Federal State of Austria Bundesstaat Österreich (German) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934–1938 | |||||||||
| Anthem: Sei gesegnet ohne Ende (English:"Be Blessed Without End") | |||||||||
.svg) The Federal State of Austria in 1938 | |||||||||
| Capital | Vienna | ||||||||
| Common languages | German (Austrian German) | ||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||
| Demonym | Austrian | ||||||||
| Government | FederalAustrofascist[1][2][a]one-party republic under anauthoritariancorporatist dictatorship[4][1] | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1934–1938 | Wilhelm Miklas | ||||||||
| Chancellor | |||||||||
• 1934 | Engelbert Dollfuss | ||||||||
• 1934–1938 | Kurt Schuschnigg | ||||||||
• 1938 | Arthur Seyss-Inquart | ||||||||
| Legislature | Nationalrat[5] | ||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
| 1 May 1934 | |||||||||
| 25 July 1934 | |||||||||
| 12 February 1938 | |||||||||
| 13 March 1938 | |||||||||
| Currency | Austrian schilling | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | AT | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Austria | ||||||||
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TheFederal State of Austria (Austrian German:Bundesstaat Österreich;colloquially known as the "Ständestaat") was a continuation of theFirst Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was aone-party state led by theconservative,nationalist,corporatist,clerical fascist andCatholicFatherland Front. TheStändestaat concept, derived from the notion ofStände ("estates" or "corporations"), was advocated by leading regime politicians such asEngelbert Dollfuss andKurt Schuschnigg. The result was aauthoritarian government based on a mix ofItalian Fascist and conservativeCatholic influences.
It ended in March 1938 with theAnschluss, theGerman annexation of Austria. Austria would not become an independent country again until 1955, when theAustrian State Treaty ended theAllied occupation of Austria.
In the 1890s, the founding members of the conservative-clericalChristian Social Party (CS) likeKarl von Vogelsang and theVienna mayorKarl Lueger had already developed anti-liberal views,[6] though primarily from an economic perspective considering the pauperization of the proletariat and the lower middle class. Strongly referring to the doctrine ofCatholic social teaching, the CS agitated against the Austrianlabour movement led by theSocial Democratic Party of Austria.
During theGreat Depression in theFirst Austrian Republic of the early 1930s, the CS on the basis of theQuadragesimo anno encyclical issued byPope Pius XI in 1931 pursued the idea of overcoming the ongoingclass struggle by the implementation of acorporative form of government modelled on Italian fascism and Portugal'sEstado Novo. The CS politician Engelbert Dollfuss appointedChancellor of Austria in 1932, on 4 March 1933 saw an opportunity in the resignation of Social DemocratKarl Renner as president of the AustrianNationalrat, after irregularities occurred during a voting process. Dollfuss called the incident a"self-elimination" (Selbstausschaltung) of the parliament and had the following meeting on 15 March forcibly prorogued by the forces of the Vienna police department. Dolfuss then seized emergency powers under the "Wartime Economy Authority Law," a World War I-era emergency law that empowered the government to issue emergency decrees if it deemed such decrees necessary to protect the economy.[7] In effect, Dollfuss seized dictatorial powers. His fellow CS party member, PresidentWilhelm Miklas did not take any action to restore democracy.
Dollfuss then banned theCommunist Party on 26 May 1933, the Social DemocraticRepublikanischer Schutzbund paramilitary organization on 30 May andthe Austrian branch of the Nazi Party on 19 June. On 20 May 1933 he had established theFatherland's Front as a unity party of "an autonomous, Christian, German, corporative Federal State of Austria". On 12 February 1934 the government's attempts to enforce the ban of theSchutzbund at theHotel Schiff inLinz sparked theAustrian Civil War. The revolt was suppressed with support by theBundesheer and right-wingHeimwehr troops underErnst Rüdiger Starhemberg, and ended with the ban of the Social Democratic Party and the trade unions.
The path to dictatorship was completed on 1 May 1934, when theConstitution of Austria was recast into a severely authoritarian and corporatist document by a rump National Council. Direct parliamentary elections were abolished. Instead, deputies were nominated by four non-elective, corporatist-styled councils – the State Council (Staatsrat), Federal Culture Council (Bundeskulturrat), Federal Economic Council (Bundeswirtschaftsrat), and the States' Council (Länderrat). In practice, however, all governing power was now in Dollfuss' hands.
Dollfuss continued to rule under what amounted to martial law until his assassination on 25 July 1934 during the NaziJuly Putsch. Although thecoup d'état initially had the encouragement of Hitler, it was quickly suppressed and Dollfuss's education minister,Kurt Schuschnigg, succeeded him. Hitler officially denied any involvement in the failedcoup, but he continued to destabilise the Austrian state by secretly supporting Nazi sympathisers likeArthur Seyss-Inquart andEdmund Glaise-Horstenau. In turn Austria under Schuschnigg sought the backing of its southern neighbour, the fascist Italian dictatorBenito Mussolini. Tables turned after theSecond Italo-Abyssinian War of 1935–36, when Mussolini, internationally isolated, approached Hitler. Though Schuschnigg tried to improve relations with Nazi Germany by amnestying several Austrian Nazis and accepting them in the Fatherland's Front, he had no chance to prevail against the "axis" ofBerlin andRome proclaimed by Mussolini on 1 November 1936.
