Engelbert Dollfuss[a] (alternativelyDollfuß; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian politician and dictator who served as chancellor ofAustria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative and nationalist government. This crisis culminated in theself-elimination of the Austrian Parliament, a coup sparked by the resignation of the presiding officers of theNational Council. Suppressing the Socialist movement in theAustrian Civil War and later banning theAustrian Nazi Party, he cemented his rule through theFirst of May Constitution in 1934. Later that year, Dollfuss was assassinated as part of a failed coup attempt by Nazi agents. His successorKurt Schuschnigg maintained the regime untilAdolf Hitler'sAnschluss in 1938.
Dollfuss was born to a poor, peasant, lower middle-class family in the hamlet of Great Maierhof in the commune of St. Gotthard nearTexingtal inLower Austria. Young Dollfuss spent his childhood in his step-father's house in the nearby commune of Kirnberg,[1] where he also went to elementary school. The local parish priests helped to finance Dollfuss's education, as his parents were unable to do so by themselves alone.[2] He attended high school inHollabrunn.[3] After graduating from high school, Dollfuss intended to become a priest, and thus he enrolled at theUniversity of Vienna to study theology, but after a few months changed course and started studying law in 1912. As a student, he earned a livelihood by giving lessons.[4] He became a member of the Students' Social Movement, a student organisation dedicated to social and charitable work among the workers.[5]
AsWorld War I broke out, Dollfuss was reported to be recruited in Vienna but was rejected because he was two centimetres shorter than the minimum.[5] Fully grown, he was less than 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in) in height, and later was nicknamed "Millimetternich", a portmanteau ofMillimeter (German formillimetre) andKlemens von Metternich.[6][7] The same day he was rejected in Vienna, Dollfuss went toSt. Pölten where the recruiting commission for his district was located and insisted on being recruited, and, even though he did not meet the minimum height standards, he was accepted. As a volunteer, he had a right to choose a regiment in which he would serve, and Dollfuss opted for the Tyrolese militia also known as theKaiserschützen.[5] In September 1914 he graduated from the Brixener Officer's School with the rank ofEnsign and was transferred to the Imperial-Royal 2nd Tyrolian Rifle (Landesschützen) Regiment inBosen. He was soon promoted to the rank ofLieutenant. He served for 37 months at theItalian Front, south of Tyrol. By 1916 he was promoted toFirst lieutenant. He was awarded the following medals: 1916 theSilver Bravery Medal 1st Class, 1917 theKarl Troop Cross,Wound Medal with one would stripe and theBronze Military Merit Medal two times and in 1918 theMilitary Merit Cross 3. Class with War Decoration and Swords and after the war theAustrian War Memorial Medal with Swords.[8]
After the war, he was still a student and was employed by the Lower Austrian Peasants' Union, which helped him to secure his material existence, and it was here where Dollfuss gained his first political experience. There, he organised peasants to help them recover from the war, as well as shield them from the influences ofJudaism,Freemasonry andMarxism. Being recognised for the abilities he showed at the Union, he was sent for further studies to Berlin. In Berlin, he began to garner dislike for some of his professors, as academia there was substantially influenced by liberalism and socialism. In his studies, he devoted himself to the Christian principles of economics. In Germany, he became a member of the Federation of German Peasants' Union and of the Preussenkasse – essentially, a central bank for member cooperatives, where he gained practical experience. In Germany, he met his future wifeAlwine Glienke, a descendant of aPomeranian family. Dollfuss often met withCarl Sonnenschein, leader of social activities of students and the pioneer of the Catholic movement in Berlin.[9]
