Parade of the Heimwehr and the Schutzbund in Wiener Neustadt
The deployment of the Heimwehr and the Schutzbund in Wiener Neustadt was a confrontation between the paramilitary units of the Heimwehr ( Austrian Homeland Security ) and the Schutzbund on Sunday October 7, 1928 in the municipality of Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria . The confrontation was kept spatially and temporally apart by strong associations of the Federal Gendarmerie and the Federal Army under Federal Chancellor Ignaz Seipel with an army show and occupation of Wiener Neustadt and the establishment of so-called neutral zones on Saturday, October 6th. The possibility of a civil war to end the republic generated international interest and a strong participation of foreign journalists and photographers.
prehistory
After the end of the First World War with the dissolution of the Austria-Hungarians and the associated dissolution of the Joint Army , the respective soldiers tried to get from the front lines to their respective homeland. These former soldiers, hungry and frustrated and largely without coercion or leadership, began looting and assaulting the population. In return, local vigilante groups were formed against the soldiers passing through. At the end of October 1918, the then local councilor Edmund Scheidtenberger and later mayor during the Nazi era formed a so-called city guard . Furthermore, the so-called citizens gathered around the factory owner Bauer in the armory barracks and the so-called workers with the locomotive driver Josef Püchler in the workers' hostel , whereby these formations supplied themselves with weapons from the army.
The Undersecretary for Army Affairs Julius Deutsch created the People's Army out of returning soldiers , which he installed and sworn in on November 3, 1918 in German-Austria and which now took on the protection of the population against looting and rioting by former soldiers, prisoners of war and forced laborers. The bourgeois camp and the Christian Social Party saw in the People's Army a party army and the threat of establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat. As in other municipalities in Germany and Austria, a workers 'and soldiers' council was formed in Wiener Neustadt , which exercised a great influence on the politics of the municipality in the first years after the war. The political attempt to install a soviet republic in Austria failed in June 1919.
The Vienna Justice Palace fire on July 18, 1927 brought together anti-democratic, bourgeois and reactionary forces. The Heimwehr was involved in the measures against the associated brief general strike by occupying train stations and post and telegraph offices. In July 1927, the lawyer and Home Guard leader announced Walter Pfrimer in a speech on the basis of Benito Mussolini with the March on Rome (1922) a march on Vienna to. But since the incumbent Chancellor Ignaz Seipel turned to foreign fascist governments and organizations for financial support for the Heimwehr in 1920, this would have been an affront to the more than well-meaning Chancellor. So the leadership of the Heimwehr chose the red Wiener Neustadt in the industrial quarter, a stronghold of the social democracy caused by the settlement of factories .
The popular catchphrase of the Heimwehr was to break the Social Democrats' monopoly on dominating the streets . The background for this was the traditional parades and petitions and processions on various occasions with flags of the Roman Catholic Church and fraternities and civil associations that dominated the image of the villages and cities. It was not until the end of the 19th century that the workers succeeded in obtaining permits for marches on May 1st against bans and harassment by the authorities . The May Day rallies - decided in Paris in 1889 - aimed at the introduction of universal suffrage and the introduction of the eight-hour day .
Preparations
On June 5, 1928, the local branch of the Lower Austrian Home Protection Association in Wiener Neustadt announced a Home Protection Conference for October 6 and 7, 1928, where 20,000 to 25,000 participants were estimated to be accommodated in Wiener Neustadt and the surrounding area. According to various publications, the Social Democratic Party, the trade unions and cooperatives also announced a so-called Workers' Day on June 26, 1928 (according to the Federal Police Commissioner on July 9, 1928) for October 7 . The communist rally, scheduled for the same day, was banned from the outset by the Federal Commissariat in Wiener Neustadt.
The Austrian Arbeiter-Zeitung of September 8th, 1928 quoted the chairman Oskar Helmer of the conference of representatives of the Wiener Neustadt district in the Wiener Neustädter Workers' Home : For months there has been talk in the meetings of the Home Guard that Wiener Neustadt must be a settlement , a decision . Should we just watch it and keep our arms crossed when the home guards blow a charge? But that's not how things are, that we simply allow ourselves to be beaten down by the Heimwehr fascists. Today, as confidants in serious responsibility, you have made a conscious statement on October 7th and on the defense planned by our side. Your position is clear and binding on all of us.
