Engelbert Dollfuss

The Austrian statesman Engelbert Dollfuss (1892-1934) served as chancellor of Austria from 1932 to 1934.

Engelbert Dollfuss was born on Oct. 4, 1892, near Texing, Lower Austria. Trained in law at the University of Vienna and in economics at the University of Berlin, he served as an officer in World War I. After the war he was secretary of the Peasant's Association of Lower Austria and became director of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture in 1927. In 1930 he was appointed president of the Austrian Federal Railways system because of his association with the Christian Socialist party, and in 1931 he was named minister of agriculture and forests.

On May 20, 1932, Dollfuss became chancellor of Austria, although his government possessed only a one-vote majority in the Nationalrat (lower house of Parliament) and a minority in the Bundesrat (upper house). To strengthen Austria's financial position, Dollfuss obtained a loan of £9 million sterling from the League of Nations in return for an agreement not to enter a customs union with Germany for 20 years, a stipulation which angered pan-German, Nationalist, and Socialist elements in Austria.

Subject to bitter attacks from all sides, Dollfuss suspended Parliament when its three presidents resigned on March 4, 1933, and thereafter ruled by decree. In May he founded the Vaterländische Front to mobilize support for his rule, and it was with this organization that the notorious Heimwehr merged in 1934. The latter was a defense force formed after World War I; it later espoused Italian Fascist principles, became a political party in 1930, and perpetrated acts of terror and violence against its opponents.

To bolster his foreign position and prevent Austria from uniting with Nazi Germany, Dollfuss met Mussolini at Riccione in August 1933 and received a guarantee of Austrian independence at the cost of abolishing all political parties and revising the Austrian constitution along Fascist-corporatist lines. On the prompting of Mussolini, he utilized an outbreak of rioting by leftist elements in February 1934 to destroy the Social Democratic party organization, thus removing Austria's most strongly anti-Nazi force from the scene.

Announcing his wish to order the state according to the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno of Pope Pius XI, Dollfuss proclaimed a new constitution on May 1, 1934, providing for state organization through professional corporations like those in Fascist Italy. The opposition of German and Austrian Nazis to his government only increased, however, as he evidenced his determination to oppose the surrender of Austrian independence. Finally, during an abortive Nazi putsch on July 25, 1934, Nazi agents entered the Chancellery in Vienna and during their brief occupation of the building assassinated Dollfuss.

While Dollfuss's dogged determination to maintain the integrity of Austria made him a martyr, the weakness of his political position coupled with that of his small state forced him to implement the very authoritarian principles antithetical to the Christian ideals articulated in his 1934 constitution and to the continued independence of Austria.

Further Reading

There is not much information on Dollfuss in English. Perhaps the most useful work is Paul R. Sweet, "Mussolini and Dollfuss: An Episode in Fascist Diplomacy," in Julius Braunthal, The Tragedy of Austria (1948).

Additional Sources

Brook-Shepherd, Gordon, Dollfuss, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978, 1961. □

Dollfuss, Engelbert (b. 4 Oct. 1892, d. 25 July 1934). Chancellor of Austria 1932–4 Born in Texing (Lower Austria) as the illegitimate child of a farmer's daughter, he briefly studied theology and then law at the University of Vienna before participating in World War I, in which he won eight decorations for bravery. The war hero and devout Catholic became a Member of Parliament for the right-wing Christian Social Party. As Minister of Agriculture from 1931, his success in coping with the Great Depression made him a natural choice for the chancellorship. At a time when the country was riven with strife, which often erupted into street fights, he fought hard to contain the main protagonists of the general unrest, the Communists and the Nazis. The former he opposed on ideological grounds, while he opposed the latter in their desire for Anschluss. In 1933 he created an authoritarian dictatorship by dismissing Parliament and outlawing the Communist and Nazi Parties. He tried to maintain popular support through the foundation of a Patriotic Front. In practice, his policies closely resembled those of Fascism, and he received support from Mussolini. In 1934, he added the more moderate members of the working classes to the list of his enemies, as he reacted to a demonstration of socialist workers by ordering the army to attack a large socialist housing estate in Vienna, which was defeated after five days of bitter fighting. Despite his lack of popular support, he proclaimed a Fascist Constitution in May 1934, but in July he was murdered by Austrian Nazis in a miscalculated attempt to trigger Hitler's intervention and thus force the Anschluss.

Engelbert Dollfuss , 1892–1934, Austrian chancellor. A Christian Socialist, he rose to prominence as leader of the Lower Austrian Farmers' League and became minister of agriculture in 1931. Appointed chancellor in 1932, he obtained a badly needed international loan in return for a renewal of the pledge to maintain the full independence of Austria. In Mar., 1933, he assumed quasi-dictatorial powers. The increasingly powerful Austrian National Socialist party, backed by Nazi Germany, was the chief threat to the Dollfuss regime and to Austrian independence. Dollfuss dissolved the party in June, 1933. Unwilling or unable to cooperate with the Social Democrats, he relied more and more on alliance with the native Austrian fascists under E. R. von Starhemberg . In foreign policy he lacked adequate support of the Western powers and staked the preservation of Austrian independence on friendship with Italy. Pressed by Starhemberg and Mussolini, he enacted provocative measures against the Social Democrats, and in Feb., 1934, he ruthlessly suppressed a Socialist uprising. In Apr., 1934, Austria became a corporative state with a one-party, authoritarian system. Dollfuss was assassinated (July 25) by Austrian Nazis, who made an unsuccessful attempt to seize power.

Bibliography: See W. Maass, Assassination in Vienna (1972).

Dollfuss, Engelbert (1892–1934) Austrian statesman, Chancellor of Austria (1932–34). He was elected leader of the Christian Socialist Party and Chancellor in 1932. From 1933 Dollfuss attempted to govern without Parliament in order better to oppose Austrian Nazi moves to force the Anschluss (the union of Austria and Germany). Five months after promulgating a new Fascist constitution in 1934, he was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in an abortive coup.

Dollfuss, Engelbert (1892–1934) Austrian statesman, chancellor (1932–34). Determined to preserve Austrian independence, he dissolved the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, which had demanded union with Germany (1933), crushed a socialist rising, and assumed authoritarian powers. He was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in an unsuccessful coup.