Patriotic front

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The cross , symbol of the Patriotic Front and the corporate state .

The Vaterländische Front (abbreviated VF ) was a political monopoly organization in Austria at the time of the authoritarian corporate state . It was founded in May 1933 by the federal government under the leadership of Engelbert Dollfuss . In the self-image of its protagonists, the association was "called to be the bearer of the Austrian state concept" and should form "the political summary of all citizens who stand on the soil of an independent, Christian, German, professionally structured federal state of Austria". After the elimination of democracy , parliament and the opposition , the organization functioned on the fascist model as a unitary party with monopoly status.

history

Prehistory from 1918

In 1918, after the end of the First World War , the break-up of the multi-ethnic empire Austria-Hungary and the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, three major political camps initially faced each other in the young republic: the Social Democrats (SDAP), the Christian Socials (CS) and the German Nationalists (Greater German Association, from 1920: Greater German People's Party , GDVP, plus the Landbund and small National Socialist parties). From 1918 to 1920 the Social Democrats provided the head of government, after which the Christian Socials ruled in coalition with the German Nationalists.

On May 10, 1932, Engelbert Dollfuss (CS) became Federal Chancellor in a government based on a majority of just one mandate. The state's economic situation was precarious ( global economic crisis ), around half a million Austrians were unemployed. The largest bank in the state had to be rescued, for which the government had to take out a League of Nations loan. On the other hand, not only the opposition took a storm, but also individual MPs from the coalition partner Heimatblock . It became increasingly difficult to find majorities in parliament for urgently needed economic policy measures. In the autumn of 1932, Dollfuss therefore for the first time used the War Economic Enabling Act (KWEG), which dates back to the times of the monarchy , in order to bypass parliament to enact an ordinance on bank restructuring.

When the National Council broke up on March 4, 1933 as a result of a crisis in the rules of procedure , representatives of the ruling Christian Socialists used this to speak of the “ parliamentary elimination ”. Another meeting of MPs, at which the parliamentary crisis could have been resolved amicably, was prevented by the police, and a ban on assembly was issued. The government now ruled authoritarian on the basis of the KWEG. A specially set up propaganda office, the Austrian Homeland Service , called on the population to unite and support the government's course.

At the beginning of 1933 Adolf Hitler had taken power in Germany , whose declared aim was the unification of Austria with the German Reich . Benito Mussolini and the Heimwehr , whose political program was based on the model of Italian fascism , encouraged Dollfuss to unite all patriotic and loyal Austrians in a collective movement. This “Austrian front” was supposed to arm the state against threats from Marxists and National Socialists.

Founded in 1933

After its development and founding had already been decided in April 1933, the Vaterländische Front was brought into being under the leadership of Dollfuss on May 21, 1933 with an appeal in the Wiener Zeitung . The registration and issue of membership cards took place via the home service. The badge was a red, white, and red pin .

Intensive propaganda for the VF was carried out in the months to come, with speeches on the radio, a wall newspaper and group events, and Dollfuss also gave speeches across the country. In some cases, entire associations joined the VF as a corporate entity (such as the Styrian national organization of the CS, some Christian unions such as the soldiers' union Wehrbund and the union of Christian employees in public services ). As a result of the large number of corporate joinings and because people were members of several organizations, double and multiple membership management was feared, so it became necessary to issue regulations for the accession of corporations: corporations now received diploma-like membership cards as legal persons, their members became " Friends of the Movement ”declared and they had the right to wear badges and attend VF events. For full membership, however, they had to join in person. At the end of June, Minister Carl Vaugoin spoke of half a million members, and in November it should have been a million.

However, an organization plan or a definition of the type of organization was still missing. For the time being, they defined themselves negatively: they did n't want to be a schirmer or offshoot, a party or a union. In the first VF newsletter for Vienna in August 1933, considerations about the structure of the organization were first brought up. The VF should be developed into a "sensitive" system in which there should be a constant connection between its leaders and their members. As the smallest organizational unit, a district leader should serve around ten members, group leaders ten district leaders each, and so on. However, this directive was not fully implemented, in practice it was more based on territorial and administrative conditions. VF offices have been set up in the federal states .

