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The Prehistory of the Fourth Party Movement in Austria, 1947–1949
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2009
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My article examines the prehistory of the “Fourth Party” movement in Austria after World War II. Traditionally, Austrian politics was divided into three ideological Lager (literally “camps,” but with more than a whiff of the Boer term laager, too): strongly Catholic Christian Socials, Austro-Marxist Social Democrats, and “Deutschfreiheitliche.” The latter usually consisted of a motley collection of groups that were both Pan-German and anticlerical. They were sometimes grouped together under the formal heading “Drittes Lager” (Third Camp). The three parties licensed in 1945, however, were the Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP), the Socialists, and the Communists. Thus, any attempt to resurrect the traditions of the freiheitlich strand in Austrian politics after 1945 was labeled the “Fourth Party.”
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References
1 “Alte Kämpfer” (Old Fighters) referred to pre-1933 Nazi Party members; “Illegale” indicated people who had been members when the party was outlawed in Austria between 1933 and 1938; “Märzveilchen” (Violets of March) were people who had joined only after it had gained power; and “Goldfasane” (Golden Pheasants) referred to the gold-braided uniforms of highranking party apparatchiks.
2 See the literature quoted in Lothar, Höbelt, “Die Parteien des nationalen Lagers in der Ersten Republik,” Carinthia I, no. 179 (1989): 359–84;Google Scholar Karin, Fellinger, “Der Landbund in Oberösterreich” (Ph.D. diss., University of Salzburg, 1989);Google Scholar and Johann, Reif, “Zwischen Standespartei und Volkspartei. Die Geschichte des Kärntner Landbundes und Bauernbundes von 1886 bis 1934” (Ph.D. diss., University of Klagenfurt, 1989).Google Scholar Alexander Haas is preparing a dissertation about the Styrian Landbund at Graz University. The only scholarly study of the VdU is Max, Riedlsperger, The Lingering Shadow of Nazism: The Austrian Independent Party Movement since 1945 (New York, 1978).Google Scholar Viktor, Reimann, Die Dritte Kraft in Österreich (Vienna, 1980) is an informative memoir-cum-history.Google Scholar
3 Austrian State Archive Vienna, Archiv der Republik (AdR), (Bundesministerium für Inneres) BMI, 78805–2/49, report on VdU rally on June 9, 1949; Hartleb Papers, Stocker to Schönbauer, Dec. 2,1946 (“Die Bauern stehen allerdings innerlich viel freier da und ohne die freiheitlichen Bauern als Fundament wäre nach meiner Beobachtung der freiheitliche Heimatbund gar nicht zu machen, da das städtisch national-freiheitliche Element zu zaghaft und verängstigt ist und die Geschäftsleute politisch unzuverlässig sind”). I am particularly grateful to Annemarie Hartleb for granting permission to use the papers of her father, which have in the meantime been transferred to the Steiermärkische Landesarchiv in Graz.
4 Hartleb Papers, circular of Stocker, Jan. 2, 1946.
5 Ibid., Stocker to Schönbauer, Nov. 20, 1946 (“Die Macht des Klerikalismus und der ÖVP vermag die sozialistische Partei nicht allein zu brechen”).Google Scholar
6 Ibid., “Vertrauliche Information,” Stocker, Dec. 14, 1946 (“Er erklärte mir mit aller Klarheit, daß die SPÖ einer solchen Gründung sehr wohlgesinnt sei”).Google Scholar
7 The legal permit of the association dates from July 1, 1947, and its first general assembly was held in September (AdR, BMI, 101670–2/47, 93.153–2/48). Wilhelm, Svoboda, Die Partei, die Republik und der Mann mit den vielen Gesichtern. Oskar Helmer und Österreich II. Eine Korrektur (Vienna, 1993), 99, gets the dates wrong.Google Scholar
8 Fritz, Stüber, Ich war Abgeordneter Die Entstehung der freiheitlichen Opposition in Österreich (Graz, 1974) 16–27.Google Scholar Schönbauer (who counted as the Landbund's ideologue-in-chief) and Stocker had been close friends since their school days (see Waldviertler Heimatblatt [Schönbauer's weekly], Oct. 2, 1948). Supersberg was Hartleb's opposite number after 1932 as first president of the Carinthian Chamber of Agriculture; Bichl had been the leader of the Upper Austrian Landbund from 1927 to 1931; and Raser (who in 1954 defected to the ÖVP) had been a close collaborator of Franz Winkler, the last federal chairman of the Landbund.
