, yes and no. brown shirts were committing violence (including, i assume, murder) in austria before the anschluss, yes. but it was more like street crime. the kind of systematized violence (which needed governmental support) that would result in deportations wouldn't occur until much later.
but, you are right. they were definitely beating people up and probably killing people even that early.
kristallnacht was aimed at jews. i don't know of any recorded instance where any of the other groups the nazis would go after (intellectuals, political prisoners, criminals, the mentally ill, homosexuals, catholics) were targeted that night. nor can i find any evidence of attacks that night on catholic churches or convents in either austria or germany.
the first recorded incarceration of priests was 1940 and that was in germany (dachau). i couldn't find any dates for nuns. i suspect it was later.
there were two waves of violence against catholics. the first was in the early 30s (again in germany) aimed at priests were outspoken against anti-jewish legislation and the breakup of labor unions. the priests were arrested but released.
then comes the kind that ended in concentration camps and this wave was aimed primarily at nuns who were using convents as sanctuary for jews and as kind of stops along a version of the underground railroad. they also harbored resistance fighters.
this indicates a response, again, to the kind of systematized persecution that wasn't in place yet when the events at the end of the play would have taken place. it is exactly the kind of behavior we see the nuns portraying (hiding the family) at the end of the play but the governmental response, i don't think, would have been ready yet. as we can see they were still organizing the government at that point.
if anyone has read the book - does maria mention whether or not the nuns were implicated in their escape or did they even actually return to the convent? did they slip out of the country by some other route?
obviously, this era of history interests me greatly and i'd like to know.
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