One of the reasons for the failure of the putsch was Italian intervention: Mussolini assembled an army corps of four divisions on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with a war with Italy in the event of a German invasion of Austria as originally planned, should the coup have been more successful. Support for the Nazi movement in Austria was surpassed only by that in Germany, allegedly amounting to 75% in some areas.[8]
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The Federal State of Austria glorified thehistory of Austria. The Habsburg Monarchy was elevated as a time of greatness in Austrian history. TheCatholic Church played a large role in the nation's definition of Austrian history and identity, alienating German culture. Unlike Hitler's comparatively secular regime, the Catholic Church was given a prominent voice in a variety of issues. The state de-secularized schools in education, requiring religious education to complete theMatura graduation exams. According to this ideology, Austrians were "betterGermans".[9] In keeping with the regime's Catholicism, the regime elevated the non-communist[clarification needed] and non-capitalist teachings of Papal Encyclicals, most prominentlyQuadragesimo anno ofPope Pius XI.
A key feature of the ständestaat was its implementation of austerity measures. The Federal State aimed to reduce unnecessary spending and foster a society that embraced a more straightforward way of living, aligning with his Catholic belief in living modestly for God and family. This approach was a response to the encroachment of consumerism in neighboring countries like Czechoslovakia, which threatened traditional values. The State saw it as a method to trim excess, combat superficial consumerism, and promote a devout and ascetic lifestyle in service of God. Despite having Ludwig von Mises as an economic advisor, there is no convincing evidence that his Laisse policy was implemented in Austria.[10]
The Federal State pursued harsh deflationary policies to balance the currency. It also cut spending drastically, and high interest rates were the norm. The budget deficit was slashed from over 200 million shillings to less than 50 million.[11] By 1936, only 50% of the unemployed were receiving unemployment benefits. These policies coincided with a catastrophic economic contraction. According to Angus Maddison's estimates, unemployment peaked at 26% in 1933, failing to fall under 20% until 1937.[12] This can be contrasted with German unemployment, which peaked at 30% in 1932 and had fallen to less than 5% by 1937. Additionally, real GDP collapsed, not returning to pre-1929 levels until 1937.
Whether the Federal State could be considered genuinely fascist is debatable. Although it was authoritarian and used fascist-like symbols, it never achieved broad support among Austrians. Its most prominent policy was an embrace of Catholicism, and its economic and social policies bear only a passing resemblance to those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and more of a resemblance to Portugal under Salazar.[citation needed]
John Gunther wrote in 1940 that the state "assaulted the rights of citizens in a fantastic manner", noting that in 1934 the police raided 106,000 homes in Vienna and made 38,141 arrests of Nazis, social democrats, liberals and communists. He added, however:[13]
But—and it was an important "but"—the terror never reached anything like the repressive force of the Nazi terror. Most of those arrested promptly got out of jail again. Even at its most extreme phase, it was difficult to take the Schuschnigg dictatorship completely seriously, although Schutzbunders tried in 1935 got mercilessly severe sentences. This was because of Austrian gentleness, Austrian genius for compromise, Austrian love for cloudy legal abstractions, and AustrianSchlamperei.
According to theHossbach Memorandum, Hitler in November 1937 declared his plans for an Austrian campaign in a meeting withWehrmacht commanders. Under the mediation of the German ambassadorFranz von Papen, Schuschnigg on 12 February 1938 traveled to Hitler'sBerghof residence inBerchtesgaden, only to be confronted with an ultimatum to readmit the Nazi Party and to appoint Seyss-Inquart and Glaise-Horstenau ministers of the Austrian cabinet. Schuschnigg, impressed by the presence ofOKW chief GeneralWilhelm Keitel, gave in and on 16 February Seyss-Inquart became head of the strategically important Austrianinterior ministry.
After the British ambassador to Berlin,Nevile Henderson on 3 March 1938 had stated that the German claims to Austria were justified, Schuschnigg started a last attempt to retain Austrian autonomy by scheduling a nationwide referendum on 13 March. As part of his effort to ensure victory, he released the Social Democratic leaders from prison and gained their support in return for dismantling the one-party state and legalizing the socialist trade unions. Hitler reacted with the mobilization of Wehrmacht troops at the Austrian border and demanded the appointment of Seyss-Inquart as Austrian chancellor. On 11 March Austrian Nazis stormed theFederal Chancellery and forced Schuschnigg to resign. Seyss-Inquart was sworn in as his successor by Miklas and the next day Wehrmacht troops crossed the border meeting no resistance.
Hitler had originally intended to retain Austria as a puppet state headed by Seyss-Inquart. However, the enthusiastic support for Hitler led him to change his stance and support a fullAnschluss between Austria and Nazi Germany. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart formally decreed theAnschluss, though President Miklas avoided signing the law by resigning immediately, only for Seyss-Inquart to take over as acting President and sign the Anschluss bill into law. Two days later in his speech on theHeldenplatz in Vienna, Hitler proclaimed the"accession of my homeland to the German Reich". Ahighly dubious referendum – organized and implemented byJosef Bürckel, the NaziGauleiter of thePfalz and theSaarland, who was appointed by Hitler to be in charge of the election – was held on 10 April, ratifying theAnschluss with an implausible 99,73% of votes. Hundreds of thousands of "undesirable" Austrians – 18% of the population – were removed from the voter lists due to being Jewish or members of the Social Democratic party, which opposed the Nazis, and were therefore unable to vote.[14]
Notes
The proclamation of the authoritarian "May Constitution" on 1 May 1934 marked the beginning of the Ständestaat, a corporative authoritarian system under the leadership of the Fatherland Front (Vaterländische Front). Also known as Austrofascism, it meant the end of democratic parliamentarianism and party pluralism.
For example, Gerald Stourzh has argued that Social Democrats as well as the Austrofascist state helped propagate the idea of Austria as the 'better German state', in opposition to the nazi concept of German nationhood.
[...] fascist Italy [...] developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples wereEstado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the AustrianStandestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,
Further reading
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