9 Hartleb, Papers, Heinz Brunner to Schönbauer, Jan. 19, 1948.Google Scholar Reimann, , Die Dritte Kraft, does not mention these early contacts.Google Scholar
10 Hartleb, Papers, Hartleb to Stacker, Mar. 27, 1947 (“Wichtig ist, dass er zu den Menschen gehört, welche die Bedeutung der Landwirtschaft anerkennen und bei aller Bedeutung der nationalen und kulturellen Interessen den wirtschaftlichen Fragen nicht interesselos gegenüberstehen”).Google Scholar
11 Hartleb, Papers, Gedächtnisprotokoll, Apr. 25,1948.Google Scholar
12 As Hans Igler remembers, when the VdU adopted the subtitle “Soziale Erneuerungsbewegung” (Movement of Social Renewal) in 1952, Raab could not help laughing: “Den sozial erneuerten Hartleb schau' i mir an!” (I have yet to see a Hartleb who is “socially renewed”).
13 Hartleb, Papers, circular of Stocker, Jan. 2, 1946 (“Der Heimatbund wird bei seinem Auftreten auf die entsprechende Gegnerschaft der ÖVP stoßen”).Google Scholar
14 Ibid., Stocker to his friends, Jan. 9 and 19, 1948 (“Pirkhofer bringt unseren Bestrebungen alle Sympathie entgegen.… Mit den steirischen Sicherheitsbehörden stehen wir überhaupt in einem guten Verhältnis, vor allem dank des unbedingten Vertrauensverhältnisses zu Machold, das sich in dieser Angelegenheit bestens bewährt hat”). For the correspondence on “the other side of the hill” between the police in Graz and the ministry in Vienna, see AdR, BMI, 79.259–4/49, in particular report from Graz, Jan. 17, 1948, and notes about talks with representatives of the attorney general/s office, Jan. 28 and July 5, 1948; for Leykam,Google Scholar see Stefan, Karner, “Zur Entfernung deutschen Kapitals aus der österreichischen Industrie nach 1945. Das Fallbeispiel Leykam,” in Verdrängte Schuld, verfehlte Sühne. Entnazifizierung in Österreich 1945–1955, ed. Sebastian, Meissl, Klaus-Dieter, Mulley, AND Oliver, Rathkolb (Vienna, 1986), 129–36.Google Scholar
15 See the voluminous files in AdR, BMI, 23097–2/49, boxes 68–71, and Helmer's statement in Parliament on Jan. 14, 1948 (Stenographische Protokolle des Nationalrates, V. G.P., 2083).
16 London, Public Record Office (PRO), FO, 1020/2273, director of Internal Affairs Jan. 14, 1948, and Cheetham to Attlee, Jan. 19, 1948.
17 AdR, BMI, Grundzahl (GZ), 23097–2/49, box 71, file 11, minutes of a meeting of all directors of security (and three representatives of the CIC), May 21, 1947. Indeed, at one point when Göth was confronted with the witness later uncovered for his Soviet connection, Josef Mayr, he let slip that he knew about Mayr just as well as Mayr knew about him (Ibid., report of Nov. 19, 1947). See also Kurt, Tweraser, US-Militärregierung Oberösterreich, vol. 1: Sicherheitspolitische Aspekte der amerikanischen Besatzung in Oberösterreich-Süd 1945–1950 (Linz, 1995), 382–85.Google Scholar
18 Alpenruf, June 4, 1949, 4; July 2, 1949, 2; Kurier, Dec. 7, 1949; Echo der Heimat, June 22, 1950; Salzburger Nachrichten, Oct. 12 and Nov. 29, 1951; Polaschek, Martin F. “Im Namen der Republik!” in Die Volksgerichte in der Steiermark 1945 bis 1955 (Graz, 1998), 222;Google Scholar Theodor, Soucek, in a phone conversation with the author on May 19, 1999 (“Die SPÖ hat sich phantastisch benommen”).Google Scholar
19 AdR, BMI, GZ, 23097–2/49, box 69, Dec. 8,1947; box 71, files 87, 88, 118, 133, for reports on Rösch and Strachwitz. The author has been privileged to number Count Strachwitz, who died in July 1998, among his friends; Otto Rösch mentioned the Soucek episode and his part in it when he talked to the Neue Klub in Vienna on Nov. 15, 1994.