The Grazer Tagblatt of September 10, 1928 reports: ... After July 15, 1927, the Styrian Heritage Protection Association expanded its organizational area to include the Lower Austrian industrial area at the request of the Lower Austrian population loyal to their home. ...
The Red Flag from September 13th was officially confiscated because there was a call to smash the fascists and home guards and a railroad strike to prevent the home guard transports.
A few thousand rifles, some machine guns and the associated ammunition were stolen from the Graz gendarmerie barracks by means of a deception maneuver by the chief inspector of the gendarmerie, Meyszner. About 500 rifles and ten machine guns were brought to Aspang to arm a so-called intervention force. 2000 state riflemen from Tyrol should come there. A group with around 200 rifles and four machine guns should be on standby under builder Kubascek in Lanzenkirchen .
On September 13, 1928, the mayor of Wiener Neustadt, Anton Ofenböck, wrote to the Governor of Lower Austria, Karl Buresch : The Heimwehr leaders speak quite openly of a march to Vienna , on which October 7th is only one stage. He asked him, since I, as the mayor of this city, are in the interests of the general population as a whole, to forbid all venues of the envisaged kind.
In a meeting of the municipal council of Wiener Neustadt on September 18, 1928, the councilor Kuckertz and Hans Zach complained that homeland security posters were systematically torn down for the October conference and said that this procedure was not a way of waging a political struggle for what purpose Mayor Ofenböck sarcastically countered that you could only punish those responsible if you had them.
In a telephone message from the Federal Police Commissioner in Wiener Neustadt with Dr. Pürer to the municipality of September 19, 1928, the communists registered a move with a founding meeting for September 23, 1928 and a meeting at Pfarrplatz for October 7, 1928. The governor had given the state police authorization to use the gendarmerie in the city on September 23, 1928 .
In a meeting between Pürer and Ofenböck on September 21, 1928, it was informed that 50 gendarmerie at the post command building Grabnerring and 50 gendarmerie in the municipal sawmill (district Wiener Neustadt) were being kept on standby in addition to the 90 men on watch of the municipality itself.
The journal Arbeiterwille in Graz published on September 22nd, 1928 … The mayor of Wiener Neustadt wrote to the government today to draw attention to the dangers that the marches pose for the city and to demand a ban. Since the governor did not respond to this, the Social Democrats took a further step by declaring that under certain conditions they were in favor of not allowing such rallies for a certain period of time or the like, be it by way of legislation or by regulation, but that self-protection associations have to limit themselves to local and temporal events. ...
Finally, the Wiener Neustadt magistrate's office decided on 25 September 1928, sent to Johann Zach and Alexander Henke, for the self-protection association N. Oe. Local group Wr.-Neustadt, delivered to Johann Menzl and Rudolf Schmidt for the trade union cartel, the district association of cooperatives and social democratic constituency committee for the district under the Vienna Woods , and sent to Johann Graner , for the Communist Party of Austria, local group Wr.-Neustadt, which Prohibits all marches and rallies because of endangerment of personal safety and because of endangerment of traffic safety in the city area.
The head Dr. Pürrer from the Wiener Neustadt police commissioner informed the mayor on September 27, 1928, on behalf of the governor, that according to the program he, Ofenböck, on behalf of the constituency organization of the Social Democratic Party, etc. had now presented, the planned events could only be permitted on condition that the city would be divided into two parts by a demarcation line, of which the southern part would be left to the Heimwehr and the northern part to the Social Democrats. … Due to the urgency of the matter, I ask for an answer by tomorrow, Friday, September 28th, 6 pm, otherwise I would have to proceed according to the instructions with a ban on the registered events. ...
The daily newspaper of September 27, 1928 reports on a meeting between the Federal Leader of the Home Guard and the Federal Chancellor, in which the Federal Chancellor Ignaz Seipel later stated: ... Home guard services are a necessity. They have no fascist (according to Fascis ) intentions and neither do they fight social democracy or the working class, but only turn against the terror of the Austromarxists. The fight against terror is necessary to support public officials. ... The home guards are there to protect the non-Marxist-minded part of the population. ... He also stated that the planned event would take place under all circumstances and, if there were no disturbances from the other side, it would also proceed calmly. He guaranteed that no challenge at all would be expected from the Home Guard.
There is a copy to the mayor dated September 27, 1928 by Johann Menzl and Johann Püchler, which details the Socialist Workers' Day reported to the Federal Police months ago.
On September 28, 1928, Mayor Ofenböck protested against this letter from Hofrat Pürrer. I did not convene a workers' day or a parade to Wr.-Neustadt.
