Fatherland Front (Austria)

{{Short description|Political party in Austria (1933–1938)}} {{Infobox political party | colorcode = {{party color|Fatherland Front (Austria)}} | name = Fatherland Front | native_name = Vaterländische Front | logo = Kruckenkreuz Ständestaat Österreich.svg | logo_size = 125px | leader1_title = [[Party leader|Federal leader]] | leader1_name = [[Engelbert Dollfuß]] (20 May 1933 – [[July Putsch|25 July 1934]]) {{nowrap|[[Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg|Ernst Starhemberg]] (31 July 1934 – 15 May 1936)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nfp&datum=19340731&seite=4 |title=Der Vizekanzler – Führer der Vaterländischen Front |language=de |trans-title=The Vice-Chancellor - Leader of the Fatherland Front |work=Neue Freie Presse |date=31 July 1934}}</ref>}} | foundation = {{Start date and age|1933|5|20|df=y}} | dissolution = [[Anschluss|{{End date and age|1938|3|13|df=y}}]] | merger = [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|CS]], [[Landbund]], [[Heimwehr]] | youth_wing = ''[[Österreichisches Jungvolk]]''<ref>Johanna Gehmacher: youth without a future. Hitler Youth and the Federation of German Girls in Austria before 1938, Picus, Vienna 1994, {{ISBN|3-85452-253-3}}, pp. 401–420 (dissertation Uni Wien 1993, under the title: National Socialist Youth Organizations in Austria, 479 pages).</ref> | wing1_title = {{nowrap|Paramilitary wing}} | wing1 = [[Ostmärkische Sturmscharen]] (until 1936) {{ill|Assault Corps|de|Sturmkorps}}<ref name="Kriechbaumer-Talos-Bauerkämper"> * {{citation|surname1=Robert Kriechbaumer|title=Ein vaterländisches Bilderbuch: Propaganda, Selbstinszenierung und Ästhetik der Vaterländischen Front 1933–1938|series=Schriftenreihe des Forschungsinstitutes für politisch-historische Studien der Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer-Bibliothek 17 Robert Kriechbaumer, Hubert Weinberger, [[Franz Schausberger]]|publisher=Böhlau|publication-place=Wien|page=48|isbn=978-3-205-77011-4|date=2002|language=German}} * {{citation|surname1=Emmerich Tálos|title=Das austrofaschistische Herrschaftssystem: Österreich 1933–1938|edition=2|series=Politik und Zeitgeschichte 8|publisher=LIT Verlag|publication-place=Münster|page=226|isbn=978-3-643-50494-4|date=2013|doi=10.1093/ehr/cew289 |language=German|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cew289 |url-access=subscription}} * {{citation|editor-surname1= Arnd Bauerkämper, Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe|title=Fascism without Borders: Transnational Connections and Cooperation between Movements and Regimes in Europe from 1918 to 1945|publisher=Berghahn Books|publication-place=New York |page=174|isbn=978-1-78533-469-6|date=2017|doi=10.2307/j.ctvw04hnr |jstor=j.ctvw04hnr |language=German|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvw04hnr |url-access=subscription}}</ref> | slogan = "Österreich, erwache!" ({{lit|Austria, awaken!}})<ref name="Jelavich200">{{cite book |first=Barbara |last=Jelavich |title=Modern Austria: Empire and Republic, 1815–1986 |url=https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb/page/200 200]}}</ref> | anthem = "{{ill|Song of the Youth|de|Lied der Jugend}}"<ref>''Erlebte Geschichte'' (Autobiografie, geschrieben 2000), Seite 173 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=FalcDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT173 online]).</ref> [[File:Lied der Jugend.ogg]] | membership = 3,000,000 (1937 {{estimation}})<ref>{{cite book |first=Stanley G. |last=Payne |title=A History of Fascism, 1914–1945 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffascism00payn |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffascism00payn/page/249 249]|isbn=9780299148706 }}</ref> | ideology = '''Austrofascism'''<ref>{{cite web |title=1934 to 1938: Ständestaat in the Name of "God, the Almighty" |url=https://www.wien.gv.at/english/history/commemoration/staendestaat.html |website=Wien.gv.at |location=Vienna, Austria |publisher=City of Vienna |access-date=2025-03-20 |quote=The proclamation of the authoritarian 'May Constitution' on 1 May 1934 marked the beginning of the Ständestaat, a corporative authoritarian system under the leadership of the Fatherland Front (Vaterländische Front). Also known as Austrofascism, it meant the end of democratic parliamentarianism and party pluralism.