Arthur Seyss-Inquart

Arthur Seyß-Inquart (1940)

Arthur Seyß-Inquart (born July 22, 1892 in Stannern , † October 16, 1946 in Nuremberg ) was an Austrian lawyer who made a political career in various positions during the National Socialist era . He was one of the 24 people accused in the Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals before the International Military Tribunal , was found guilty on three out of four counts on October 1, 1946, and was executed as a war criminal .

Arthur Seyß-Inquart (1925)

Life

Joseph Goebbels , Gertrud Seyß-Inquart, Kajetan Mühlmann , Paula Wessely and Seyß-Inquart at the reception of actors on March 30, 1938 in the Vienna Hofburg

Seyß-Inquart next to Hitler in Vienna (1938)

Arthur Seyß-Inquart addressing the regulatory police in The Hague (1940)

family

Arthur Seyß-Inquart came as the son of the pedagogue Emil Seyß-Inquart (born November 29, 1841 Jaroslau , teacher at the kk Staats-Gymnasium in Villach , 1882-88 professor at the gymnasium in Iglau , then director of the kk Deutsches Staats-Gymnasium in Olomouc ; † October 17, 1920 Vienna ) and his wife Auguste, b. Hyrenbach, born in South Moravia as the youngest of six siblings. In 1907 the family moved to Vienna. In 1911 Arthur met Gertrud Maschka, whom he married in December 1916. The marriage had three children: Ingeborg Caroline Auguste (* 1917), Richard (* 1921) and Dorothea (* 1928).

He was born as Arthur Seyß . When a great uncle, Heinrich Ritter von Inquart transferred his name , the double name Seyß-Inquart was created in 1906 .

It is also alleged that his family had the name Zajtich and only changed it to Seyß -Inquart in 1907, after they moved to Vienna. School publications that Emil Seyß published under this name from the 1870s onwards speak against this. The use of the name Zajtich is not proven by primary sources and is also not mentioned in the German-language literature.

Career as a lawyer

After attending primary school and high school in Olmütz, Seyß-Inquart studied law at the University of Vienna . During the First World War , he served in a regiment of the Kuk Kaiserjäger of the Austro-Hungarian army , where he achieved the rank of first lieutenant in the reserve. During a leave from the front in 1917 in Vienna, he was promoted to Dr. iur. PhD . From 1921 he initially worked as a lawyer in Vienna.

politics

National Socialist

Around 1919/1920 Seyß-Inquart in Vienna was a member of the Catholic-German national German community , which also included Engelbert Dollfuss , Karl Wache , Robert Hohlbaum , Emmerich Czermak and Hermann Neubacher . Since 1931 he was involved in Austrian organizations that were close to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), such as the German-Austrian Volksbund and the Styrian Homeland Security . In 1934, Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss resumed contact with Seyß-Inquart; there were two meetings in July 1934 in Mattsee and Vienna, that is, immediately before the July coup in which Dollfuss was killed. From 1936 Seyß-Inquart was initially active as an Austrian State Councilor. In 1937 he was appointed "peace commissioner" in order to establish the connection with - as it was called - "national opposition". In 1938 he joined the NSDAP ( membership number 6.270.392). Under pressure from Adolf Hitler , who in the Berchtesgaden Agreement of February 15, 1938, had ultimately demanded the participation of the NSDAP in government offices, the then Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg left Seyß-Inquart as Minister of the Interior and Security the following day.

In this position he began to consider not immediately integrating a National Socialist Austria fully into the German Reich , but initially only establishing the personal union of the head of state. This would have benefited his own career and avoided scruples about his Austrian oath of office. However, as he himself had to admit during the subsequent days, the driving forces behind the “Anschluss” only pushed him forward (and, as soon became apparent, aside). On the night of March 11th to March 12th, 1938 - hours before the Wehrmacht marched in  - Seyss-Inquart tried to convince Hitler via the competent authorities in Berlin not to cross the border. The latter, wavering in his decision a few hours earlier, was woken up, but declared that the invasion could no longer be stopped.

Austrian Federal Chancellor and Reich Governor

Schuschnigg had to give up his plan to hold a referendum on Austria's independence under pressure from Hitler and resigned on March 11, 1938. Thereupon Seyss-Inquart was appointed Chancellor late in the evening by Federal President Wilhelm Miklas after several hours of hesitation and after Hermann Göring's telephone ultimatums and sworn in the following morning. He held this office until March 13, 1938, the day when Austria was annexed to the German Reich. After Walter Breisky, Seyß-Inquart was the shortest period of time Austrian Federal Chancellor.

On March 13, 1938, the "Anschluss of Austria" to the German Reich was legally implemented. The corresponding federal law passed by the National Socialist government had to be signed by the Federal President in accordance with the rules of the corporate state constitution in order to come into force. Wilhelm Miklas refused and resigned.

His functions were constitutionally transferred to Federal Chancellor Seyß-Inquart. He signed the resolution now in his dual function as the incumbent head of state and as Federal Chancellor. His signature gave the connection law legal effect; Since the state of Austria ceased to exist, Seyß-Inquart's function as the incumbent head of state also ended with the entry into force of the Anschlussgesetz.