The Arbeiter-Zeitung published an editorial on September 28, 1928 with Buresch wants to ban Workers' Day.
On September 29, 1928, a meeting was held in the workers' hostel under the leadership of Chairman Miksch with more than 1000 delegates from the conference of trade union officials and shop stewards for the district under the Vienna Woods . In his speech, Oskar Helmer explained the importance of October 7th for the working class in all of Austria, and called the planned Heimwehr event a well-prepared attack by the Styrian entrepreneurial terrorists . MP Paul Johannes Schlesinger then called for tenant protection to be maintained and for the law on emergency assistance to be extended. The delegates then marched through Wiener Strasse to the main square , where from the balcony of the town hall the trade union secretary Auinger emphasized in his address that the workers in the district were determined to defend their freedom.
Governor Buresch assured the convener of the Menzel Labor Day on October 2, 1928 that he would grant the appeal against the prohibition of the Labor Day if a demarcation line was drawn through the city in the direction of the Wiener Neustädter Canal , and the magistrate and the delegation on Wednesday, 3 October 1928 appears in his office at 10 o'clock. Mayor Ofenböck, Magistrate Director Dr. Fritzer and Police Adviser Fuchs participated. The Heimwehr was with Federal Leader Steidle , Dr. Pfriemer, represented by Ing. Julius Raab from the Lower Austrian management and Major Gredler from the Wiener Neustadt branch. The state parliament member Josef Püchler was delegated for the Republican Protection Association.
The Heimwehr reported: The transports will arrive at the marshalling yard on October 7, 1928 from 12.20 a.m. and the troops will immediately go via Neunkirchnerstrasse and Burgplatz, avoiding the main square, to the prepared quarters in the academy area , the new monastery and the gymnasium in Ungargasse . The parade would start at 9 a.m. from the Turnplatz on Neuklosterwiese through Ungargasse, Hauptplatz, Herzog-Leopold-Strasse, Singergasse, Bahngasse, through Neunkirchnerstrasse to the water tower and across Burgplatz, Burggasse, Neunkirchnerstrasse, Schulgasse, Neuklostergasse and Ungargasse lead to the Neuklosterwiese gymnastics area, where the field mass and the obligatory speeches are to be held.
From 12 noon the main square would then be free for the social democratic event to march.
The communist Münchner Blatt of October 2, 1928 reports that 500 German police officers equipped for a war march are on the Austrian border to be available to the Austrian government.
Urgent question in the National Council meeting on October 3, 1928
- Shorthand record. 56th session of the National Council of the Republic of Austria. III. Legislative period. Wednesday, October 3, 1928. See list of members of the Austrian National Council (III. Legislative period)
- An urgent request from Dr. Renner to the Federal Government on internal disarmament reads: “The events of the last few weeks have shown that the so-called Home Guard have become a serious threat to the democratic development of the republic and to peace in the country. The Heimwehr have gradually degenerated into fascist formations that are increasingly threatening the violent overthrow of the republican constitution. The development naturally has the consequence that the constitutionally loyal republican population, in particular the working class, is forced to arm themselves against these dangers. ”In view of the dangers evoked by this development, the Manufactured address the question to the Federal Government:“ Is the Federal Government ready, Initiate negotiations with the parliamentary parties on internal disarmament? "
- Karl Renner says in his long speech that the cancellation of the march (the Heimwehr) failed because of a veto by Steidle and Pabst .
Occupation of the city with gendarmerie and military
Mayor Anton Ofenböck left a poster for a ban on alcohol! (for October 6th and 7th, 1928, drawn by Mayor Anton Ofenböck).
In a strictly confidential letter from the Federal Chancellery dated September 29, 1928, all gendarmerie positions were instructed for Friday, October 5, 1928 with the railway gendarmerie, in patrol adjustment with coat, full ammunition, all non-executive officers up to and including the district inspector with carbine , District inspectors and senior officials with pistols and cutlery from Bregenz, Salzburg, Passau, Wels, Sillian, Villach, Klagenfurt, Bruck an der Mur, to Vienna.
On October 4, 1928, Governor Buresch informed Mayor Ofenböck in writing that he was State Office Director Dr. Aloys Kastner has entrusted the overall management of all security measures, and he will be staying with Oberregierungsrat Karl Karwinsky on October 6th in the Federal Police Department in Wiener Neustadt.
