Austrian Requiem

by Kurt von Schuschnigg

Here is the story of a modern martyrdom and a document of human and spiritual travail almost without parallel in present-day annals.

Kurt von Schussnigg became Chancellor of Austria, after the assassination of Dollfuss, at the time the shadow of Hitler was beginning to fall across Europe, and most blackly of all on Austria. For four desperate years the Chancellor tried to avoid giving provocation to his great neighbor while still maintaining the integrity of his country. We are taken behind the scenes of conferences with Mussolini, at the League of Nations, and in other capitals of Europe. Much that has been obscure in the dealings of the various governments and statesmen during those fateful days is made clear here for the first time.
This story reaches a crescendo in the bitter days extending from the famous interview between Hitler and Schussnigg at Berchtesgaden to the final overwhelming of Austria by German armed might. We see the Chancellor, betrayed within and abandoned by the Great Powers, almost single-handedly, attempting to stem the onrush of savagery. Although crushed by force in the end, he displays a spiriutal and moral firmness which will forever stand as a great victory of the human spirit.
Once in the hands of the Gestapo he became a modern Man in the Iron Mask, deprived even of his name, torn from the woman he loved, living under the imminent threat of death, degraded by every device the fiendishness of his captors could contrive.
During these bitter days his faith neve wavered, and under the very noses of his captors he penned this record of anguish and faith in the ultimate triumph of decency. While making the rounds of the concentration camps he saw most of the illustrious as well as the humble captives of Himmler and had an unequalled opportunity to obtain the material for this, one of the most moving journals of a prisoner's life. His faith was finally justified, and he lived to see the downfall of his persecutors and to be restored to the world of free men.
As revealing as the Ciano Diaries, though completely honest in its reporting, as moving as De Profundis in its emotional appeal, here is one of the great political and human documents of our time.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Memoir, Politics

322 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Chancellor of the First Austrian Republic, following the assassination of his predecessor, Dr. Engelbert Dollfuss, in July 1934, until Germany’s invasion of Austria in March 1938

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in a goodwill store sometime early this century and bought it for next to nothing. Between life and grad school it took me a while to get around to reading it. It's not really the most interesting memoir I've read, but it does have some good points. On the plus side, one finds fairly little written about Austria during the period leading up to the Anschluss, and this fills in some of that gap. It includes some rather interesting transcripts of telephone discussions among the leading Nazis involved in that event as an appendix; I never expected to see Odilo Globocnik come off as a sniveling toady - his image has become that of the iconic SS mass-murderer.
On the other hand, Schussnigg was one of the first to make the now rather tired argument that "Austria was the first victim," and thus exculpate Austrians from the shared guilt of the horrors of the Third Reich (except those few associated with the "Nazi Underground"). Towards the end of the book, he acknowledges that Austria may bear some "indirect" guilt for the way things turned out, but then adds that the Western Allies are also "indirectly" responsible for not stopping the Anschluss when it happened. His argument that Austria was the key to a lasting peace probably should be seen as the words of a patriot writing in a very uncertain time, but happily Austria did manage to remain independent and even to avoid being pulled too directly into the Cold War (it never formally chose sides, though it leaned Westward for protection) - this would probably have pleased him. He avoids being really forthcoming about his own "Austro-Fascist" regime - he uses this term contemptuously, as a word the press used to smear him, and the term "Heimwehr Fascist" never appears (possibly the American publisher felt it would be too foreign). It is clear enough from his account that political parties were banned and that the State imposed various types of censorship and restrictions on personal freedom. He makes it sound as though these measures were used strictly to prevent the "Nazi Underground" from causing trouble, but there are hints as to how it was used against the Left as well. The trade unions are occasionally called upon to ratify some action the State has already decided upon, but apparently not empowered to negotiate independently. And so inklings of the true state of affairs in pre-National Socialist Austria do peek through.
Much of the book is about Schussnigg's term as a political prisoner. While this is interesting, what really stands out is how well he and his family were treated, compared to other opponents of Hitler, presumably because he was an internationally-known figure. He never seems to go hungry, even in the worst times of the War, always has private quarters, and is able to receive visits from, and ultimately co-habitate with, his wife. I did feel a twinge of sympathy when his four-year-old child told a guard at Flossenburg that she'd rather go back to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp "because it was nicer there," but, again, compared to what so many children experienced in these camps, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Furthermore, in addition to being able to hang on to the manuscript for this book, he was able to keep a functioning radio that received foreign broadcasts hidden, and even apparently a revolver(!).
Ultimately, this book will probably be of interest only to a specialized audience. Not bad, but far from the best of the memoirs of the period.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written from the diaries of the main character, this book covers the events of the annexation of Austria by Germany before WW2. It is told through the eyes of the Austria diplomat to Germany. Overall not a bad book, gives some very good insight into the time period it covers. A slow read but a good history book. Recommended