At the time of the Anschluss, Walter Nitsche was 20 years old and a student at the Höhere Staats-Gewerbeschule at Schellinggasse 13 in Vienna's 1st district. He graduated from school in June 1938 and shortly thereafter took up a job as a local construction supervisor at the"Road Administration of the Province of Lower Austria" At the end of November 1938, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. Walter Nitsche became an American prisoner of war in 1944, from which he was released on June 1, 1946. It is unlikely that Nitsche was a member of the NSDAP or one of its sub-organizations. Research in this regard in archives and private documents was fruitless and nothing is known about this within the family.
See also similar crowd scenes outside Hotel Imperial in Baker footage - RG-60.4553.
March (or early April) 1938. A column with a swastika is being raised. A tramway announcement for Hitler's speech at the Nordwestbahnhalle on April 9. A ruined building. A truck bearing the sign"HJ ZUG Ein Fuehrer - ein Reich - eine Jugen" [Hitler Youth Train One Leader - One Empire - One Youth]. Opera house being decorated. 01:01:38 Museumsstrasse (the square in between the state museums). Shopping window with a Hitler portrait, filmmaker's reflection is partly visible. SS men, informal posture, probably waiting for parade to commence (very likely March 14 or 15), on Schwarzenbergplatz in front of house #16. SS, filmmaker very close to subjects. 01:01:57 Crowd in front of Hotel Imperial. SA and volunteers handing out items to crowd in BG, youths in FG. Decorations at Heldenplatz.
Nazi propaganda decorations in Vienna