Everything about Engelbert Dollfuss totally explained
Engelbert Dollfuß (
October 4 1892 –
July 25 1934) was an
Austrian Christian Social statesman, who served as chancellor from 1932 and was dictator of Austria from March 1933 until his assassination by Nazi agents in 1934.
Early life
Born in
Texing in
Lower Austria the illegitimate child of Josepha Dollfuss by an unknown father and deeply religious, Dollfuß was educated at a
Roman Catholic seminary before deciding to study
Law at the
University of Vienna and then
Economics at the
University of Berlin.
Dollfuß had difficulty gaining admission into the Austro-Hungarian army in
World War I due to his short stature - he stood at 150 cm (4'11"), but was eventually accepted and sent to the
Alpine Front. He was a highly decorated soldier and was briefly taken prisoner by the Italians as a
POW in
1918. After the war he worked for the
Agriculture ministry as secretary of the Peasants' Association and became director of the
Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture in
1927, and in
1930 as a member of the conservative
Christian Social Party was appointed president of the
Federal Railway System. (One of the founders of the CS was a hero of Dollfuß's, Karl Freiherr von
Vogelsang.) The following year he was named minister of agriculture and forests.
Chancellor of Austria
Dollfuss became
Chancellor on
May 20 1932 as head of a
coalition government, with the pressing goal of tackling the problems of the
Great Depression, in a state (post-Versailles Austria) that was economically disadvantaged by the loss of a large part of its manufacturing industry. Much of Austria-Hungary's industry had been situated in the areas that were separated into Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia with the
Treaty of Versailles, and thus this manufacturing power was lost to Austria after
World War I. Dollfuss's support in
Parliament was almost non-existent (he only had a one-vote majority);
deflationary policies implemented by his chief economic advisor,
Ludwig von Mises, would prove unpopular in and outside of Parliament, especially among the (deeply hostile to Dollfuss)
Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (SDAPÖ).
Dictator of Austria
In
March 1933, an argument arose over irregularities in the voting procedure. The president of the
National Council (the lower house) resigned, and the two vice presidents resigned as well. Dollfuß declared that Parliament was unworkable, and advised
President Wilhelm Miklas to issue a decree adjourning it indefinitely. Thereafter, he governed as a
dictator without parliament by emergency decree.
Beside the political power he gained through overthrowing parliament and ending democracy in Austria, Dollfuss also had another reason for the seizure of power in Austria: the rise of the
Nazi party in Germany and
Austria. With
Adolf Hitler becoming
German Chancellor in 1933, it looked increasingly likely that the
Austrian National Socialists (DNSAP) would gain a majority or a significant minority in future elections, which could threaten Austria's existence as a completely independent country. Dollfuss banned the DNSAP in June 1933 as well as other Austrian parties such as the
communists. Some historians like Walterskirchen have argued, however, that the
Nazis coming to power in Germany merely gave Dollfuß an excuse to further his 'Austrian Idea' in order to simply support his untenable position.
Austrofascism
Dollfuß was drawn to Italian fascism and leveraged support from fascist Italy against Nazi Germany, gaining a guarantee for Austria's independence from Italy in August 1933 in exchange for radical political reforms along fascist lines. He also exchanged 'Secret Letters' with
Mussolini about ways to guarantee Austrian independence.
In September 1933 Dollfuß merged his Christian Social Party, the
Nationalist paramilitary Heimwehr (Home Guard) and other conservative groups to form the
Vaterländische Front, an umbrella grouping to support his government.
Austrian civil war and new constitution
In February 1934, arrests of social democrats and searches for weapons of the social democrat's already outlawed "Republikanischer Schutzbund", social democracts called for nationwide resistance against the dictatorship of Dollfuß The civil war lasted from February 12 until February 15, with partly fierce fighting in the East of Austria, especially in the streets of some outer
Vienna districts, where large
municipal workers' buildings were situated, and in the northern, industrial areas of the province of
Styria. As a consequence of the resistance, that was put out by police and military power, the social democrats were outlawed, its leaders were imprisoned or hanged or fled abroad.
For a last time Dollfuß staged a parliamental session with just his party members present, who in April 1934 voted to approve a new constitution and approve the decrees already passed since March 1933. The new constitution become effect on May 1, 1934 and washed away the last remains of the democracy of the first Austrian Republic.
Assassination
Dollfuß was assassinated in July 25, 1934 by eight Austrian Nazis who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted coup d'état, the
July Putsch, as a prelude to the
Anschluss. The Vienna murder was accompanied by Nazi upheavals in the Salzkammergut and southern Styria regions, resulting in further dozens of dead. Immediately after the assassination Italian armed forces mobilized at the Austrian-Italian border to deter any German invasion of Austrian territory. However, the Nazi assassins in Vienna surrendered and were executed.
Kurt Schuschnigg became the new chancellor and dictator of Austria. In October 1933, Dollfuß had already escaped an assassination attempt by Rudolf Dertill, a 22-year old who was ejected from military for his national-socialist views.
Dollfuß is buried in the
Hietzing cemetery in Vienna, alongside his wife
Alwine Dollfuß and two of his children, Hannerl and Eva.
Trivia
Dollfuß was a very short man and his diminutive stature (155 cm = 5' 2") was the object of satire, among his nicknames were 'Millimetternich' (referring to the autocratic imperial chancellor of Austria from 1815 - 1848,
Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich) and the 'Jockey'. The
New York Times also reported a series of jokes, including how in the coffee houses of Vienna, one could order a 'Dollfuß' cup of coffee instead of a 'Short Black' cup of coffee (black being the colour of the clerical political faction); a particularly surreal story had it that he was caught skating on the frozen urine in the night pot by his wife in a very cold winter. He has also been satirized by
Jura Soyfer.
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