20 Ibid., box 68, report by Polizeidirektion Klagenfurt, Nov. 27, 1947. (The German original is somewhat convoluted: “Der Inhalt des Briefes wirft ein wesentlich anderes Bild auf die Absichten dieser Vereinigung, als wie sie sich in den Statuten offenbaren. Im gegenständlichen Fall handelt es sich urn die Vierte Partei”). For Soucek's views of Stocker (“alte, verspieβte Parlamentarier”),Google Scholar see Hartleb, Papers, Friedbert Nowak, Dec. 29,1948.Google Scholar
21 Hartleb, Papers, Stocker to Stüber, July 13, 1948 (“Es ist bezeichnend, daß die Ausstellung der Bestandsbescheiniung trotz der promptesten Zustimmung von H so lange verzögert wird. Dies offenbar zufolge Einstellung der Bürokratie, die gegen die Weisung von H. alles endlos verzögert und offenbar auch unter dem Einfluß des Herrn Graf steht”); Stocker to Hartleb, June 9, 1948; Hartleb to Stocker, June 14, 1948.Google Scholar
22 AdR, BMI, GZ, 79259–4/49, Polizeidirektion Graz, July 14, 1948. See also Uwe, Mauch, Schriftleiter Jasser. Die fortgesetzten Karrieren eines NS-Journalisten (Vienna, 1999), 104.Google Scholar
23 Hartleb, Papers, Gedächtnisprotokoll and Vertraulicher Zusatz, July 16, 1948.Google Scholar
24 PRO, FO, 371 /76420/C8705, Nov. 9,1949: “But it is, nevertheless, of interest that intellectual members of the party have come to see Helmer's pre-election subtleties in much the same light as we ourselves have always been inclined to regard them. “The comment referred to a criticism of Helmer by Karl Czernetz and K. H. Sailer in the Zukunft. For Adolf Schärf's and Helmer's moves in London in 1949, see Thomas, Albrich, “Die Linken für die Rechten: Labour Party, SPÖ und die ‘Vierte’ Partei,” Tel Aviver Jahrbuch für deutsche Geschichte 19 (1990): 383–410.Google Scholar
25 Reinhold, Wagnleitner, ed., Understanding Austria: The Political Reports and Analyses of Martin F. Herz, Political Officer of the US Legation in Vienna 1945–1948 (Salzburg, 1984), 482, 515, 547.Google Scholar
26 AdR, BMI, GZ, 79259–4/49, reports from Polizeidirektion Graz, Oct. 8 and 18, 1948; PRO, FO 1020/2232, Headquarters Civil Liaison, Oct. 16, 1948; AdR, BMI, Evidenzakten 1609–48.
27 For example, “Lebt Hitler oder ist er tot?;” (Heimatruf, Jan. 24, 1948) or Hartleb, 's “Mit offenem Visier” (Heimatruf, July 17, 1948).Google Scholar
28 Sonntagspost (Kufstein), Sept. 12, 1948; Josef, Mentschl, “Ferdinand Graf,” in Die Politiker. Karrieren und Wirken bedeutender Repräsentanten der Zweiten Republik, ed. Herbert, Dachs, Peter, Gerlich, and Miiller, Wolfgang C. (Vienna, 1995), 178–84.Google Scholar According to Hermann, Gruber, Die Jahre in der Politik. Erinnerungen (Klagenfurt, 1982), 19,Google Scholar Graf had been a hard-liner even during the 1930s. Mauch, , Schriftleiter Jasser, 102,116–19, does not realize the subtle change in favor of the ÖVP, even in some of Jasser's earlier articles. Giving priority to anti-Communism over everything else was a suicidal tactic for Fourth Party advocates!Google Scholar
29 For the Oberweis meeting, where leading members of the ÖVP met with prominent former Nazis in Maleta's villa, see Oliver, Rathkolb, “NS-Problem und politische Restauration: Vorgeschichte und Etablierung des VdU,” in Verdrängte Schuld, verfehlte Sühne Entnazifizierung in Österreich 1945–1955, ed. Sebastian, Meissl, Klaus-Dieter, Mulley, AND Oliver, Rathkolb (Vienna, 1986), 73–99,Google Scholar based on U.S. sources; and Svoboda, , Die Partei, die Republik, 103.Google Scholar
30 For an admirably straightforward and no-nonsense account of the denazification process, see Dieter, Stiefel, Entnazipzierung in Österreich (Vienna, 1981).Google Scholar
