Austrofascism

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NOTE: On the map, "RUSSIA" would be better marked as "UKRAINE". Part of Ukraine belonged to Russia and part to Austria-Hungary in those days.

After the devastation of the First World War, empires fell, and Austria-Hungary was one of them, splitting into various parts. The territory of several modern countries once lay wholly or partly within its bounds, including Poland, Italy, and much of former Yugoslavia. The ethnic Germans of Austria, who once ruled an empire, now inhabited a small impoverished republic, and many of them, whether socialist or conservative, dreamed of joining their ethnic brothers by merging with Germany. This hoped-for merger was known in German as the "Anschluss" and, though expressly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles, it remained a potent issue in Austrian politics.

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Though the right-wing Christian Social party dominated Austria throughout the 1920s, the working classes were now asserting themselves, and the Social Democratic Workers Party formed the second largest grouping in parliament. Politics also continued in the streets throughout that turbulent decade, as socialists and right-wingers armed themselves with weapons left over from the war and formed private armies that fought occasional street battles. The situation mirrored that in Germany, where demobbed soldiers formed Freikorps and battled with socialists and communists. In Austria the home-grown radical right-wingers formed themselves into local Heimwehren ("home guards"), each with its local leader. Nationally, they were known as the Heimwehr but, apart from their opposition to socialists and communists, they had no coherent ideology.

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Ignaz Seipel.

Ignaz Seipel was chairman of the Christian Social Party from 1921 until 1930.

He was also Austria's chancellor between 1922 and 1924, and again from 1926 until 1929.

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Austrian Order of Merit.

In 1924 Ignaz Seipel chose the cross potent, which looked both military and Christian, as the basis for the new national medal, the Austrian Order of Merit.

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FIRST COINAGE OF THE REPUBLIC

The Republic issued its first coinage in 1923 and 1924, denominated in Kronen (crowns).

Because of inflation the currency was redenominated in 1925.

1 Schilling was made equivalent to 10,000 old Kronen.

New coins were issued that same year.

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The 100 Kronen coin of 1923 and 1924 showed the crowned head of an eagle.

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SS insignia.



Austria, 200 Kronen, 1924.

The 200 Kronen coin of 1924 depicted a cross potent, as used on the Order of Merit. The "S" in "OSTERREICH" is depicted in pseudo-runic form as a sigrune, allegedly a symbol of victory. Post-war artists and designers were keen to experiment with new styles for new times, and many Austrians and Germans in the 1920s, as adherents of a romantic nationalism that had originated in the 1890s, were fascinated by such symbols. For most it was a harmless interest, whose sinister side was not yet apparent. Not until the 1930s would the sigrune become notorious in its double form, as the insignia of the Nazi SS.

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The 1000 Kronen coin of 1924 depicts a Tyrolean woman in typical costume. Though suggestive of an ethnic nationalism, in itself no more sinister than Scottish pride in the kilt, it is more likely a political statement: the South Tyrol, with its ethnic German-speaking Austrians, had been ceded to Italy after the First World War, where it remains to this day.

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1 Groschen, 1929. 

A look at the redenominated coinage now.

This coin was issued from 1925 to 1938.

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2 Groschen, 1926.

This coin was issued from 1925 to 1938.

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The 5 Groschen was not added until 1931. It circulated until 1938.

Note that the "S" in Groschen is in a ordinary font, unlike the pseudo-runic "S" in the country name.

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The 10 Groschen was issued from 1925 until 1929.

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The half Schilling was issued from 1924 to 1926.

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The Schilling was issued from 1924 to 1926. It showed the Austrian parliament building.

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Prince Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg.

Politics in Austria became more polarised as a result of the July revolt of 1927, when the Republican Protection League, the paramilitary street army of the Social Democrats, clashed with the police in Vienna. 84 protesters and 5 policemen were killed. The Heimwehr enhanced its political prominence by intervening on the side of the police, acting as the virtual private army of the ruling Christian Social Party.

Though the Heimwehr was becoming more ideological due to its contacts with Italian fascists, its belief in an independent Austria led to differences with the Austrian Nazis, who desired Anschluss. In 1930 it therefore founded its own political wing, the Heimatblock (Homeland Bloc) under leader Prince Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg, but as the Great Depression set in, ever more Heimwehr members and Christian Socials flocked to join the Austrian Nazi party.