The following events occurred in March 1938:
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- The special court trial against Martin Niemöller ended in Germany. He was cleared of the most serious charge against him, that of treason against the state, but was convicted of "endangering public security, exploiting the pulpit and incitement to resistance against the government". Niemöller was freed on time served but the Gestapo immediately took him back into "protective custody".[3][4]
- The last of the Moscow Trials began with the Trial of the Twenty-One.[5]
- Born: Ricardo Lagos, President of Chile, in Santiago
- Died: Ben Harney, 65, American songwriter, entertainer and pioneer of ragtime music
- The German Ministry of the Interior said that Martin Niemöller was still being held because the pastor "was determined to carry on agitation against the state, thereby endangering peace and order."[6]
- The new United States Ambassador to Germany Hugh R. Wilson presented his credentials to Hitler.[7]
- Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover visited Adolf Hitler at the Chancellory in Berlin. Their hour-long conversation on issues such as housing, employment and agriculture was reportedly courteous.[12]
- Born: Bruno Pizzul, journalist and footballer, in Udine, Italy
- Germany mobilized along the Austrian border threatening to invade. Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg resigned over the radio and explained that the Austrian military had been instructed not to resist. Schuschnigg signed off with, "I say goodbye with the heartfelt wish that God will protect Austria."[15][16]
- Anschluss: The German army crossed the Austrian border at 8:00 a.m.; Hitler's convoy arrived later that day.[17] Arrests of thousands of potential opponents of the Nazis began.[15]
- Francoist Spain repealed the Spanish Republic's civil marriage law.[18]
- Died: Lyda Roberti, 31, Polish-born American actress (heart attack)
- Hitler rode into Vienna triumphantly.[15]
- British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made a speech in the House of Commons on the Austrian situation, saying the government "emphatically" disapproved of Germany's deed but that "nothing could have prevented this action by Germany unless we and others with us had been prepared to use force to prevent it."[21]
- The Nationalists captured Alcañiz.[22]
- Born: Eleanor Bron, actress and author, in Stanmore, England
- Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag calling for new elections on April 10 as well as a referendum to approve the Anschluss.[26]
- The Bombing of Barcelona severely damaged the city and left as many as 1,300 people dead.
- Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized the assets of 17 foreign oil companies. The U.S. and British governments protested the policy but the Mexican public widely supported it.[11][15]
- Werner von Fritsch was formally acquitted of the homosexuality charges against him.[27]
- The Gun Law in Nazi Germany banned Jewish gun merchants.[28]
- The musical comedy film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm starring Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott and Bill Robinson was released.
- Born: Shashi Kapoor, actor and film producer, in Calcutta, British India (d. 2017); Bob Nevin, ice hockey player, in Timmins, Ontario, Canada (d. 2020); Charley Pride, country musician, in Sledge, Mississippi (d. 2020)
- Lithuania capitulated to Poland's March 17 ultimatum. A spontaneous celebration in the streets of Warsaw turned into antisemitic rioting in which 2 people were killed and the windows of many Jewish shops were smashed.[29]
- Born: Joe Kapp, CFL and NFL quarterback, in Santa Fe, New Mexico (d. 2023)
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- Thousands of demonstrators marched in London to protest the Bombing of Barcelona and the Chamberlain government's refusal to allow arms to the Republicans.[30]
- 61 American bishops of the Episcopal and Methodist churches publicized an open letter to the Catholic clergy of the United States, asking them to "bring the might of your influence to bear on Gen. Francisco Franco to halt bombing of civilians in Spain."[31]
- The Swiss Federal Assembly approved a government declaration that any violation of Swiss neutrality would be opposed by "an unshakeable, unanimous determination to defend independence to the last drop of blood."[32]
- Born: Fritz Pleitgen, television journalist and author, in Duisburg–Meiderich, Germany (d. 2022)
- Died: Oscar Apfel, 60, American actor and filmmaker
- The U.S. government demanded that Mexico pay fair compensation for the losses of American oil companies after the Mexican government took over their property.[11]
- Benito Mussolini gave a senate speech broadcast around the world warning that "Italy's land, sea and air forces are tuned for rapid and implacable war."[45]
Mercer, Derrik, ed. (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. pp. 493–494. ISBN 978-0-582-03919-3. Thomsett, Michael C. (1997). The German Opposition to Hitler: The Resistance, the Underground, and Assassination Plots, 1938–1945. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7864-0372-1. Fischer, Klaus P. (2011). Hitler and America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8122-0441-4. Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1993). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931–1940. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 1064. ISBN 0-520-07908-6. "1938". MusicAndHistory. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2015. Cortada, James W., ed. (1982). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 511. ISBN 0-313-22054-9. Blitstein, Peter A. "Nation-Building or Russification? Obligatory Russian Instruction in the Soviet Non-Russian School, 1938–1953. A State of Nations: Empire and Nation-Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin. Ed. Ronald Grigor Suny and Terry Martin. Oxford University Press, 2001. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-19-534935-1. "High Spots of Spain's Civil War Are Listed Since July 1936". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 16, 1938. p. 2. "Britain Joins France in Protesting Rebel Raids on Barcelona". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 21, 1938. p. 4. Brennan, Michael G. (2010). Graham Greene: Fictions, Faith and Authorship. Continuum Books. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4411-3742-5. Hayes, Peter (2015). How Was It Possible?: A Holocaust Reader. University of Nebraska Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-8032-7491-4. Cymet, David (2010). History vs. Apologetics: The Holocaust, the Third Reich, and the Catholic Church. Plymouth: Lexington Books. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-7391-3295-1.