31 See Mitteilungsblatt Amnestie-Aktions-Ausschuβ in der Landesleitung der ÖVP Steiermark, Sept. 4, 1949; PRO, FO, 1020/460; Siegfried, Beer, “Die Briten und der Wiederaufbau des Justizwesens in der Steiermark 1945–1950,” in Die ‘britische’ Steiermark 1945–55, ed. Siegfried, Beer (Graz, 1995), 111–40;Google Scholar Edith, Marko-Stockl, “Die Formierung des steirischen Parteiensystems 1945–1953. Die Konkurrenz um die ‘Ehemaligen,’”Google Scholar in Ibid., 57–80; and Manfried, Rauchensteiner, Die Zwei. Die Groβe Koalition in Österreich 1945–1966 (Vienna, 1987), 134–40.Google Scholar Unfortunately Hanna, Bleier-Bissinger, Bundeskanzler Dr. Alfons Gorbach und seine Zeit (Graz, 1988), 55,183–205, glosses over her hero's achievements in that respect.Google Scholar
32 A list of one hundred former NSDAP members headed by Hainzl in support of the ÖVP is printed in Der Ausweg, Oct. 8, 1949. Der Ausweg had supported the VdU until about mid-1949 but then switched sides. On the Styrian Heimatschutz, see Bruce, Pauley, Hahnenschwanz und Hakenkreuz (Vienna, 1972);Google Scholar and Walter, Wiltschegg, Die Heimwehr. Eine unwiderstehliche Volksbewegung?; (Vienna, 1985), 171–84, 348;Google Scholar also see Egon and Heinrich, Berger-Waldenegg, Biographie im Spiegel. Die Memoiren zweier Generationen (Vienna, 1998), 360–81.Google Scholar
33 Herbert, Kraus, “Untragbare Objektivität” Politische Erinnerungen 1917 bis 1987 (Vienna, 1988), 196–99;Google Scholar Wagnleitner, , ed., Understanding Austria, 529 (Oct. 27,1948); Rathkolb, “NS-Problem und Restauration,” 94–95. A folder of copies from Kraus's correspondence around the turn of the year has survived in the Gustav Zeillinger Papers (provisionally box 77) in the Salzburger Stadtarchiv. For his fear that a left-wing majority indeed spelled doom, see, for example, his letter to Wilhelm Taucher, Dec. 16, 1948, or his editorial in the Christmas edition of Berichte und Informationen, Dec. 24, 1948, 2338.Google Scholar
34 Kraus's editorial in Berichte und Informationen, Nov 26, 1948, 2353, makes it clear that a linkup with the ÖVP was still his preferred option.
35 Hartleb Papers, Gedächtnisprotokoll, Dec. 11 and 16,1948; Hartleb to Schönbauer, Feb. 13, 1949. Stüber, Ich war Abgeordneter, 78, and Kraus, “Untragbare Objektivität,” 204, also allude to these meetings without providing dates.Google Scholar
36 For that controversy, see the Catholic weekly Die Furche, Dec. 18, 1948 (Funder: “Neues Konzept?; Notwendige Klarstellungen”), and Jan. 8, 1949 (Maleta: “Bekenntnis zum neuen Konzept. Eine Erwiderung”). Funder was a survivor from the days of Lueger and Geßmann. He had been editor of the Reichspost, the Christian Social daily, around the turn of the century. The stalwart Christian Socials, who were adamantly opposed to integrating representatives of the Third Camp, were, however, willing to let them have their Fourth Party rather than “corrupt” their own. What Funder was most afraid of, by the way, was not the influx of former Nazis so much as a preponderance of libertarian business interests; see Hedwig, Pfarrhofer, Friedrich Funder (Graz, 1978), 241, 258.Google Scholar
37 In a speech in Murau on Oct. 3, 1948, Graf had outlined this rationale: “Die Frage der Gründung neuer Parteien hat bei der gegebenen Weltlage… mit den Rechten des Staatsbürgers nichts zu tun. Sie ist ausschließlich vom Standpunkte der Zweckmäßigkeit im Interesse unseres Landes zu beantworten” (quoted in Steirerblatt, Oct. 5, 1948).
