Austrofascism is a term which is frequently used by historians to describe the authoritarian rule installed in
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
between 1934 and 1938. It was based on a ruling party, the Fatherland Front (
Vaterländische Front) and the
HeimwehrThe Heimwehr or sometimes Heimatschutz were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary group operating within Austria during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germany's Freikorps....
(Homeguard) paramilitary units. Leaders were
Engelbert DollfussEngelbert Dollfuß was an Austrian Christian Social and Patriotic Front statesman, who was chancellor of Austria from 1932 and right-wing dictator of Austria from 1933 until his assassination by Nazi agents in 1934....
and, after Dollfuss' assassination,
Kurt SchuschniggDr Kurt von Schuschnigg was Chancellor of the First Austrian Republic, following the assassination of his predecessor, Dr. Engelbert Dollfuss, in July 1934, until Germany’s invasion of Austria, , in March 1938. He was opposed to Hitler’s ambitions to absorb Austria into the Third Reich...
, who originally were politicians of the Christian Social Party, which was quickly integrated into the new movement.
Origins
The Austrofascist movement's origin lies in the Korneuburg Oath, a declaration released by the
Christian socialChristian Social may refer to:* Christian socialism, a political ideology.* Christian Social Party, a list of parties of which some do and some do not adhere to this ideology....
paramilitary organization
HeimwehrThe Heimwehr or sometimes Heimatschutz were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary group operating within Austria during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germany's Freikorps....
on 18 May 1930. The declaration condemned both "Marxist class struggle" and "liberal-capitalistic economical structures" and also explicitly rejected "the Western democratic parliamentary system and the [multi]-party state"
The declaration was directed mainly at the Social Democratic opposition, largely in response to the Linz Program of 1926, and was not only taken by the Heimwehr but also by many Christian Social politicians, setting Austria on a course to an authoritarian system.
Ideologically, Austrofascism was partly based on a fusion of
Italian fascismThe term Italian Fascism denotes the authoritarian nationalist Fascismo political movement that ruled Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943 under leader Benito Mussolini...
, as expounded by
Giovanni GentileGiovanni Gentile was an Italian neo-Hegelian Idealist philosopher, a peer of Benedetto Croce. He described himself as 'the philosopher of Fascism', and ghostwrote A Doctrine of Fascism for Benito Mussolini. He also devised his own system of philosophy, Actual Idealism.- Life and thought :Gentile...
, and Austria's
Political CatholicismPolitical Catholicism is a political and cultural conception which promotes the ideas and social teaching of the Catholic Church in public life...
.
Transition to the Ständestaat
The election in Vienna in 1932 made it likely that the coalition of Christian Social Party, the
LandbundThe Landbund was an Austrian political party during the period of the First Republic .-History:The Landbund was founded in 1919 as Deutsche Bauernpartei and represented liberal and protestant farmers in Styria, Carinthia and Upper Austria...
, and the Heimwehr would lose their majority in the
national parliamentThe National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
, depriving the Dolfuss government of its parliamentary basis. As a result, the government aimed at transferring Austria into a authoritarian system. These efforts were supported from abroad by
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
.
The opportunity for such a transition arrived on 4 March 1933 when the national parliament was paralysed by procedural disputes. Dolfuß branded this as the "self-elimination of the Parliament" and proceeded to rule on the basis of the Wartime Economy Authority Law. This law had been passed in 1917 during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
to enable the government to issue decrees ensuring the supply of necessities. The law had never been explicitly revoked and was now used by the Dollfuss government to usher in an authoritarian state.
On 7 March 1933 the Council of Ministers issued a ban on assembly and protests. Press regulations were also levied by the Wartime Economy Authority Law and touted as economic safeguards. The law allowed for the government to require approval of a newspaper which had already been printed up to two hours before its distribution under certain circumstances, for instance if "through damage to patriotic, religious or moral sensibility, a danger to public peace, order and security" would arise. This allowed for pure
censorshipCensorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor.-Rationale:...
of the press, but the government was eager to avoid the appearance of open censorship, which was forbidden by the constitution. The opposition made a final attempt to reverse the changes in parliament, which was met by police power on 15 May 1933. As Social Democrats and Großdeutsche, who advocated a merger with Germany, arrived at the Parliament building, the government sent 200 detectives to the Parliament who prevented the representatives from taking their places in the assembly hall.