At the end of August 1933, the so-called service organization (DO) was set up to record public employees within the framework of the VF . It also included employees of state or state-related companies, as well as those companies that were connected with vital interests of the state. The DO was primarily an instrument to control the patriotic sentiments of the civil servants and enabled disciplinary measures up to and including dismissal for behavior “violating professional honor” or membership in an anti-state party. As a counterpart to the DO for the private sector, the company organization (BO) was set up later .

Dollfuss at the Wiener Trabrennplatz on September 11, 1933.

Dollfuss' aim was to replace the political system of parliamentary democracy with a corporate state . He was thus in the tradition of Ignaz Seipel , who had earlier considered the establishment of a corporate state based on Christian social doctrine - in particular the encyclical " Rerum Novarum " (1891) and the bull " Quadragesimo anno " (1931). In the programmatic trotting course speech at the first general roll call of the Fatherland Front on September 11, 1933 in Vienna , Dollfuss declared:

“The time of party rule is over! We reject synchronization and terrorism, we want the social, Christian, German state of Austria on a class basis, under strong, authoritarian leadership! "

In the same speech, in which the cross was shown for the first time as a symbol of the movement, Dollfuß presented his view of the VF:

“So the Fatherland Front is today a movement and not an addition of two or three parties, but an internally independent large patriotic movement that wants to include everyone who professes Austria as their German fatherland, a movement that everyone can who wears the badge of the Patriotic Front, is obliged to emphasize what unites, to push aside what divides and to not belong to any movement that aims at the class struggle or the cultural struggle. "

Until the autumn of 1933, the country managers of the VF were appointed, who were responsible for setting up the local and district offices. In the absence of precise directives, the country leaders were able to set up their country organizations at their own discretion. In October, the federal management moved from the home service office to the new headquarters at Am Hof ​​4 .

Public and semi-public workers were pressured to join the movement. The President of the Administrative Commission of the Federal Railways Carl Vaugoin announced in November that employees who did not join the VF would be replaced with patriotic-minded employees. By decree of the Federal Ministry for Education of January 8, 1934, all teachers were required to join the VF.

The year 1934

The Republican Schutzbund , the paramilitary organization of the Social Democratic Workers' Party, had already been banned on March 31, 1933 , but it continued to exist illegally. On the morning of February 12, 1934, when the police tried to search a Social Democratic party home in Linz for weapons, members of the Schutzbund offered armed resistance, and what was known as the civil war or February uprising occurred . All over the country there were clashes between Schutzbund on the one hand, the police, the Heimwehr and the armed forces on the other. After three days, the government had won the fighting, which killed around 350-360 people. As a consequence, the Social Democratic Party and all its sub-organizations and affiliated associations and trade unions were dissolved, and all activities within the meaning of social democracy were declared illegal. All elected MPs, mandataries and officials of the SDAP were dismissed, including the mayor of Vienna Karl Seitz , and replaced by Christian-social politicians or representatives of the Fatherland Front.

As a gesture to the workers, Dollfuss commissioned Ernst Karl Winter to win the workers over to the VF in order to build a “common Catholic socialist mass front against the Nazi threat”. For this purpose, Winter founded Aktion Winter and was given the authority of the Vice Mayor's Office of Vienna. Winter put his Wiener Politischen Blätter in the service of the cause, published Workers' Sunday and organized discussion evenings. But the Heimwehr did not like his efforts and the workers met them with suspicion.

A few weeks after the civil war, the corporate state May constitution came into force. At the same time, the federal law of May 1, 1934, Federal Law Gazette II No. 4/1934, concerning the "Fatherland Front" was enacted, which anchored the Fatherland Front in law. Accordingly, Dollfuss ruled as Federal Chancellor and as “Federal Leader” of the Fatherland Front with dictatorial powers. Paragraph 8 of the federal law stipulated, for example: “The federal, state and local authorities are obliged to submit applications, requests, notifications, complaints and other communications made by the federal leader [...] within the framework of the applicable laws and regulations to negotiate without unnecessary delay. "

The parties that still existed legally were not banned, but due to the new constitution they no longer played a role, and some of them have now dissolved.