38 Zeillinger Papers (box 94), Mayr-Melnhof to Kraus, Feb. 13, 1949 (“Auf Grund eingehender Besprechungen mit Persönlichkeiten, deren Urteil mir sehr massgebend zu sein hat, muss ich Ihnen mitteilen”). Mayr-Melnhof wrote in a similar vein to Hartleb on May 24, 1949. On the press lords, see Kurt, Tweraser, “Hans Behrmanns Glück und Ende. Anmerkungen zur amerikanischen Pressepolitik am Beispiel der ‘Oberösterreichischen Nachrichten’ 1945–1948,” Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz 1995, 277–333;Google Scholar and Rainer, Prandtstetten, “Gustav Adolf Canaval. Analyse einer publizistischen Persönlichkeit” (Ph.D. diss., University of Vienna, 1971).Google Scholar
39 Lujo, Toncic-Sorinj, Erfüllte Träume Kroatien—Österreich—Europa (Vienna, 1982), 160–79.Google Scholar
40 Hartleb Papers, Hartleb to Schonbauer, Mar. 30 and Apr. 12, 1949; Hartleb to R. Müller, Mar. 14, 1949; Hartleb to Scheer, Apr. 12, 1949.Google Scholar
41 Interview with Neumann, G. A., Aug. 5, 1998; Reimann, Die Dritte Kraft in Österreich, 122. On the Upper Austrian situation,Google Scholar also see Harry, Slapnicka,Oberösterreich—zweigeteiltes Land 1945–1955 (Linz, 1986), 150–54.Google Scholar
42 A portrait of Elsnitz appeared in Alpenruf, June 25, 1949, 6 Some heroes turned out to be fakes, though. Josef, Heger, nominated as temporary VdU leader for Vienna and Lower Austria, was not really the holder of a Knight's Cross, as he had claimed. What's more, he also defected to the Soviets the next year. See Riedlsperger, Lingering Shadow of Nazism, 82.Google Scholar
43 The rounded-off percentages or Arbeiterkammern (with “Landwirtschaftskammern” in brackets) were Salzburg, 27 percent (6 percent); Upper Austria, 29 percent (10 percent); Styria, 15 percent (13 percent); and Carinthia, 20 percent (27 percent) For statistics, see Wolfgang, Oberleithner, Politisches Handbuch Osterreichs 1945–1980 (Vienna, 1981).Google Scholar
44 Erich, Reiter, Programm und Programmentwicklung der FPÖ (Vienna, 1982), 68, 241–56,Google Scholar also deals with the programs of the VdU. The program was the first, though, to advocate unequivocally the creation of a United States of Europe. See Lothar, Höbelt,“‘Daßder rationale Gedanke eine Ausweitung auf das europäische erfahren hat'. Die europäische Integration in den fünfziger und sechziger Jahren aus der Sicht von WdU/VdU und FPO,” in Österreich und die europäische Integration 1945–1993, ed. Michael, Gehler and Rolf, Steininger (Vienna, 1993), 346–64.Google Scholar
45 Voting lists from the crucial meetings of the party executive from the summer of 1950 have survived in the Hartleb Papers. For further details, see Lothar, Höbelt, Von der Vierten Partei zur Dritten Kraft. Die Geschichte des VdU (Graz, 1999), 101–15.Google Scholar
46 According to Kraus, “Untragbare Objektivität,” 223, 40 percent of former Nazis had supported the ÖVP, 30 percent the VdU, and 15 percent the SPÖ, with 15 percent abstaining Alfred, Elste and Dirk, Hänisch, Kärnten von der Ersten zur Zweiten Republik: Kontinuität oder Wandel? (Klagenfurt, 1998), 212, have for the first time tried to conduct a sophisticated statistical analysis of elections at a regional level. Their estimates are that in Carinthia 37 percent of amnestied Nazis voted SPÖ in 1949, 31 percent VdU, and 21 percent ÖVP, with 7 percent not voting. Such a high level of support for the SPÖ could not be expected outside of Carinthia. It may still be indicative of the tendency of contemporaries to underestimate the recruiting efforts of the Socialists, which were more discreetly carried on than those of their rivals.Google Scholar