After returning to Vienna, he was a secretary of the Lower Austrian Peasants' Union. He devoted his efforts to consolidating that industry. Dollfuss was instrumental in the founding of the regional Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Austria, becoming its secretary and a director; the Federation of Agriculture and the Agricultural Labourers' Insurance Institute; in organising the new Agrarian policy of Lower Austria and in laying the foundations for the corporative organisation of agriculture. A few years later, he was a representative of Austria at the International Agrarian Congress, where his proposals made him internationally known in that sphere. He was seen as an unofficial leader of the Austrian peasantry.[10]
On 1 October 1930 Dollfuss was appointed the president of theFederal Railways, the largest industrial corporation in Austria. There, Dollfuss came into contact with all branches of the industry.[10] In March 1931, he was appointed Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.[11]
On 10 May 1932, Dollfuss, aged 39 and with only one year's experience in theFederal Government, was offered the office ofChancellor by PresidentWilhelm Miklas, also a member of the Christian-Social Party. Dollfuss did not immediately respond, instead spending the night in his favourite church praying, returning in the morning for a bath and a spartan meal before finally replying to the President that he would accept the offer.[12] Dollfuss was sworn in on 20 May 1932 as head of acoalition government between the Christian-Social Party, theLandbund – aright-wingagrarian party – andHeimatblock, the parliamentary wing of theHeimwehr, aparamilitaryultra-nationalist group. The coalition assumed the pressing task of tackling the problems of theGreat Depression. Much of theAustro-Hungarian Empire's industry had been situated in the areas that became part ofCzechoslovakia andYugoslavia afterWorld War I as a result of theTreaty of Saint-Germain. Postwar Austria was therefore economically disadvantaged.
Dollfuss's support inParliament was marginal; his coalition had only a one-vote majority.[13]
In March 1933, a constitutional impasse arose over irregularities in the voting procedure in the Austrian parliament. TheSocial Democratic president of theNational Council (the lower house of parliament),Karl Renner, resigned to be able to cast a vote as a parliament member. As a consequence, the two vice presidents, belonging to other parties, resigned as well in order to be able to vote. Without a president, the parliament could not conclude the session. Dollfuss took the three resignations as a pretext to declare that the National Council had become unworkable and advisedPresidentWilhelm Miklas to issue a decree adjourning it indefinitely.
On March 7, Dolfuss announced his government had assumed emergency powers based on the "Wartime Economy Authority Law," which had been passed in 1917.[14] From that point onwards, he governed by emergency decree, effectively seizing dictatorial powers. When the National Council wanted to reconvene on 15 March, days after the resignation of the three presidents, Dollfuss had the police bar entrance to the chamber, effectively eliminating democracy in Austria.
Dollfuss was concerned that withGerman National Socialist leaderAdolf Hitler asChancellor of Germany from January 1933, theAustrian National Socialists (DNSAP) could gain a significant minority in future elections (according to fascism scholarStanley G. Payne, should elections have been held in 1933, the DNSAP could have mustered about 25% of the votes – contemporaryTime magazine analysts suggest higher support of 50%, with a 75% approval rate in theTyrol region borderingNazi Germany).[15][12] In addition, theSoviet Union's influence in Europe had increased throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. Dollfuss banned theCommunist Party of Austria on 26 May 1933 and the DNSAP on 19 June 1933. Under the banner of theFatherland Front, he later established aone-party dictatorship rule largely modelled after fascism in Italy, banning all other Austrian parties – including theSocial Democratic Labour Party (SDAPÖ). Social Democrats however continued to exist as an independent organization, nevertheless, though without its paramilitaryRepublikanischer Schutzbund, which until banned on 31 March 1933[16] could have mustered tens of thousands against Dollfuss's government.
