Engelbert Dollfuss (German: 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 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
He 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) which was economically disadvantaged by the loss of a large part of its manufacturing industry which
lay in lands that became Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. 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 Dolfuss) 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.
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 Dolfuss 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 democract'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
Vienna. As a consequence of the resistance, that was put out by police and military power, the social democrats were outlawed,
its leaders where 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
Dolfuss 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. 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. A year earlier, in
October 1933, Dollfuss already escaped an assassination attempt by Rudolf Dertill, a 22-year old who was ejected from the
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 was the object of satire, among his nicknames were 'Millimetternich'
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). He has also been satirized by Jura
Soyfer.
External links
Primary and secondary literature
- Bußhoff, Heinrich, Das Dollfuß Regime in Österreich (Berlin: Duncker & Humbolt, 1968)
- Carsten, F. L., The first Austrian Republic 1918-1938 (Cambridge U.P., 1986)
- Dollfuß, Engelbert, Dollfuß Schafft Arbeit [Pamphlet] (Heimatdienst, 1933)
- Ender, D, Die neue Österreichische Verfassung mit dem Text des Konkordates (Wien/Leipzig: Österreichischer
Bundesverlag, 1935)
- Gregory, J. D., Dollfuss and his Times (Tiptree: Hutchinson & Co. Anchor, 1935)
- Maleta, Alfred, Der Sozialist im Dollfuß-Österreich (Linz: Preßverein Linz, 1936)
- Messner, Johannes, Dollfuß (Tyrolia, 1935)
- Messner, Johannes, Dollfuss: An Austrian Patriot (Norfolk, Virginia: IHS Press, 2003)
- Moth, G., Neu Österreich und seine Baumeister (Wien: Steyrermühl-Verlag, 1935)
- Österreichischer Bundespressedienst, Der Führer Bundeskanzler Dr. Dollfuß zum Feste des Wiederaufbaues 1. Mai 1934
(Österreichischer Bundespressedienst, 1934)
- Sugar, Peter (ed.) Native Fascism in the Successor States (Seattle 1971)
- Tálos, Emmerich & Neugebauer, Wolfgang, Austrofascismus (Vienna: Lit. Verlag, 2005)
- Walterskirchen, Gudula Engelbert Dollfuss, Arbeitermörder oder Heldenkanzler (Vienna: Molden Verlag, 2004)
- Weber, Hofrat Edmund, Dollfuß an Oesterreich, Eines Mannes Wort und Ziel (Wien: Reinhold Verlag, 1935)
- Winkler, Franz, Die Diktatur in Oesterreich (Zürich/Leipzig, Orell Füssli Verlag, 1935)
- Zweig, Stefan, Die Welt von Gestern, eines Dichters von Morgen (Frankfurt am Main/Bonn: Athenäum, 1965)
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