Schuschnigg, Kurt von (k

rt fən sh

sh`nĭk), 1897–1977, Austrian chancellor. He served (1932–34) as minister of justice and education and helped Engelbert Dollfuss Dollfuss, Engelbert (ĕng`əlbĕrt dôl`f
..... Click the link for more information. repress the Social Democrats and organize the corporative state corporative state, economic system inaugurated by the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in Italy. It was adapted in modified form under other European dictatorships, among them Adolf Hitler's National Socialist regime in Germany and the Spanish regime of Francisco
..... Click the link for more information. . After Dollfuss's assassination (1934) he became chancellor. In 1936, Schuschnigg forced the resignation of E. R. von Starhemberg Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von, 1899–1956, Austrian politician, a descendant of the 17th-century general of the same name. He took part in Hitler's "beer-hall putsch" of 1923 (see Hitler, Adolf ) but later opposed Hitler and became (1930) leader of the
..... Click the link for more information. as vice chancellor and became sole head of the semifascist state. Schuschnigg's efforts to prevent German absorption of Austria were successful until he lost (1937) the support of Benito Mussolini. In Feb., 1938, Hitler forced him to take the Austrian Nazi leader Arthur Seyss-Inquart into his cabinet. When German troops massed on the border in March, Seyss-Inquart became chancellor, and the troops marched into Austria unopposed. A Nazi prisoner until 1945, Schuschnigg settled (1947) in the United States and taught at St. Louis Univ. He wrote My Austria (1937, tr. 1938), Austrian Requiem (1946, tr. 1947), and The Brutal Takeover (1969, tr. 1971).

Bibliography

See biography by R. K. Sheridon (1942).

Schuschnigg, Kurt von

(born Dec. 14, 1897, Riva del Garda, Trento, Austria-Hungary—died Nov. 18, 1977, Mutters, near Innsbruck, Austria) Austrian politician and chancellor (1934–38). Elected to the Austrian parliament in 1927, he served in the government of Engelbert Dollfuss as minister of justice (1932) and education (1933–34). After Dollfuss was assassinated, Schuschnigg was named chancellor. He disbanded the paramilitary Heimwehr in 1936 and tried to prevent the German takeover of Austria. After making concessions to Adolf Hitler in February 1938, he sought to reassert national independence through a plebiscite to be held on March 13. However, on March 11 Germany invaded Austria and carried out the Anschluss, and Schuschnigg was imprisoned until the war ended. He later lived and taught in the U.S. (1948–67).