On 31 March the government dissolved the Republican Schutzbund. On 10 April 1933 the "Glöckel-Erlass", authored by former Social Democratic Education Minister
Otto GlöckelOtto Glöckel social-democratic politician and school-reformer during the First Austrian Republic...
, was abolished; the new law made participation in catholic lessons in schools mandatory. On 10 May, all federal, state and local elections were disbanded. The Communist Party of Austria was dissolved on 26 May, the National Socialist Workers' Party (NSDAP) on 19 June, and the
Free Thinkers Guild on 20 June.
The Hotel Schiff, an asylum of the Social Democrats in Linz, was raided by the police in February 1934. The Social Democrats resisted, leading to the February Uprising, which was quelled with military and paramilitary force. Afterwards, the Social Democratic Party was banned in Austria.
On 30 April 1934 National parliament, in its last session, passed a law that authorised the government with all the powers previously held by parliament.
One day later, on 1 May, the government used its new authority to proclaim a new constitution. This May Constitution avoided the term
Republic and instead used as the official name of the state
Federal State of Austria (
Bundesstaat Österreich), though the constitution actually reduced the
individual statesAustria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a sovereign state, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...
' autonomy.
Chancellor Dolfuss was killed in July 1934, during an attempt by Austria's National Socialist Party to topple the regime and seize power for themselves. The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by Nazi uprisings in many regions in Austria, resulting in further deaths. In
CarinthiaCarinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes....
a large contingent of northern German Nazis tried to grab power but were subdued by the patriotic Heimwehr units. Similarly, the Nazi assassins in
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
surrendered and were executed. Kurt Schuschnigg became the new chancellor of Austria and ruled till 1938.
One of the reasons for the failure of the putsch was Italian intervention: Mussolini assembled an army corp 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.
Legal process
After the parliament was dissolved, the government also dissolved the Constitutional Court (
Verfassungsgerichtshot). The four Christian Social members of the Constitutional Court had resigned, and the government banned the nomination of new judges, effectively closing the court.
In September 1933 the government established internment camps for political opposition members. Social Democrats, socialists, communists, and
anarchists were all considered dissidents condemned to internment. After the July Putsch of 1934, National Socialists were also regularly interned.
On 11 November 1933 the government reinstated the death penalty for the crimes of
murderMurder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
,
arsonArson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation...
, and "public violence through malicious damage to others' property". In February 1934, rioting (
Aufruhr) was added to the list of capital offenses. Judges were instructed that, if they did not pass down a death penalty verdict within three days, they would be removed from the case and it would be brought to a
jury trialA jury trial is a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings of fact which are then applied by a judge...
.
Education
By 1933 a series of laws had already been passed to bring the educational system in Austria into line with Austrofascism. The Catholic Church was, under the new government, able to exert significant influence on educational policy, which had previously been secularised. In order to pass the
Matura (the test required for graduation), a student had to have taken religious education classes. Educational opportunities for women were significantly limited under the new regime.
Post-secondary education was also targeted by the new regime. The number of professors and assistants fell as the government produced legal grounds for deposing those who were critical of the new regime. Disciplinary actions, previously the responsibility of individual universities, were relegated to the government. Only members of the Fatherland Front were allowed to become university officials.
Economic policy
By 1930, foreign trade to and from Austria moved away from a free market system and became an extension of the autocratic government. Chief among the changes was the closing of the Austrian market to foreign trade in response to the
New York stock exchange crisisBlack Thursday is a term used to refer to certain events which occur on a Thursday. It has been used in the following cases:* February 6, 1851, Black Thursday bushfires, a day of devastating bushfires in Victoria, Australia, the largest recorded bushfire in Victoria* October 24, 1929, the start of...
in 1929.
Unemployment grew drastically under the Austrofascist regime (over 25% between 1932 and 1933). In response, the government removed unemployment benefits from the national budget. Additionally, the government created the so-called "Cooperations" of workers and enterprisers charged with undermining workers' movements. International trade was restricted and eventually banned.
Culture
The official cultural policy of the Austrofascist government was the affirmation of the
BaroqueBaroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
and other "pre-revolutionary" styles. The government encouraged a cultural mindset reminiscent of the times before the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
. This recalled images of the "Threat from the East" the invasion of Europe by the
Ottoman TurksThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
which were then projected onto the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. In this way the government warned its people against what it called "
cultural BolshevismCultural Bolshevism, or in German Kulturbolschewismus, was a term widely used during the Third Reich by critics who denounced modernism in the arts, particularly when seeking to discredit more nihilistic forms of expression...