Around the same time, the Federal Organization Statute of the VF was published. The VF was divided into a civil and a military front:

  • In addition to the regional organizations, the civil front should include professional organizations: the DO, the trade, trade and industry subdivisions of the BO, and an organization for the patriotic peasantry and one for the liberal professions. In this way, the VF should become the carrier of political decision-making.
  • The defense front, as a summary of the patriotic military associations, included the Heimwehr, which joined the VF associatively on April 14, 1934, the Ostmärkische Sturmscharen , the freedom federation , the Christian-German gymnastics and the Burgenland state rifles .

The Führer principle was also laid down in the statute: the Führer had absolute authority in the VF and the members were obliged to obey unconditionally. Every VF functionary had to pledge this to his superior when he took office.

On July 25, 1934, there was a Nazi coup attempt , in the course of which the leader of the Fatherland Front, Federal Chancellor Dollfuss, was murdered. On July 31, it was announced in the newspapers that Vice Chancellor Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg had taken over the leadership of the Fatherland Front as former Deputy Dollfuss. A three-month mourning period was ordered in the VF. Dollfuss was declared a “spiritual leader” whose work was to live on (“Dollfuss Street”). He was transfigured as a martyr and heroic chancellor , the Dollfuss song was sung: “A dead man leads us.” 150,000 VF members are said to have come to a mourning rally on Heldenplatz on August 8, 1934.

The year 1935

In the spring of 1935, a standardization of the military associations was announced, as was the introduction of compulsory military service. The question of the standardization of the military associations dragged on into the next year due to great resistance in the Heimwehr and was ultimately decisive for the replacement of Starhemberg as front leader. The armed forces were added to the VF on May 24, 1935. It was argued that soldiers were obliged by their oath to serve and defend Austria with all their might, and that there was therefore always a sentimental connection between the army and the VF. Only VF members could be accepted into the armed forces, in uniform there was no obligation to wear the VF badge. The military attaché in Berlin, Alfred Jansa , was recalled and appointed head of Section III in the Ministry of Defense and - not publicly announced - chief of the general staff .

On October 17th there was a government reshuffle, which was presented as a sign of the unity between Heimwehrführer and Frontführer Starhemberg and Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg . First and foremost, it served to oust the Interior Minister Emil Feys from the cabinet, who was always in rivalry with Starhemberg and was increasingly suspicious of Schuschnigg. At the same time, the voluntary militia - Austrian Homeland Security - was brought into being as a summary of the military associations .

The employment offices were also incorporated into the VF. In December, a new list of residents was drawn up in Vienna, in which VF membership was officially recorded, which reinforced the impression of coercive organization. At a rally in December, Starhemberg confessed to the movement's claim to totality: "Apart from the Fatherland Front, nobody is authorized to do politics."

In December 1935, 260 district leaderships and 5300 local group leaderships were subordinate to the 9 state leaderships. The membership was around two million, not counting military personnel and members of the recognized military associations. The membership fee was staggered according to financial possibilities, whereby the members were allowed to classify themselves. In 1935 the average monthly amount received was 20 groschen per member. In the case of public employees, the membership fee was collected in accordance with an ordinance of May 1935.

The year 1936

The grandstand at the roll call of the Fatherland Front on the parade ground Schmelz in Vienna on October 18, 1936.

Chancellor Schuschnigg prevailed in the tug-of-war to unify the military associations. On May 15, 1936, he replaced Starhemberg as front leader. With the adopted in May 1936 Front Act , the personal union of Chancellor and leader of the VF was established by law. The Fatherland Front was declared a corporation under public law and the only legal political party in Austria (“the only body responsible for forming political will in the state”). Thus the political monopoly of the VF was also legally anchored.