The Wiener Zeitung notes: ... It is also pure invention that women and children have left the city, that the businessmen had cladding installed! ...
The Wiener Zeitung reported on October 7th: The Heimwehren registered 16 trains with the Federal Railways and 22 trains from the Schutzbund. Of these 38 special trains, in which around 40,000 people can be transported, 15 trains with Heimwehr men and 9 trains with Schutzbündler are to be dispatched during the day (6th Oct), so that part of the transports in Wiener Neustadt during the night will arrive. The Federal Railways provided 450 passenger cars and 470 freight cars set up for passenger transport to transport these masses.
The Neue Freie Presse reported on October 7th to October 6th: ... At lunchtime, a quiet town in which only the reinforced gendarmerie was noticed, Wiener Neustadt has really become an army camp in the evening. There are machine guns on the streets, wire barges, steel helmets and hand grenades. The march began before 2 a.m. In the great courtyard of the Academy, Chief Inspector Nabler from Graz gave a speech to the members of the gendarmerie, he admonished them to be prudent and gave them the final instructions to act independently in the streets. Then the gendarmes, fully adjusted to the march with steel helmets, rucksacks and rifles, marched into the city by troops and occupied all entrances into the inner city ... At the same time military troops began to move in. A train marched on the Pfarrplatz, armed with two portable machine guns and a wagon ... At around 3 o'clock small military trains marched through almost all the streets to the sound of drums towards the main square, where the shops were still open and the vegetable and fruit traders continued their goods sold. ...
Die Neue Freie Presse on October 6th:… The city's hotel rooms are completely occupied. In the Hotel Zum Goldenen Hirschen , the Home Guard has occupied all rooms for their officers. Ten rooms have been reserved for Social Democratic MPs in the Hotel Central on the main square. The commandant of the Schutzbund Dr. German, also Dr. Big hit in Wiener Neustadt.
... At 6:30 in the evening the first special train from Vienna arrived at the main train station. It consisted of 20 wagons and brought the first part of the Wiener Schutzbund, around 1,500 men.
Photos show Spanish riders in the so-called neutral zone in front of the actual barriers to the inner city. All persons could only pass this area with a legitimation ticket. A photo shows a round stamp with the Heimatschutz conference on October 7, 1928 Wr.-Neustadt.
Home Guard deployment
A photo shows the main square in the morning without market stalls, you can also see the military in front of and in the arbours Hauptplatz No. 16 No. 17. A music band of the Heimwehr from Donawitz is shown on the Neuklosterwiese, in the background the building of the Ungarbad can be seen.
The formations of the Heimwehr, which had gathered on the Neuklosterwiese on the Ungargasse east of the Neukloster Abbey , moved in the morning across the Ungargasse to the main square, where members of the unity list held the parade on the balcony of the town hall . The formations then marched over Herzog-Leopold-Strasse, Singergasse, Bahngasse, through Neunkirchnerstrasse to the water tower with a turn and over Burgplatz, Burggasse, Neunkirchnerstrasse, Schulgasse, Neuklostergasse and Ungargasse back to Neuklosterwiese. There was a field mass with Prior Alberich Rabensteiner in front of a provisional platform-like grandstand as an altar wall . Afterwards the obligatory speeches were given in the stands. Photos show the speakers, the Heimwehr leader Richard Steidle , the Gauführer of the Heimwehr Reg.Rat Ludwig Kohlfürst , the metal worker Langauer from Knittelfeld, the Vice Mayor of Wiener Neustadt Adolf Meixner and the Styrian Heimwehr leader Walter Pfrimer .
March of the Schutzbund
After the Heimwehr deployment, the military evacuated their positions on the main square. The Wiener Neustädter Security Guard again ensured that peace and order were maintained. A photo shows the supporters of the Social Democratic Party, who are waiting for their formations to march past on the main square (Hauptplatz from Grazer Strasse to the Wiener Strasse - Neunkirchner Strasse full line). The politicians Theodor Körner , Anton Ofenböck , Karl Renner and Julius Deutsch took the parade on the main square in front of the crowd. The march of the Schutzbund took place away from the Eye of God through Wiener Straße via Hauptplatz, Neunkirchner Straße, Bahngasse, Ring and Herzog-Leopold-Straße back to the main square. Motorized units with motorcycles took part in the march past. Workers' associations or organizations of the Schutzbund followed them with flags. Deputy Mayor Josef Püchler appeared with a steel helmet and protective federal uniform with an open Austro Daimler parked in front of the town hall. At the following meeting, speeches were given on the balcony of the town hall by Provincial Councilor Oskar Helmer, Mayor Anton Ofenböck, Member of the National Council Paul Johannes Schlesinger and Karl Renner. After this workers' day rally, the Schutzbund leaders gave speeches, Vice Mayor Josef Püchler, MP Leopold Petznek , and MP Julius Deutsch. This was followed by speeches from foreign delegates.
