In 1938, German troops marched into Austria and annexed it. The enforced reunification of Austria with the German Reich was confirmed by a plebiscite soon afterwards, and Austria became a mere province of Germany, called by the Nazis "Ostmark." And only a year later – from the beginning of the war in 1939 – the currency of the German Reich was being minted in the old mint in Vienna. However, the coins of the new currency were no longer made of nickel, but of light aluminium, since all available nickel was needed to produce weapons.