The club's success was interrupted by the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, with Austria taunted as ""Judenklub"". While Jewish players and staff at the club were killed or fled the country, Sindelar died under unresolved circumstances on 23 January 1939 of carbon monoxide poisoning in his apartment. He had refused to play for the combined Germany–Austria national team, citing injury (bad knees) and retirement from international matches. The club was part of the top-flight regional Gauliga Ostmark in German competition from 1938–45, but never finished higher than fourth. They participated in the Tschammerpokal (the predecessor to the modern-day DFB-Pokal) in 1938 and 1941. Nazi sports authorities directed that the team change its name to Sportclub Ostmark Wien in an attempt to Germanize it on 12 April 1938, but the club re-adopted its historical identity almost immediately on 14 July 1938.