Within the VF, the Front Law created the Front Militia , in which volunteers capable of military service were collected. In October 1936, the military associations (with the exception of the non-military rifle clubs) were legally dissolved, making the front militia the only armed volunteer association.

In September a leadership council was created, which together with the front leader held the highest leadership of the VF. It consisted of the deputy front leader, the general secretary, the country leaders and two representatives from each of the main professional groups. In practice, however, it had no effect.

In terms of foreign policy, the government came under increasing pressure from the National Socialist German Reich . At the same time, support from Benito Mussolini , the fascist dictator of Italy, waned as he grew closer and closer to Adolf Hitler .

Tolerance and Victory of the National Socialists

VF supporters promote the referendum in March 1938.

On July 11, 1936, Schuschnigg concluded the so-called July Agreement with the German government . With this, imprisoned National Socialists were amnestied (the NSDAP remained banned) and the National Socialists' stewards were subsequently accepted into the government, including Arthur Seyß-Inquart as a member of the State Council. In return, the German Reich lifted the “ Thousand Mark Block ” imposed in May 1933 .

At the beginning of 1937, with the approval of Schuschnigg, the so-called Committee of Seven was founded , the task of which was to pacify the “national forces” and to draw them to work in the VF. In fact, the committee worked in the interests of the NSDAP. Due to the refusal of the VF General Secretary Guido Zernatto , who did not recognize the committee, there was no cooperation with the VF.

In June 1937 the formation of a “People's Political Unit” was announced in the VF, in which the National Socialists should now be won over to a positive cooperation. Relying on Hitler's assertion in the July Agreement not to affect Austria's independence, National Socialists who professed their support for Austria were invited to join the “common front”. The writer and former Innsbruck Vice Mayor Walter Pembaur was appointed to head the department . He built up country organizations for the department and tried to get as many National Socialists as possible to join before Schuschnigg's membership ban announced for October 31, 1937.

At a meeting between Schuschnigg and Hitler on Obersalzberg on February 12, 1938, the Berchtesgaden Agreement was passed. Schuschnigg had to assure the NSDAP, which had been banned in Austria since 1933, free political activity.

Despite the increasing influence of the German Empire on Austrian domestic and economic policy, Schuschnigg wanted to keep Austria as a separate state. On March 9, 1938, he announced that he would hold a referendum on the independence of Austria on the following Sunday, March 13, 1938 . The German government demanded that the referendum be postponed or canceled. On the afternoon of March 11th, Schuschnigg agreed. Now Hitler also called for his resignation, which took place that same evening.

When Seyß-Inquart took over government on March 11, 1938, the corporate state ended, and the rule of the Fatherland Front was replaced by the rule of the National Socialists in Austria with the " Anschluss " to the German Reich . The functionaries of the VF, if they could not escape, were arrested and taken to concentration camps . The movement's assets were confiscated by the new rulers.

Symbols and badges

The original crossed flag of the Patriotic Front.
From the end of 1936 the flag with a green chevron, which was assimilated to the national flag .
Standard of the Patriotic Front.

The symbol of the movement was the cross. Their flag was red-white-red, with a white circle in the central fifth in which a red openwork cross can be seen. When Schuschnigg had taken the last step towards disempowering the Heimwehr by creating the Front Militia in the VF, he announced in May 1936 that the green and white colors of the Heimwehr would be included in the flag in recognition of their services to the state. With a federal law in December 1936 this was legally decided. It was also stipulated that the national flag can be kept the same as the national flag in Germany and can be used next to it.

A 25 millimeter long and 2 millimeter wide metal strip covered with a red-white-red ribbon or, alternatively, a correspondingly enamelled metal strip (also popularly known as a conscience worm) served as a badge for members and friends of the movement . VF functionaries carried a cross that was designed differently depending on their position within the movement.

The runic heraldry of various VF organizations and the uniforms of associations such as the Sturmkorps introduced in the summer of 1937 refer to a National Socialist model and indicate the competitive fascist character of the VF.

The greeting from the Fatherland Front was “Austria!”, Later also “Front Heil!”.