Like the entire legislation of the corporate state dictatorship, this process was repealed as unconstitutional when the Republic of Austria was reestablished in 1945.

At Hitler's appearance and speech on the Heldenplatz in Vienna on March 15, 1938, Seyss-Inquart gave a short pathetic speech.

From March 15, 1938 to April 30, 1939, Seyß-Inquart was appointed as Hitler's "Anschluss puppet" head of the Austrian provincial government with the title of Reichsstatthalter . The state government was downsized in May 1938 and had to liquidate the Austrian central offices under the supervision of the Reich Commissioner for the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich, Josef Bürckel . “As Reich Governor in Austria, Seyß-Inquart carried out the confiscation of Jewish property. […] Political opponents of the Nazis [were] taken to concentration camps by the Gestapo, mistreated and in many cases killed. ”With the entry into force of the Ostmark Act on May 1, 1939, the state government was dissolved.

See also: Federal Government Seyß-Inquart

SS leader, Reich minister without portfolio and other functions

On March 12, 1938, Seyß-Inquart became a member of the SS (SS no. 292.771) and rose there in April 1941 to SS-Obergruppenführer . With the DC circuit of the Austrian and German Alpine Clubs in 1938 Seyss-Inquart became the "leader of the German Alpine Club ordered (DAV)." Seyß-Inquart was Reich Minister without portfolio from 1939 to 1945 .

World War II - Deputy Governor General in the Government General

After the start of the Second World War , Seyß-Inquart became Deputy Governor General Hans Frank in the German-occupied Government General at the end of October 1939 .

Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands

Arthur Seyß-Inquart as a defendant during a break in negotiations in the Nuremberg war crimes trial

On May 18, 1940, Hitler appointed him Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands . Ernst Schwebel was assigned as a subordinate representative of the Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands , who held this position until the end of the war.

In the occupied Netherlands , Seyß-Inquart was responsible for the introduction of forced labor , the deportation of over 100,000 Dutch Jews to extermination camps , the suppression of the February strike and the shooting of resistance fighters. Hans Böhmcker was subordinate to him for the Dutch capital Amsterdam .

In the judgment of the Nuremberg International Military Court, Seyß-Inquart's behavior is described (excerpt):

"As Reich Commissioner [...] Seyss-Inquart practiced merciless terror to suppress all resistance to the German occupation, a program that he himself described as the 'annihilation' of the enemy. […] Seyss-Inquart carried out the economic administration of the Netherlands without observing the rules of the Hague Convention […]. […] Public and private property was plundered on a large scale […] Immediately […] he began to send slave workers to Germany. […] During the occupation, 500,000 people were sent from the Netherlands to the Reich as workers, and only a very small fraction of them were actually volunteers. "

“One of the first measures [...] was the enactment of a series of laws that forced the economic disadvantage of the Jews. […] […] It is […] true that in certain cases Seyß-Inquart protested against particularly harsh measures taken by other agencies […] Nevertheless, the fact remains that Seyß-Inquart is a knowledgeable and voluntary Participated in war crimes and crimes against humanity that were committed during the occupation of the Netherlands. "

In the last winter of the war in 1944/45 , the hardest winter since 1864, a humanitarian catastrophe loomed in the Netherlands. Seyss-Inquart announced that large parts of the country would be flooded, whereupon SHAEF announced that he and Colonel General Blaskowitz would be treated as war criminals if they did so. In negotiations with the Allies, which were organized by his subordinate Ernst Schwebel, among others, the humanitarian operations Manna and Chowhound came about .

Hitler named Seyß-Inquart foreign minister in his political will and ordered that “ scorched earth ” be left behind in the Netherlands , which Seyß-Inquart did not do. Shortly after Hitler's suicide , he took a speedboat from the Netherlands to the Dönitz government in Flensburg . Due to the weather, he soon set out for the Netherlands via the partly still open sea route. Shortly after his return, he was arrested by members of the Canadian armed forces in The Hague in May 1945 .

Nuremberg Trial

In the summer of 1945, Seyß-Inquart was interned in POW camp No. 32 ( Ascheimer ) in Bad Mondorf in Luxembourg with a number of NSDAP greats and high members of the Wehrmacht until they were transferred to Nuremberg . In the Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals, in which Gustav Steinbauer defended him, he was charged on counts 2, 3 and 4 (planning, unleashing and conducting a war of aggression , war crimes and crimes against humanity). A prepared extradition request from the Dutch judiciary was not implemented. Ernst Schwebel was named as a witness.

In custody, Seyß-Inquart presented himself as a refined Catholic who wrote several autobiographical writings. In these, however, he continued to show himself as an advocate of National Socialism and anti-Semitism . In his closing remarks, he once again acknowledged the person of Adolf Hitler and Germany. In his defense, Seyß-Inquart and Steinbauer focused primarily on his activities in Austria, which he legitimized with his advocacy for a "struggle [...] of the German people". He also stated that he had little influence on the SS , SD and Wehrmacht in Holland and that the Hague Land Warfare Regulations were outdated. Seyss-Inquart denied any knowledge and complicity in the Holocaust . a. that he only saw a residence camp for Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau until they were resettled after the war .