," a force which it claimed posed a great threat to Austria.
Ideology and ideals
The ideology of the "community of the people" (
VolksgemeinschaftVolksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning "people's community." It was most famously an attempt by the National Socialist German Workers' Party to establish a national community within Germany, based on pseudo-scientific racial terms. Though the idea existed as early as the First World War,...
) was different from that of the National Socialists. They were similar in that both served to attack the idea of a
class struggleClass struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, leading ideologists of communism, wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle".Marx's notion of class has...
by accusing leftism of destroying individuality, and thus help usher in a totalitarian state. Dolfuß claimed he wanted to "over-Hitler" (
überhitlern) National Socialism.
Austrofascism, however, focused on the history of Austria. The Catholic Church played a large role in the Austrofascist definition of Austrian history and identity, which served to alienate Austrian and German culture. According to this philosophy, Austrians were "better Germans." (By this time, the majority of the German population was Protestant.) The
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
was elevated to the ideal of a powerful and far-reaching state, a status which Austria lost after the
Treaty of Saint-GermainThe Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the new Republic of Austria on the other...
.
Involvement of the Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church officially supported the Austrofascist regime. Cardinal Innitzer of Vienna proclaimed the dissolution of the parliament as the "advent of a new era" which he compared to the
Counter-ReformationThe Counter-Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648....
.
Pope Pius XIPope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
endorsed the state, saying Austria was ruled "so well, so positively, so Christian."
Antisemitism
There was no official policy of Antisemitism between 1933 and 1938. Public violence against Jews was rare. As the Austrofascist state saw itself under the growing pressure by Nazi Germany which penalized its citizens who travelled to Austria with a 1000 Mark fee, and even more so after the failed nazi coup against the Austrian government in July 1934, many Jews supported the regime. Austrofascist officials supported the
Salzburg FestivalThe Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
which employed famous Jewish artists like
Herbert GrafHerbert Graf was an Austrian-American opera producer. Born in Vienna in 1903, he was the son of Max Graf , the Austrian author, critic, musicologist and member of Freud's circle...
, Alexander Moissi, Max Reinhardt,
Richard TauberRichard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...
,
Margarete WallmannMargarete Wallmann or Wallman was an Austrian ballerina, choreographer, stage designer, and opera director....
, and
Bruno WalterBruno Walter was a German-born conductor and composer. One of the most famous conductors of the 20th century, he was born in Berlin, but moved to several countries between 1933 and 1939, finally settling in the United States in 1939...
. Walter also was a leading conductor for the
Vienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house — and opera company — with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera ; in 1920, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera...
until 1938 and conducted several concerts given by the
Vienna Philharmonic OrchestraThe Vienna Philharmonic is an orchestra in Austria, regularly considered one of the finest in the world....
. Therefore the festival was harshly criticised by German officials and boycotted by German artists like
Richard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems...
,
Wilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer, widely considered one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.-Biography :...
, and
Clemens KraussClemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...
. The Festival also came under attack by Austrian antisemites and exponents of right-wing parties. Many Jews fled Germany and found a temporary refuge in Austria. Artists like filmmaker
Henry KosterHenry Koster was born Herman Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. He became a film director and later moved to Hollywood. Koster's father, a salesman, left home when Henry was a young man...
and producer
Joe PasternakJoseph Pasternak was a Hungarian-born American film director in Hollywood.Born to a Jewish family in Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary , Pasternak was a successful film producer in Germany and Austria by the time he was 28 years old.Pasternak worked for Universal Pictures in Europe, where he made...
could not work in Germany any longer and continued to produce films in Austria. Vienna's
Theater in der JosefstadtThe Theater in der Josefstadt is a theater in Vienna in the eighth district of Josefstadt. It was founded in 1788 and is the oldest still performing theater in Vienna...
provided many Jewish actors, playwrights and directors with the opportunity to continue their work, among them Reinhardt,
Albert BassermannAlbert Bassermann was a German stage and screen actor.-Career:...
,
Egon FriedellEgon Friedell born Egon Friedmann 21 January 1878 in Vienna, died 16 March 1938 in Vienna, was a prominent Austrian philosopher, historian, journalist, actor, cabaret performer and theatre critic.-Early life:...
, Hans Jaray,
Otto PremingerOtto Ludwig Preminger was an Austrian-born American film director who moved from the theatre to Hollywood, directing over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
(the theater's managing director until 1935),
Ernst LotharErnst Lothar was a Moravian-Austrian writer, theatre director/manager and producer.He was born Ernst Lothar Müller, and as Müller is common German surname, he dropped it...