For students there was a badge in the form of a red-white-red pennant with the inscription "Be united".

Program

The Fatherland Front never had a party platform. In January 1936 Starhemberg announced the preparation of a written program, but this did not materialize. The program was basically the abolition of the party state and the "idea of ​​Austria". One reason for this is probably that the movement was never conceived as a party that had to fight for votes with other parties within the framework of a pluralistic democracy. In addition, a closer definition of concrete goals would have made differences of opinion among the members obvious and endangered the desired status as a collective movement of all nationals loyal to their fatherland. Due to the lack of goal setting, the movement did not develop any internal dynamics.

organization

Front leader

Federal management

(In the VF, officials who headed an organizational unit were designated as heads )

  • Managing Director Pankraz Kruckenhauser: from May 1933 to August 12, 1933
  • Managing Director Otto Kemptner : from August 12, 1933 to February 19, 1934
  • Secretary General Karl Maria Stepan : from February 19, 1934 to October 29, 1934
  • General Secretary Walter Adam : from October 29, 1934 to May 15, 1936
  • General Secretary Guido Zernatto : from May 15, 1936

Land lines

(From May 1936 the country leaders were called country leaders and Schuschnigg tried, if possible, to use the respective country governors as country leaders at the same time)

Further organizations, plants and presentations

  • Patriotic Driving Corps and Aviation Corps: Already launched in August 1933, they were mainly used for propaganda trips.
  • Kulturreferat: Created in 1933, it was supposed to monitor cultural events and promote them in the interests of the VF. It was divided into seven working groups, which were assigned to different art movements (visual arts, books and literature, film, music, theater and popular education). In 1935 the monthly magazine Kulturdienst was published . The work New Life , created later, built on the work of the cultural department.
  • Kinderferienwerk (KFW): Founded in 1933 and headed by Erich Auer, it was intended to give children from socially needy families the opportunity to relax. As a side effect, economically distressed tourist areas should be supported. While the organization came from the VF, the state took over the costs for the KFW, apart from a more educational symbolic contribution that the parents had to make. Another KFW campaign was the children's breakfast campaign, where schoolchildren received a piece of black bread and a quarter of a liter of milk during the break.
  • Mutterschutzwerk (MSW): Founded in 1934 to help mothers and children and under the direction of Mina Wolfring , it was supposed to cultivate the idea of ​​the family, support mothers from poor sections of the population and offer courses in infant care. As part of a maternity leave campaign, mothers with babies and expectant mothers were given a fortnightly opportunity to relax in Neulengbach , while their families were looked after by the maternity leave organization. As an organ of the MSW, the magazine Mütterzeitung appeared monthly from May 1936 . In September 1937 the birth aid campaign was decided, in which poor families with many children were financially supported in the case of the birth of a child.
  • Women's department: Established in 1935 and headed by Fanny Starhemberg , it was supposed to look after the political interests of women and get in touch with the existing women's associations and organizations in order to win them over to work in the VF.
  • Social Working Group (SAG): Founded in March 1935 after Aktion Winter acted too federalist and independent for Schuschnigg. As an instrument of integration, it should take up the workforce and encourage them to work in the common state. For a short time the two organizations worked together, but when the publication of Aktion Winter's magazine, Die Aktion , was banned, Winter gave up his work. The SAG continued its work under the direction of State Secretary Johann Großauer , but it practically coincided with the BO.
  • VF-Werk “Neues Leben” (NL): A cultural leisure organization founded in 1936 by Zernatto based on the model of the Italian Dopolavoro and the German Kraft durch Freude , in which the cultural department was incorporated. It was under the state guardianship of Leo Gabriel . He declared that the NL's task was to “rehabilitate the soul of the people” in order to obtain a supporting foundation for the state reorganization through “spiritually newly formed” people. In practical terms, this meant cultivating art in sub-groups for various art movements, lectures, traveling, cultivating customs and exhibitions. In order to address as many people as possible, membership in the VF was not required to participate.
  • VF-Werk Österreichisches Jungvolk (ÖJV): Founded in 1936 as a state youth organization, it was an amalgamation of the youth organizations of the Heimwehr ( Jung-Vaterland ), the Sturmscharen ( Ostmarkjugend ) and other organizations. It was their task to train the young people outside of school to be mentally and physically capable people and citizens loyal to their fatherland.
  • Traditionsreferat: As the “Volkspolitische Referat” was founded in the spring of 1937, it was officially responsible for maintaining the “old Austrian tradition that spanned the centuries”. With its emphasis on the values ​​and merits of the monarchy, it became a reservoir for legitimists . Hans Karl Zeßner-Spitzenberg was entrusted with the management of the department .

