Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg

Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg (May 10th 1899, Eferding - March 15th 1956, Schruns) or Ernst Rüdiger prince de Starhemberg until the abolition of the nobility in 1919 was a fascistic and politicking Austrian in the Entre-deux-guerres.

Born with Eferding (High-Austria) in 1899, Starhemberg belonged to a hurdy-gurdy family of the Austrian nobility and inherited the title of prince. It was elder wire of the princess Franziska von Starhemberg.

Partisan of policies of right and authoritative, it joined in his youth the Heimwehr, quickly becoming leading one of his local branches. He was also an enthusiastic admiror of Benito Mussolini and his fascistic government .

To the beginning of the year 1920, Starhemberg travelled to Germany and adhered to the party national-Socialist. Adolf Hitler actively used the statute of noble Austrian of Starhemberg to try to improve the image of the party and to attract rich person, influential and sizeable supports in its rows. After having taken share with the failure of the Putsch of the brewery in 1923, Starhemberg, disappointed by the Nazism, returned to Austria.

Joining Heimwehr, Starhemberg became its national leader in 1930 and actively made countryside to make of Austria a fascistic State. Finally, the movement of Starhemberg became sufficiently powerful to threaten the government and the chancellor gave him pledges in name Minister of Interior Department in September 1930. Starhemberg lost its position however a little later when the political branches of Heimwehr made bad results with the parliamentary elections. Its reputation moreover was tarnished when a branch of Heimwehr tried to seize Vienna in 1931.

When the pro-fascist Engelbert Dollfuss became chancellor in 1932, Starhemberg returned to the government. At the request of Dollfuss, Starhemberg worked to gather several groupings of right-hand side in a single movement. It reached that point, leading to the creation of powerful the Vaterland Front (patriotic Face). In reward of its efforts, Starhemberg was named vice-chancellor in May 1934. When Dollfuss was assassinated two months later, Starhemberg became the chief of Vaterland Front.

It preserved its position of vice-chancellor in the government of Kurt von Schuschnigg and accepted also the wallet of Minister for the Safety of State. With these positions, Starhemberg was in fact the second most powerful man of Austria. For this period, he endeavoured to maintain the independence of Austria and was opposed vigorously to the Austrian Nazi party, in favor of a union with Germany. In 1936, however, it was driven out capacity by Schuschnigg, in dissension with its radical ideas.

After the union of Austria with Germany in 1938, Starhemberg flees of its country and served in the British air forces and as the free France during one short period during the Second world war. In 1942, it left for the Argentine where it lived until in 1955. Then, it returned to Austria where it died, with Schruns, in 1956.

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