(managing director until 1938),
Franz WerfelFranz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...
.
Jewish athletes made the SC Hakoah Wien one of the most successful athletic clubs in Austria before 1938. Its athletes excelled on many occasions throughout Europe.
Yet there was a purge of public offices, and many Jews were fired from their posts on the accusations that they were communist or social-democratic sympathizers. There were occasional outbursts of Antisemitism in right-wing newspapers.
However, Jews continued to be an integral part of Austria society until March 1938. But some of them lost their hopes for a fruitful future and left Austria before 1938, especially following the
Juliabkommen 1936 between Austria and Germany which provided an amnesty for illegal Nazis. Among those who left Austria before 1938 were
Stefan ZweigStefan Zweig was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer.- Life :...
and
Otto PremingerOtto Ludwig Preminger was an Austrian-born American film director who moved from the theatre to Hollywood, directing over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
.
Demise
The regime lasted as long as the favour of Fascist Italy under Mussolini protected it against the expansionist aims of
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
. However, when Mussolini sought the alliance with Hitler, in the
axisThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
of 1938, Austria was left alone to face increasing German pressure.
To protect Austria's independence, Schuschnigg reached an agreement with Hitler, under which 17,000 Austrian Nazis received amnesty and were integrated into the fold of the Fatherland Front. Arthur Seyß-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian Nazis, was appointed Minister of the Interior and Security. As Nazi pressure continued, now supported from within the government, Schuschnigg tried to rally popular support for Austria's independence by a referendum. Hitler reacted by alleging an attempt at a fraudulent vote and demanded that Schuschnigg should hand over the government to the Austria Nazis or face invasion. Schuschnigg, unable to find support in France or Great Britain, resigned to avoid bloodshed. After an interlude, in which Nazis had gained control of Vienna, President Miklas, who had at first refused, appointed Seyß-Inquart Chancellor, who then requested military occupation by the German army. The next day, Hitler entered Austria and declared it a part of the German Reich.
Criticism of the term
Although the term "Austrofascism" was used by the proponents of the regime itself, it is still disputed today. It is predominantly used by left-wing historians, while most historians prefer the term
Ständestaat. On a political level, criticism sometimes comes from representatives of the
Austrian People's PartyThe Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative party in Austria. A successor to Austrian Christian Social Party of the late 19th and 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...
(ÖVP; the post-WW2 successors of the Christian Social Party), some of whom do not distance themselves from the authoritarian Austrian regime of the Patriotic Front. They usually stress the Austro-fascists' merits in fighting for Austria's independence and against
NazismNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
.
While it is undisputed that the regime was an authoritarian dictatorship in character (it locked away members of the opposition, mostly nazis, communists and social-democrats, in concentration camps called
Anhaltelager or imprisonment centers), some historians argue that it lacked certain characteristics of true fascism. Although the Fatherland Front used fascist-like symbols (such as the
Kruckenkreuz) and was meant to be a party of the masses, it lacked a solid basis in the population, especially among labourers who tended to support the Communists or the Nazis. The Austrian government also did not target minorities or engage in any sort of expansionism.
According to some historians, Austrofascism was a contrived and desperate attempt to "out-Hitler" ("
überhitlern") the Nazis, a term used by Dollfuss himself. They argue that Dollfuss was interested in a renaissance of
CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
rather than in a
totalitarianTotalitarianism is a political system where the state, usually under the control of a single party or faction, recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
state, meaning that he wanted to return to the time before the ideas of the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
of 1789 took hold. Ernst Hanisch, for example, speaks of
semi-fascism. Some parallels to
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
under
Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco Bahamonde, commonly known as Francisco Franco , or simply Franco, was a military general and dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975...
cannot be overlooked, however. Austrofascism is sometimes also called
imitation fascism.
Literature
Andreas Novak:
Salzburg hört Hitler atmen: Die Salzburger Festspiele 1933 - 1944. DVA, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-421-05883-0. David Schnaiter:
Zwischen Russischer Revolution und Erster Republik. Die Tiroler Arbeiterbewegung gegen Ende des "Großen Krieges". Grin Verlag, Ravensburg (2007). ISBN 3638742334, ISBN 978-3638742337
External links
no-racism.net // Austrofaschismus Der austrofaschistische Staatsstreich 1934