Dollfuss modelled theFatherland Front according toCatholiccorporatist ideals withanti-secularist tones and in a similar way to Italianfascism, dropping Austrian pretenses of unification with Germany as long as the Nazi Party remained in power there. In August 1933,Benito Mussolini's regime issued a guarantee of Austrian independence. Dollfuss also exchanged "Secret Letters" with Mussolini about ways to guarantee Austrian independence. Mussolini had an interest in Austria forming a buffer zone against Nazi Germany. Dollfuss always stressed the similarity of the regimes of Hitler in Germany andJoseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and was convinced that Austria and Italy could countertotalitarian national-socialism and communism in Europe.[citation needed]
In September 1933 Dollfuss merged his Christian Social Party with elements of other nationalist and conservative groups, including the Heimwehr (which encompassed many workers who were unhappy with the radical leadership of the socialist party) to form theVaterländische Front, though the Heimwehr continued to exist as an independent organization until 1936, when Dollfuss's successorKurt von Schuschnigg forcibly merged it into the Front, instead creating the unabidingly loyalFrontmiliz as a paramilitary task-force. Dollfuss was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt on 3 October 1933 byRudolf Dertil, a 22-year-old who had been ejected from the military for his pro-Nazi views and had joined theNazi Party in 1932. Dertil was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted murder. In the aftermath of the attempted assassination, Dollfuss declaredmartial law, which allowed for the resumption ofcapital punishment in Austria.[17]
In its drive to eliminate the Social Democrats'Schutzbund, the Dollfuss government searched the homes and meeting places of its members for weapons. On 12 February 1934, the Austrian Civil War was sparked by the armed resistance of theLinz branch of the Social Democrats to the search of their party headquarters.[18] Word of the fighting in Linz spread quickly, and additional armed conflicts broke out, primarily in Austria's industrial regions and Vienna. TheSchutzbund was greatly outnumbered by the police and army, which used artillery against the insurgents. In addition, the general strike which had been called to support the uprising failed to materialize.[19] The result was the collapse of the rebellion by 15 February, with the deaths of about 350 persons, roughly equally divided between civilians, insurgents, and government forces.[20] The Social Democrats were outlawed by the Federal government on 12 February 1934,[21][22] and their leaders were imprisoned or fled abroad.
Dollfuss staged a rump parliamentary session with just Fatherland Front members present in April 1934 tohave a new constitution approved, effectively the second constitution in the world espousingcorporatist ideas (after that of the PortugueseEstado Novo).[23] The session retrospectively made all the decrees already passed since March 1933 legal. The new constitution became effective on 1 May 1934 and swept away the last remnants of democracy and the system of theFirst Austrian Republic, establishing theFederal State of Austria. Based onItalian Fascism, Austria officially became a one-party authoritarian state. Opposing the Anschluss, Dollfuss and the Fatherland Front made heavy use of the Austrians' Catholic religion in an attempt to cultivate a sense of nationalism and prevent it from being absorbed by Nazi Germany.[24]
As a result of his consistent opposition to Nazi demands, Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by a group of Austrian Nazis, includingOtto Planetta,Franz Holzweber, Ernst Feike, Franz Leeb, Josef Hackl, Ludwig Maitzen, Erich Wohlraab, and Paul Hudl, who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attemptedcoup d'état. During mass trials which took place after the coup, Hudl was sentenced to life in prison, while the others were sentenced to death for their involvement. Planetta and Holzweber were hanged on 31 July 1934, Feike was hanged on 7 August 1934, and Leeb, Hackl, Maitzen, and Wohlraab were hanged on 13 August 1934. Hudl was released under an amnesty in 1938.[25][26][27][28]
In his dying moments, Dollfuss asked forViaticum, theEucharist administered to a dying person, but his assassins refused to give it to him.[9] Mussolini had no hesitation in attributing the attack to the German dictator: the news reached him atCesena, where he was examining the plans for a psychiatric hospital. Mussolini personally gave the announcement to Dollfuss's widow, who was a guest athis villa inRiccione with her children. He also put at the disposal ofErnst Rüdiger Starhemberg, who spent a holiday inVenice, a plane that allowed the prince to rush back to Vienna and to face the assailants with his militia, with the permission of PresidentWilhelm Miklas.[29]
Mussolini also mobilised a part of the Italian army on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with war in the event of a German invasion of Austria to thwart the putsch. Then he announced to the world: "The independence of Austria, for which he has fallen, is a principle that has been defended and will be defended by Italy even more strenuously", and then replaced in the main square ofBolzano the statue[30] ofWalther von der Vogelweide, a Germanic troubadour, with that ofDrusus, a Roman general who conquered part of Germany. This was the greatest moment of friction between Italian Fascism and National Socialism and Mussolini himself came down several times to reaffirm the differences in the field.
