Seyss-Inquart, Artur

Seyss-Inquart, Artur (1892–1946),Reich Commissioner of German-occupied Netherlands from 1940 to 1945 who was named as foreign minister in Hitler's political testament.

The son of a teacher, Seyss-Inquart was born near Iglau in Moravia. After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, he studied law at Vienna University, became a barrister, and joined the Austrian Nazi Party in 1931. In May 1937 he became an Austrian state councillor, and, after pressure from Hitler, was appointed Austrian minister of the interior in February 1938. This gave him control of the country's internal security and of its police forces and enabled him to play a leading role in the events which led up to the Anschluss, Austria's union with Germany, in March 1938. His appointment, on 11 March, as the new Austrian chancellor was forced on the Austrian president whose powers Seyss-Inquart acquired when the German Army entered Austria the next day.

Promoted to SS Obergruppenführer (lt-general) for his services during the Anschluss, Seyss-Inquart remained the Reich Governor of Ostmark—as Austria was now called—until 30 April 1939. Once Poland had fallen (see Polish campaign) he set up the General government (see Poland; 2(b)) and was then appointed deputy to its governor, Hans Frank, before being moved by Hitler to the occupied Netherlands where he served as Reich Commissioner until the end of the war. Although at first the Netherlands were not treated as harshly as some Nazi-occupied countries, Seyss-Inquart was not slow in beginning the round-up of Dutch Jews, recruiting forced labour to work in Germany, confiscating valuable works of art (see loot), and making the Dutch economy an adjunct of Germany's. As the war progressed harsher and harsher measures were introduced. The deportation of Dutch Jews to their death was speeded up—117,000 out of a total of 140,000 were killed (see also Final Solution)—vicious reprisals were instituted for resistance activities, and so much food and so many goods were extracted from the Dutch economy for German consumption that towards the end of the war its people were living below subsistence level. For this and other reasons, during the winter of 1944–5 some 16,000 died from starvation in those parts of the country which had not yet been liberated.

Compared with other high-ranking Nazi officials Seyss-Inquart appeared outwardly pleasant. He was also more intelligent than most of them, and when those defendants awaiting the Nuremberg trials were given an IQ test he scored the second highest marks after Schacht. Nevertheless, he had been directly responsible for mass deportations, summary executions, and the shooting of hostages, and he was found guilty of war crimes and executed.