Contemporary reception

The leading social democrat Otto Bauer analyzed the VF in exile in Brno as “a hodgepodge of Jewish bourgeoisie who fear Hitler's anti-Semitism, monarchist aristocrats, clerical petty bourgeoisie, home guards who mutinied against Dollfuss every day and extorted Dollfuss, from Ostmark storm troops who against the Heimwehr, organized by a big bag of poor devils, half of whom are Nazi and half of whom are Social Democrats, both of whom only wear the red, white and red ribbon so as not to lose a job or to get a job. Such a mocking birth without fire is not sufficient support for a lasting fascist dictatorship ”.

At the end of 1937 the Patriotic Front had almost three million members with a total population of 6.5 million, but - similar to Bauer's assessment - a large proportion of the accessions were for material or opportunistic reasons. In August 1937, the VF district management of Bruck an der Mur estimated that of the 7,600 members in the district, only around 1,900 were reliably patriotic . Many young people in particular joined the VF in order to improve their chances on the job market, even though the National Socialist ideology was very popular among young people. This was also evident at public rallies; The later journalist Hans Dichand remembered a VF demonstration in the National Socialist stronghold of Graz in February 1938: "Among the patriotic people there were many Austrian officers, yesterday's rigor, a touch of monarchy, little youth, dying old Austria."

literature

  • Irmgard Bärnthaler : The Fatherland Front: History and Organization. Europa-Verlag, Vienna / Frankfurt am Main / Zurich, 1971, ISBN 3-203-50379-7 (also dissertation at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Vienna, 1964).
  • Ludwig Reichhold: Battle for Austria. The Fatherland Front and its resistance to the Anschluss 1933–38. 2nd Edition. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-215-05466-3 .
  • Emmerich Tálos , Wolfgang Neugebauer (Hrsg.): Austrofascism: Politics - Economy - Culture; 1933–1938 (= politics and contemporary history. 1). 5th edition. Lit, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-8258-7763-9 .
  • Hubert Stock: "... according to suggestions from the Fatherland Front" . The implementation of the Christian corporate state at state level, using the example of Salzburg. Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2010. ISBN 978-3-205-78587-3 .

