Arthur Seyss-Inquart
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Image:Arthur Seyss-Inquart.jpg
Arthur Seyss-Inquart (born Arthur Zajtich, officially (German) Arthur Seyß-Inquart) (July 22, 1892 – October 16, 1946) was a prominent Nazi official in Austria and for wartime Germany in Poland and the Netherlands.
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Life before the Anschluss
Seyss-Inquart was born in Stonařov (Stannern), Moravia, then part of Austria-Hungary. He moved with his parents to Vienna in 1907 where the family changed its name to Seyss-Inquart. He later went to study law at the University of Vienna. At the start of World War I, he enlisted with the Austrian Army in August 1914 and was given a commission with the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger and served in Russia, Romania and also Italy. He was decorated for bravery on a number of occasions and while recovering from wounds in 1917 he completed his final examinations for his degree.
He went into law after the war and in 1921 set up his own practice. During the early years of the first Republic he was close to the Vaterländische Front. A successful lawyer, he was invited to join the cabinet of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in 1933. Following the murder of Dollfuss in 1934 he became a State Councillor from 1937 under Kurt Schuschnigg. He joined the Austrian National Socialist party in 1931 and although he distanced himself from them when the party was banned in July 1934, he quickly renewed his membership in 1936. In February 1938 Seyß-Inquart was appointed Minster of Interior by Schuschnigg, after Hitler had threatened Schuschnigg with military actions against Austria in the event of non-compliance. Only 4 weeks later on March 11 1938 after being faced with a German invasion, Schuschnigg resigned as Chancellor and Seyss-Inquart was appointed Chancellor of Austria by Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas. On the next day German troops crossed the border of Austria to incorporate it into the Third Reich (see Anschluss).
Head of Ostmark and Southern Poland
Seyss-Inquart drafted the legislative act reducing Austria to a province of Germany and signed it into law on March 13. With Hitler's approval he remained head (Reichsstatthalter) of the newly named Ostmark, with Ernst Kaltenbrunner his chief minister and Burckel as Commissioner for the Reunion of Austria (concerned with the "Jewish Question"). Seyss-Inquart also received an honorary SS rank of "Gruppenführer" and in May 1939 he was made a Minister without portfolio in Hitler's government.
Following the invasion of Poland, Seyss-Inquart became administrative chief for Southern Poland, but did not take up that post before the General Government was created, in which he became a deputy to the Governor General Hans Frank. It is claimed that he was involved in the movement of Polish Jews into ghettoes, in the seizure of strategic supplies and in the "extraordinary pacification" of the resistance movement.
Reichskommissar in the Netherlands
Following the capitulation of the Low Countries he was appointed Reichskommissar for the Occupied Netherlands in May 1940, charged with directing the civil administration, with creating close economic collaboration with Germany and with defending the interests of the Reich. He supported the Dutch NSB and allowed them to create a paramilitary Landwacht, which acted as an auxiliary police force. Other political parties were banned in late 1941 and many former government officials were imprisoned at Sint-Michielsgestel. The administration of the country was largely controlled by Seyss-Inquart himself. He oversaw the politicization of cultural groups "right down to the chessplayers' club" through the Kulturkammer and set up a number of other politicised associations. Germany demanded occupation costs in the region of 50 million marks per month.
He introduced measures to combat 'terror' and when a widespread strike took place in Amsterdam, Arnhem and Hilversum in May 1943 special summary court-martial procedures were brought in and a collective fine of 18 million guilders was imposed. Up until the liberation Seyss-Inquart agreed to the execution of around 800 people, although some reports put this total at over 3,500, including the execution of people under the so-called "Hostage Law", the death of political prisoners who were close to being liberated, the Putten incident, and the reprisal execution of 230 Dutchmen for the attack on SS and Police Leader H. Rauter. From July 1944 the majority of Seyss-Inquart's powers were transferred to the military commander in the Netherlands and the Gestapo.
There were three major concentration camps in the Netherlands – Vught, Amersfoort and a "Jewish assembly camp" at Westerbork; there were a number of other camps variously controlled by the military, the police, the SS or Seyss-lnquart's administration. These included a "voluntary labour recruitment" camp at Ommen. In total around 530,000 Dutch civilians worked for the Germans, of whom 250,000 were sent to factories in Germany. There was an unsuccessful attempt by Seyss-Inquart to send all workers aged 21-23 to Germany, although he refused demands in 1944 for a further 250,000 Dutch workers and in that year sent only 12,000 people.
Seyss-Inquart was an open anti-Semite: on his arrival in the Netherlands he immediately took measures to remove Jews from the government, the media and leading positions in the economy. Anti-Jewish measures intensified from 1941, the 140,000 or so Jews were registered, ghettos were created in Amsterdam and camps were set up at Westerbork and Vught, and, in February of 1941, 1,000 Jews were sent to Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps. Later the Dutch Jews were sent to Auschwitz. As Allied forces approached in September 1944 the remaining Jews at Westerbork were removed to Theresienstadt. Of the 140,000 registered only 13,500 survived the war.
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When the Allies advanced into the Netherlands the Nazi regime attempted to enact a 'scorched earth' policy, and some docks and harbours were destroyed. Seyss-Inquart, however, greatly limited these actions, which would have destroyed much of the Netherlands. Seyss-Inquart remained Reichskommissar until May 8, 1945, when, after a meeting with Karl Dönitz to confirm his blocking of the scorched earth orders, he was captured in Hamburg.
Nuremberg Trials
At the Nuremberg Trials Seyss-Inquart faced charges of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. Defended by Gustav Steinbauer, he was found guilty of all charges except conspiracy. Sentenced to death, he was hanged on October 16, 1946, at the age of 54, together with nine other Nuremberg defendants, his last words were "I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War and that the lesson taken from this world war will be that peace and understanding should exist between peoples. I believe in Germany".
| Preceded by: Kurt Schuschnigg | Chancellor of Austria | Succeeded by: Austria united with Germany from 1938 - 1945 |
| Preceded by: Joachim von Ribbentrop | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1945 | Succeeded by: Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk |
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