The 1930s was a decade of intensifying politicisation and polarisation across German speaking Europe. Siegmann became aware of growing levels of support among fellow students for the banned (after 1933) Communist Party and for the National Socialists. After 12 March 1938 everything changed for Erwin and Stella Siegmann when Austria was incorporated into Nazi Germany. Although the transformation came about through military invasion, there was strong support across Austria for the idea of a united German state which extended well beyond hardened Nazi activists. But for Austrian Jews the so-called "Anschluss" marked the beginning of the end. Stella and Erwin were forced to quit their medical studies and a period of government mandated violence, disenfranchisement and humiliation followed. Her father's business was "aryanised" (expropriated) while the family's little apartment was first plundered and then taken over. Regine Siegmann was "badly mistreated" and an uncle was beaten up so badly that he became deaf. The family were moved to a "mass housing unit". Stella Siegmann who as a young adult had worn her ethnicity relatively lightly, now found refuge in Judaism which she came to see as the embodiment of non-violent principles of charity and respect for the law.