Victim theory

Victim theory (German: Opferthese) is a term that derives from contemporary history. It is commonly used to describe a manner of argumentation widely spread throughout Austria after World War II concerning the time period before the Anschluss (interdiction of the NSDAP, attempted coup of the NS in 1934, violences and riots of the NS in Austria, "Thousand-Mark-Blockade", etc.) respectively the role of Austria in the time of National Socialism. According to these manners of argumentation, the state of Austria was the first victim to fall prey to the aggressive foreign policy of the National Socialists. A synonym for victim theory is victim myth (corresponding to the terms of Habsburg Myth, Myth of the emperor, Myth of origins). Since the victim theory effectuated a suppressing of the fact of Austrian collaboration concerning the atrocities of the National Socialists, it is often declared to be the "Lie of Life" of the Second Austrian Republic.

The involuntary demise of Austria as an international legal personality was called upon as a legitimization for accepting the victimization of the country of Austria - standing in accord with the imprisonment of members of the Austrian government immediately after the invasion of German troops. Supporting this theory was a passage of the "Moscow Declaration" of November 1, 1943, in which the minister of foreign affairs of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Soviet Union claim that "Austria [was] the first free country that should fall prey to the typical aggressive policy of Hitler [and that it] should be liberated from German rule", and that the Annexation of 1938 should count as "invalid and futile". As a consequence, the state of Austria was under constitutional law regarded as a victim of NS-policy.

...
Wikipedia