Web links

Commons : Patriotic Front  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ The Committee of Seven were: Heinrich Berghammer, a shop steward Odo Neustadter-Sturmer , Oswald Menghin , standing with Catholic circles in contact, the Nazis Hugo Jury , Leopold Tavs and Gilbert In der Maur , Josef Lengauer , coming from the Home Guard Vice President of Labor and Ferdinand Wolsegger , a sympathizer of the National Socialists from the GDVP . The office of the Committee of Seven was set up in Vienna's Teinfaltstrasse in the regional office of the illegal NSDAP.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Federal law of May 1, 1934, regarding the "Fatherland Front" . In: BGBl . II No. 4/1934 . Vienna May 3, 1934 ( online at ALEX ).
  2. ↑ Robert Kriechbaumer : The great stories of politics. Political culture and parties in Austria from the turn of the century to 1945 (=  series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library, Salzburg . Volume 12 ). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-205-99400-0 , p. 289 .
  3. ^ Into the patriotic front! In:  Wiener Zeitung , May 21, 1933, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  4. ↑ Oliver Rathkolb : "Dollfuss killed Austria". In: Wiener Zeitung . February 9, 2014, p. 2 , accessed September 14, 2018 .
  5. ^ The non-partisan Patriotic Front. In:  Reichspost , September 12, 1933, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / rpt
  6. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : Viennese Evangelical Professors of Theology in the Mirror of the Gau-Akten. Documentation on Beth, Egli, Entz, Hajek, Hoffmann, Koch, Kühnert, Opitz, Schneider and Wilke. In: JbGPrÖ . 116, 2000/01, p. 222.
  7. ^ Kurt Bauer : Research project February victims 1934. In: www.kurt-bauer-geschichte.at. Retrieved September 18, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b The Vice Chancellor - Leader of the Fatherland Front. In:  Neue Freie Presse , July 31, 1934, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  9. ^ Armed Power in the Patriotic Front. In:  Wiener Zeitung , May 25, 1935, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  10. ↑ a b Emmerich Tálos, Walter Manoschek : Vaterländische Front. The political monopoly organization of Austrofascism . In: Anton Pelinka , Helmut Reinalter (Ed.): Austrian Association and Party Lexicon . StudienVerlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Munich / Bozen 2002, ISBN 3-7065-1442-7 , p. 208-213 .
  11. ↑ Federal law on the "Fatherland Front". In: BGBl 1936/160. Vienna May 20, 1936 ( online at ALEX ).
  12. ^ Federal law on the dissolution of voluntary military associations . In: Federal Law Gazette No. 335/1936 . Vienna October 15, 1936 ( online at ALEX ).
  13. ↑ Robert Kriechbaumer: The great stories of politics. Political culture and parties in Austria from the turn of the century to 1945 (=  series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library, Salzburg . Volume 12 ). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-205-99400-0 , p. 715 .
  14. ↑ The tasks of the militia. In:  Wiener Zeitung , May 16, 1936, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  15. ^ Federal law on the flag of the federal state of Austria . In: Federal Law Gazette No. 444/1936 . Vienna December 28, 1936 ( online at ALEX ).
  16. ↑ Robert Kriechbaumer: A fatherland picture book: Propaganda, self-staging and aesthetics of the fatherland front 1933-1938 (= Robert Kriechbaumer, Hubert Weinberger, Franz Schausberger [ed.]: Series of publications of the research institute for political-historical studies of the Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer- Library . Volume 17 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2002, ISBN 978-3-205-77011-4 , pp. 61 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  17. ↑ Change in the management of the Fatherland Front. In:  Wiener Zeitung , August 13, 1933, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  18. ^ New head of the Fatherland Front. In:  Wiener Zeitung , February 20, 1934, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  19. ^ Lieutenant Colonel Seiffert - Head of the VF Vienna. In:  Wiener Zeitung , April 11, 1934, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  20. ↑ a b c d Changes in the national management of VF. In:  Wiener Zeitung , February 28, 1938, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  21. ↑ The VF. in Salzburg. In:  Salzburger Chronik , October 24, 1934, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / sch
  22. ↑ Irene Bandhauer-Schöffmann : The “Christian Ständestaat” as a male state? In: Emmerich Tálos, Wolfgang Neugebauer (ed.): Austrofascism: Politics - Economy - Culture 1933–1938 . 7th edition. Lit, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-8258-7712-5 , pp. 263 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  23. ↑ cit. n. Walter Goldinger , Dieter A. Binder: History of the Republic of Austria 1918–1938. Verlag für Geschichte und Politik and Oldenbourg Verlag, Vienna / Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7028-0315-7 , p. 224.
  24. ↑ Martin F. Polaschek : Instead of class-authoritarian, constantly authoritarian. Styria between 1933 and 1938. In: Alfred Ableitinger (Hrsg.): Federal state and Reichsgau. Democracy, “corporate state” and Nazi rule in Styria 1918–1945 . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2015, ISBN 978-3-205-20062-8 , pp. 239–288, here pp. 255f.
  25. ↑ cit. n. Ulrich Schlie: The duel. The battle between Habsburg and Prussia for Germany. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-549-07401-5 , p. 299.