From "democratic republik" to a "christian federal state of vocational orders" Additions to the Christian-Conservative Political Selfdefinition of German-Austria (1918-1938)

Abstract

The era of the First Republic in Austria and thereafter the era of the so called “Ständestaat” under the leadership of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß and Kurt Schuschnigg is to this day one of the most controversial and most misinterpreted epochs in Austrian history. After the collapse of 1918, the new German-Austrian nation state, which was striving for a new self-definition, found its new task in Central Europe in the establishment of a modern, new state model. The evaluation of this period is not uniform in historiography; various political-historical and philosophical positions have developed with regard to the background and consequences of objective facts and the subjective historical attitude still determines the evaluation of these years. With this study we want to contribute to new perspectives and explore the decisive elements of Christian-conservative political thought in order to shed light on the ideological background of the search for a new state life in Austria between 1918 and 1938. Among other things, the ideas of Othmar Spann, the concept of vocational orders of the Jesuit Johanness Messner, as well as the efforts of Prelate Ignaz Seipel and Chancellor Dollfuß will be discussed.