Edmund Glaise-Horstenau | |
|---|---|
_%25C2%25A9_Max_Fenichel_(1885%25E2%2580%25931942)_OeNB_8154602.png) Glaise-Horstenau portrait byMax Fenichel,c. 1938 | |
| Plenipotentiary General toCroatia | |
| In office April 1941 – 25 September 1944 | |
| Vice-Chancellor of Austria | |
| In office 11 March 1938 – 13 March 1938 | |
| Chancellor | Arthur Seyß-Inquart |
| Preceded by | Ludwig Hülgerth |
| Succeeded by | Adolf Schärf (1945) |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 6 November 1936 – 16 February 1938 | |
| Chancellor | Kurt Schuschnigg |
| Preceded by | Eduard Baar-Baarenfels |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Seyß-Inquart |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edmund Glaise von Horstenau (1882-02-27)27 February 1882 |
| Died | 20 July 1946(1946-07-20) (aged 64) |
| Political party | Nazi Party |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Profession | Military officer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1914-18 1934-1938 1938-1945 |
| Rank | General der Infanterie |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
|
Edmund Hugo Guilelmus[citation needed] Glaise von Horstenau (also known asEdmund Glaise-Horstenau; 27 February 1882 – 20 July 1946) was anAustrianNazi politician who became the lastvice-chancellor of Austria, appointed by ChancellorKurt Schuschnigg under pressure fromAdolf Hitler, shortly before the 1938Anschluss.[1]
During theSecond World War, Glaise-Horstenau became aGeneral der Infanterie in theGermanWehrmacht and served as Plenipotentiary General to theIndependent State of Croatia. Dismayed by the atrocities committed by theUstaše, he was involved in theLorković-Vokić plot, with the purpose of overthrowingAnte Pavelić's regime and replacing it with a pro-Allied government. Removed from his post in September 1944, he was captured at the end of the war and committed suicide while in custody.
Born inBraunau am Inn, the son of a military officer, Glaise-Horstenau attended theTheresian Military Academy from age eleven. After graduating from the military academy, he became ageneral staff officer in the Salzburg Brigade of theAustro-Hungarian Army and joined the Vienna War Archives as anHauptmann in 1913. At the outbreak ofWorld War I in 1914, he was initially on the staff of the 11th Infantry Division, then became a general staff officer in the 88thKaiserschützen Brigade. From June 1915 until the end of the war, he served as press and political advisor in the Army High Command. After the war, Glaise-Horstenau studied history at theUniversity of Vienna, and was employed at the Austrian War Archives (as director from 1925 to 1938). He attained the rank ofOberst in the AustrianHeeres-Nachrichtenamt (military intelligence service) in 1934.[2]
Originally amonarchist, Glaise-Horstenau became the second man in the hierarchy of the bannedAustrian Nazi Party in the mid-to-late 1930s under its leaderJosef Leopold. To improve relations withNazi Germany, he was appointed a member of theStaatsrat (state council) of theFederal State of Austria from 1934 as aminister without portfolio, and from 1936 to 1938, he served asminister of the interior in the cabinet of ChancellorKurt Schuschnigg, after being appointed under pressure fromAdolf Hitler following theJuliabkommen. At the meeting at theBerghof inBerchtesgaden on 12 February 1938 between Hitler and Schuschnigg, Germany demanded that Glaise-Horstenau be made minister of war in a new pro-Nazi government and that he would establish close operational relations between the German and Austrian armies, which would ultimately lead to the assimilation of the Austrian to the German system.[3]
After Schuschnigg was forced to resign on 11 March, Glaise-Horstenau served as vice-chancellor of Austria underArthur Seyß-Inquart for two days. After theAnschluss of 12 March 1938, he transferred into the GermanWehrmacht where he subsequently was promoted toGeneralmajor (March 1941),Generalleutnant (August 1942) andGeneral der Infanterie (September 1943).[4] At the 10 April 1938 parliamentary election, he secured a seat as a deputy to theReichstag fromOstmark and retained this seat until the fall of the Nazi regime.[5] In 1940, he became a professor of army and military history at the University of Vienna. A member of the NaziparamilitarySturmabteilung (SA) since 1938, he was promoted to SA-Gruppenführer in 1943.[6]
On 14 April 1941, Glaise-Horstenau was appointed as Germany's Plenipotentiary General to theIndependent State of Croatia. There, he was shocked by the atrocities of theUstaše (Croatian fascist paramilitaries), which he repeatedly denounced and opposed.[7][8] As early as 28 June 1941, he reported the following to the German High Command, theOberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW):
...according to reliable reports from countless German military and civil observers during the last few weeks the Ustaše have gone raging mad.
On 10 July, he added:
Our troops have to be mute witnesses of such events; it does not reflect well on their otherwise high reputation.... I am frequently told that German occupation troops would finally have to intervene against Ustaše crimes. This may happen eventually. Right now, with the available forces, I could not ask for such action. Ad hoc intervention in individual cases could make the German Army look responsible for countless crimes which it could not prevent in the past.[9]
The lack of response from the OKW at Glaise-Horstenau's criticism of the Ustaše's methods increasingly frustrated him and caused deep tension withAnte Pavelić, thepoglavnik, or head, of theIndependent State of Croatia. By 1944, he had grown so dismayed at the atrocities that he had witnessed that he became deeply implicated in theLorković-Vokić plot to overthrow Pavelić's regime and to replace it with a pro-Allied government.[10]
The subsequent failure of that attempt turned Glaise-Horstenau intopersona non grata for both the Croatians and the Nazis. In the first week of September, Pavelić and German ambassadorSiegfried Kasche conspired together and effected his removal on 25 September. Glaise-Horstenau's withdrawal from the scene opened the door for the total politicalization of the Croatian armed forces, which occurred over the next several months.[11] Glaise-Horstenau was then assigned to theFührerreserve and entrusted with the obscure task of military historian of the southeast theater until his capture by theUS Army on 5 May 1945. During the war years, he was awarded theGerman Cross in silver and the Knight's Cross of theWar Merit Cross with swords.[4]
Glaise-Horstenau was interned in prisoner of war camps, wrote an autobiography and testified as a defense witness for Seyss-Inquart at theNuremberg trials.[12] Fearing extradition toYugoslavia or Austria, he committed suicide[13] atLangwasser military camp nearNuremberg, on 20 July 1946.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Partisans | |
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Germany | |
Italy | |
Albania.svg) | |
Independent State of Croatia | |
German-occupied territory of Serbia | |
Italian governorate of Montenegro | |
Province of Ljubljana | |