The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by uprisings in many regions in Austria, resulting in further deaths. InCarinthia, a large contingent of northern German Nazis tried to seize power but were subdued by the Italian units nearby. At first, Hitler was jubilant, but the Italian reaction surprised him. Hitler became convinced that he could not face a conflict with the Western European powers, and he officially denied liability, stating his regret for the murder of the Austrian Chancellor. He replaced the ambassador to Vienna withFranz von Papen and prevented the conspirators from entering Germany, also expelling them from the Austrian Nazi Party. The Nazi assassins in Vienna, after declaring the formation of a new government under Austrian NaziAnton Rintelen, previously exiled by Dollfuss as Austrian Ambassador to Rome, surrendered after threats from the Austrian military of blowing up the Chancellery usingdynamite, and were subsequently tried and executed byhanging.[28]Kurt Schuschnigg, previously Minister of Education, was appointed new chancellor of Austria after a few days, assuming the office from Dollfuss's deputy Starhemberg.
Out of a population of 6.5 million, approximately 500,000 Austrians were present at Dollfuss's burial in Vienna.[28] He is interred in theHietzing cemetery in Vienna.[31] His wife,Alwine Dollfuss (who died in 1973) was later buried beside him. Two of his children, Rudolf and Eva, were in Italy as guests ofRachele Mussolini at the time of his death, an event which saw Mussolini himself shed tears over his slain ally.[12][32]
Gordon Brook Shepard wrote a book in 1961 detailing Dolfuss and his rise to power.
In the novelVienna Melody by Ernst Lothar the younger brother / son of the two major characters participates in the assassination of Dolfuss and is executed by firing squad for his role.
Das Kammersystem in der Landwirtschaft Österreichs. Agrarverlag, Wien 1929.
Mertha, Rudolf, Dollfuß, Engelbert:Die Sozialversicherung in der Landwirtschaft Österreichs nach dem Stande von Ende März 1929. Agrarverlag, Wien 1929.
Der Führer Bundeskanzler Dr. Dollfuß zum Feste des Wiederaufbaues. 3 Reden. 1. Mai 1934. Österr. Bundespressedienst, Wien 1934.
Tautscher, Anton (Hrsg.):So sprach der Kanzler. Dollfuss' Vermächtnis. Aus seinen Reden. Baumgartner, Wien 1935.
Weber, Edmund (Hrsg.):Dollfuß an Oesterreich. Eines Mannes Wort und Ziel. Reinhold, Wien 1935.
Maderthaner, Wolfgang (Hrsg.):„Der Führer bin ich selbst." Engelbert Dollfuß –Benito Mussolini. Briefwechsel. Löcker, Wien 2004,ISBN3-85409-393-4.
^Konrad, Helmut (12 March 2018)."Die tiefen Wunden des Bürgerkriegs" [The Deep Wounds of the Civil War].Die kleine Zeitung (in German).Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved6 December 2023.
^"Februarkämpfe 1934" [February Battles 1934].Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (in German).Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved6 December 2023.
^Benay, Jeanne, ed. (January 1998).L'Autriche 1918–1938 : recueil de textes civilisationnels. Etudes autrichiennes n°6. Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre (published 1998). p. 263.ISBN9782877756099.Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved29 September 2022.Verordnung der Bundesregierung vom 12. Februar 1934, womit der Sozialdemokratischen Arbeiterpartei Österreichs jede Betätigung in Österreich verboten wird.
^Ministerrat, Austria; Neck, Rudolf; Wandruszka, Adam; Ackerl, Isabella (1985).Protokolle des Ministerrates der Ersten Republik, Volume 8, Part 6 (in German). Verlag der Österreichischen Staatsdruckerei. p. xvii.ISBN3-7046-0004-0.Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved4 March 2018.[...] uber die weitere Entwicklung der Gemeinde Wien wurde die Sozialdemokratische Partei am 12. Februar 1934 verboten.
^Stanley G. Payne,Civil War in Europe, 1905–1949, 2011, p. 108.
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