numbers
According to a protocol from the police commissioner, the Home Guard indicated a number of participants of 20,200 people, the number of crews arriving by train was 14,522, and the repeated counting of the marching home guard units resulted in the number of 14,300. According to this protocol, the total number of social democratic associations was 35,000 participants, the number of social democrats arriving by train showed 19,985 people, and the Schutzbündler was given as 15,600 men.
Communists
The Wiener Zeitung of October 9, 1928: ... Several groups of Communist party members who wanted to go there despite the prohibition of a communist rally in Wiener Neustadt, were partly stopped by the security guard on the border of the Vienna police station , partly by the gendarmerie prevented from continuing the march. 67 such detainees outside Vienna were brought to the Vienna Federal Police Department by the gendarmerie . During the social democratic march, communists tried to give speeches on the market square of Wiener Neustadt. On this occasion, the Czech Reich MP, editor Viktor Stern from Reichenberg, the editor of the Brno Rovnost Richard Slansky, the chairman of the central committee of the Communist Youth Association Franz Lauscher , of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Austria Jakob Rihs and Franz Koritschoner , and also the leaders of the Austrian workers' delegation Arrested in the Soviet Union Farkas and the works council in Zillingdorf Olajos.
Press
The Wiener Zeitung of October 9, 1928 reported that around 380 press representatives had come to Wiener Neustadt, more than half of them from abroad, from America, Denmark, England, Belgium, France and Italy, whose reports were printed in abbreviated form.
Corriere della Sera : ... the rallies had shown that if there was a danger from outside, Austria would be able to set up an armed force of 300,000 men with its army, the 160,000 Schutzbündler and the 100,000 members of the Heimwehr, contrary to the provisions of the peace treaty.
On October 6th and 7th, 1928, reporters and photographers wore armbands with red-white-red imprinted press service with a number, this number had to match the legitimacy certificate.
The corporate state and Wiener Neustadt
On June 3, 1934 ( corporate state ) a large rally of the Heimwehr was held in Wiener Neustadt and Engelbert Dollfuss and Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg were given honorary citizenship of the city of Wiener Neustadt. Photos show formations of the Heimwehr, which marched on a route through the main gate hall of the castle across the courtyard to Maria-Theresien-Platz.
literature
- Peter Zumpf : Confrontation. Schutzbund - Heimwehr. Wiener Neustadt 1928. Annotated illustrated book with facsimiles of sources, published on behalf of the Cultural Office of the Statutory City of Wiener Neustadt, City Archives Wiener Neustadt , merbod-Verlag, Wiener Neustadt 1998, ISBN 3-900844-47-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martin Betz: to: Walter Pfrimer 1931
- ^ Federal Police Commissioner Wiener Neustadt, on September 4, 1928, to the Magistrate Department 2 Wiener Neustadt
- ^ A b c Gertrud Gerhartl : Wiener Neustadt. History, art, culture, economy. Wilhelm Braumüller Universitäts-Verlagsbuchhandlung Ges.mbH Supplemented and expanded reprint of the 1st edition 1978, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-7003-1032-3 .
- ↑ Fascists was a common spelling at the time
- ↑ Testimony and protocol from September 14, 1928 with the municipal security guard Franz Maurer
- ↑ extended spelling according to the original letter from September 13th
- ↑ on Pürrer's documents , in newspapers and in Pürer's minutes of parliament
- ↑ Julius Raab was elected Lower Austria leader of the Heimwehr on September 15, 1928
- ↑ for Vice Chancellor Nusko eh.
- ↑ Kastner, Aloys, Dr., State Office Director of Lower Austria
- ↑ AV (file note) Mr. Vice Mayor Meixner announced today that the members of the unified list have decided to appear on the balcony of the town hall on October 7 in the morning at 9 a.m. during the march of the home guards across the main square. It is unlikely that people will speak from the balcony because the Home Guard is not scheduled to meet on the main square. October 5, 1928.
- ^ Adolf Meixner
- ↑ also spelling Pfriemer