When the verdict was announced Seyss-Inquart was convicted on multiple charges 2, 3 and 4 guilty to death by the strand condemned and on 16 October 1946 in Nuremberg prison Justice executed. The American, British and Soviet judges had prevailed against the French judge with their efforts for the death penalty of Seyss-Inquart. His body was cremated a day later in the municipal crematorium in Munich's Ostfriedhof and the ashes were scattered in the Wenzbach , a tributary of the Isar .

literature

• Dieter A. Binder :  Seyss-Inquart, Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 302 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Dieter A. Binder:  Seyss-Inquart Arthur. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001-2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 213 f. (Direct links on p. 213 , p. 214 ).
• Éric Vuillard : The agenda , translated from French by Nicola Denis. Berlin: Matthes & Seitz 2018, ISBN 978-3-95757-576-0
• Johannes Koll : Arthur Seyß-Inquart and the German occupation policy in the Netherlands (1940–1945). Böhlau, Vienna [a. a.] 2015, ISBN 978-3-205-79660-2 .
• Johannes Koll: From the Habsburg Empire to the Third Reich: Arthur Seyß-Inquart and National Socialism. In: Günter Bischof , Fritz Plasser , Eva Maltschnig (Eds.): Austrian Lives. (= Contemporary Austrian Studies, Vol. 21). University of New Orleans Press / Innsbruck University Press, New Orleans / Innsbruck 2012, ISBN 978-3-902811-61-5 , pp. 123-146.
• Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS generals. Himmler's reliable vassals. Hermagoras-Verlag, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-7086-0578-4 .
• Robert Wistrich : Who was who in the Third Reich? Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-24373-4 .
• Wolfgang Rosar: German community. Seyss-Inquart and the Anschluss. Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1971, ISBN 3-203-50384-0 .
• Hendricus Johannes Neuman: Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Styria, Graz 1970.
• Herbert Kraus : The judgment of Nuremberg 1946. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1961 (dtv documents no. 8).
• Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform: the members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .

Web links

Commons : Arthur Seyß-Inquart  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Arthur Seyß-Inquart in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Arthur Seyß-Inquart in the press kit of the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Arthur Seyß-Inquart in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Michaela Kipp: Arthur Seyß-Inquart. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Seyss-Inquart, Arthur. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001-2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 213.
2. ↑ Emil Seyss as the author of an obituary for a pedagogue held in Olomouc on November 4, 1900. Austrian library network, general catalog.
3. ↑ Gordon Williamson: The SS - Hitler's Instrument of Power. Neuer Kaiser Verlag 1998, p. 287.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Bogdan Musial : German civil administration and the persecution of Jews in the Generalgouvernement. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04208-7 , p. 393.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Kurt Bauer : Correction: No, Andreas Khol!  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) (PDF; 48 kB). In: The press . March 12, 2005.
6. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2nd, updated edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 580.
7. ↑ Constitutional Act of May 1, 1945 (St.G.Bl. 4/1945) on the renewed entry into force of the Federal Constitutional Act in the version of 1929 (Constitutional Transition Act) Articles 2 and 3.
8. ↑ March 15, 1938, Heldenplatz in Vienna , p. 3.
9. ↑ Eric Vuillard: The Agenda .
10. ^ The judgment of Nuremberg. dtv documents no.8. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1961, p. 246.
11. ↑ Hans-Adolf Jacobsen: War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht .
12. ^ The judgment of Nuremberg. dtv documents no.8. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1961, p. 247.
13. ^ The judgment of Nuremberg. dtv documents no.8. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1961, p. 248.
14. ↑ Antony Beevor: The Second World War. Munich 2014, p. 831. See also Dwight Eisenhower: Crusade in Europe. Heinemann, London 1949 (3rd edition), p. 455.
15. ↑ Stephen Dando-Collins: Operation Chowhound: The Most Risky, Most Glorious US Bomber Mission of WWII . St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4668-7915-7 , pp. div . ( google.de [accessed on March 1, 2020]).
16. ↑ ^{a b} Peter Niebaum: Hans Calmeyer. A “different German” in the 20th century. Frank & Timme Verlag for Scientific Literature, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86596-376-5 , p. 54.
17. ^ Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS Generals. Himmler's reliable vassals. Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2012, p. 197 f.
18. ^ ^{A b} Johannes Koll : Arthur Seyß-Inquart and the German occupation policy in the Netherlands (1940–1945). Böhlau, Vienna 2015, p. 582.
19. ↑ Joe Heydecker, Johannes Leeb: The Nuremberg Trial. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2015, p. 596 f.
20. ↑ Johannes Koll : Arthur Seyß-Inquart and the German occupation policy in the Netherlands (1940-1945). Böhlau, Vienna 2015, pp. 588–590
21. ↑ How a gentleman became a Nazi butcher
22. ↑ Joe Heydecker et al. Johannes Leeb: The Nuremberg Trial Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2015, p. 622.
23. ↑ Thomas Darnstädt : A stroke of luck in history . In: Der Spiegel . No. 14 , 2005, pp. 128 ( online ).
24. ^ Review in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on February 14, 2016.