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Mozart was born before there was a Germany in what is now Austria, but considered himself and referred to himself as "German", a word used at the time to denote something other than nationality. Major publications list him as Austrian.
What I would like to ask any Germans reading this is do Germans claim him as their own? I understand they would not do so literally/intellectually as he wasn't born there, but do they claim him, say, in their hearts?
Would this be the case for any other notable historical personages who were also non-German, that they are claimed by Germans in their heart of hearts? e.g. Freud?
Freud and Mozart are generally considered Austrian in German-speaking Europe and the rest of the world.
Only far-right fringe groups would consider them to be “German”. Those groups also deny that there is an Austrian national identity, thus they call our “Nationalfeiertag” (26th of October; National Day) simply “Staatsfeiertag” (Day of the State).
Some years ago, the infamous "Bild Zeitung" figured out that the Archbishopric of Salzburg wasn't part of Austria back then, but belonged to the Bavarian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire.
That doesn’t mean, though, that it used to be part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, it was rather part of a pretty arbitrary administrative region of the HRE that was named after its biggest member state (Bavaria). Thus, Salzburg was never part of any of today’s German federal states, but remained independent until 1806 when it became part of Austria. Ties between Salzburg and Austria have been pretty strong even before 1806, because the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg were responsible for some dioceses under the rule of the Habsburgs.
Ignorant people might say they were German, as much as they might say Beethoven was Dutch, but generally people learn in school that they were Austrian.
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Leopold Mozart moved to the city of Salzburg when he was 18.
