On 13 March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria during the "Anschluss". Immediately, many Sudeten Germans supported Henlein. On 22 March, the German Agrarian Party, led by Gustav Hacker, merged with the SdP. German Christian Socialists in Czechoslovakia suspended their activities on 24 March; their deputies and senators entered the SdP parliamentary club. Although the Social Democrats continued to champion democratic freedoms, the masses supported the SdP.