Dollfuß, Engelbert#
b. Texing (municipality of Texingtal, Lower Austria), Oct. 4, 1892, d. Vienna, July 25, 1934 (murdered in the Federal Chancellery), politician (Christian Social Party). Aafter activities in World War I, Secretary of the Lower Austrian "Bauernbund" (Farmer's Association), Director of Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, 1927; 1931 Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, 1932-1934 Federal Chancellor and Foreign Minister, D. dissolved the Austrian Parliament in March 1933; also in 1933 banned the NSDAP, the Communist Party and the "Republikanischer Schutzbund" (Republican Defence Federation), and in 1934 after the Uprising, February 1934 the Social Democratic Party, recognizing only the "Vaterlaendische Front" (Fatherland Front) as a political force. D. governed by means of emergency decrees, introducing martial law and capital punishment because of National Socialist terror. He created an authoritarian Corporate State with the constitution of May 1934, relying mostly on the support of the Catholic Church, the Heimwehr (paramilitary force) and the farmers. In 1934 he signed a Concordat with the Holy See in Rome and (in the "Rome Protocols" agreed upon with Italy and Hungary) conceded to Mussolini some influence on Austrian domestic and foreign policy. D. was murdered during the National Socialist July Putsch , after an attempt had already been made on his life in October 1933.
Publication#
Die Sozialversicherung in der Landwirtschaft Oesterreichs, 1931 (with R. Mertha).Literature#
G. Jagschitz, Der Putsch, 1976; Protokolle des Ministerrates der 1. Republik. Kabinett Dr. E. D., 1980-1986; G. Jagschitz, E. D., in: Die oe. Bundeskanzler, 1983; J. W. Miller, E. D. als Agrarfachmann, 1989; F. Schausberger, Letzte Chance fuer die Demokratie, 1993; Eva Dollfuss, Mein Vater, Hitlers erstes Opfer, 1994.