}}</ref>{{efn|{{sfn|Thorpe|2010}}}} *[[Austrian nationalism]]<ref>Spohn, Willfried (2005), "Austria: From Habsburg Empire to a Small Nation in Europe", Entangled identities: nations and Europe, Ashgate, p. 61.</ref> *[[Corporate statism]]<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Badie |editor1-first=Bertrand |editor1-link=Bertrand Badie |editor2-last=Berg-Schlosser |editor2-first=Dirk |editor2-link=Dirk Berg-Schlosser |editor3-last=Morlino |editor3-first=Leonardo |editor3-link=Leonardo Morlino |title=International Encyclopedia of Political Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vn2iCQAAQBAJ |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |publication-date=2011 |page= |isbn=9781483305394 |access-date=9 September 2020 |quote=... fascist Italy ... developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples were ''Estado Novo'' in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the Austrian ''Standestaat'' (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe.}}</ref>{{pn|date=May 2025}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Anton |last=Pelinka|title=The Dollfuss/Schuschnigg Era in Austria: A Reassessment |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2017 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffascism00payn/page/249 249]}}</ref> *[[Authoritarian conservatism]]<ref>Günter J. Bischof, Anton Pelinka, Alexander Lassner. ''The Dollfuss/Schuschnigg Era in Austria: A Reassessment''. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2001. p. 26.</ref> *[[Clerical fascism]]<ref>{{cite book |first=Dieter A. |last=Binder |title=The Christian Corporatist State: Austria from 1934 to 1938 |series=Austria in the Twentieth Century |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2009 |page=75}}</ref><ref name="Pyrah162"/><ref>{{cite book |first=H. R. |last=Trevor-Roper |chapter=The Phenomenon of Fascism |editor-first=S. |editor-last=Woolf |title=Fascism in Europe |location=London: Methuen |date=1981 |page=26}} Cited in {{cite web |first=Roger |last=Eatwell |author-link=Roger Eatwell |url=http://staff.bath.ac.uk/mlsre/ReflectionsonFascismandReligion.htm |title=Reflections on Fascism and Religion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501024852/http://staff.bath.ac.uk/mlsre/ReflectionsonFascismandReligion.htm |archive-date=2007-05-01}}</ref><ref name="fascism">{{cite web |title=fascism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2025-04-20}}</ref> | position = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wien.gv.at/english/history/commemoration/staendestaat.html |title=1934 to 1938: Ständestaat in the Name of 'God, the Almighty' |author= |date= |website=City of Vienna |access-date=November 3, 2019 |quote="His politics were supported by the Fatherland Front, a reservoir for nationalist, Christian and generally right-wing conservative forces."}}</ref> to [[far-right]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bopp |first=Christoph |date=2018-02-11 |title=Nationalsozialismus – «Österreich muss Österreich bleiben!» sprach Schuschnigg – doch das reichte nicht |trans-title=National Socialism – "Austria must remain Austria!" said Schuschnigg – but that was not enough |url=https://www.solothurnerzeitung.ch/leben/osterreich-muss-osterreich-bleiben-sprach-schuschnigg-doch-das-reichte-nicht-ld.1483222 |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=Solothurner Zeitung |language=de}}</ref> | religion = [[Catholic Church in Austria|Roman Catholicism]] | colours = {{Color box|#ED2939|border=darkgray}} [[Red]] {{Color box|#009258|border=darkgray}} [[Green]] {{Color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[White]] | flag = [[File:Flag_of_the_Fatherland_Front_of_Austria.svg|border|175px|centre]] {{list collapsed|title='''Other flag:'''|[[File:Alternate Flag of the Fatherlandic Front.svg|border|175px|centre]]}} | country = Austria }}

The '''Fatherland Front''' ({{langx|de-AT|Vaterländische Front}}, '''VF''') was the ruling political organisation of the [[Federal State of Austria]]. It claimed to be a [[Nonpartisanism|nonpartisan]] movement, and aimed to unite all the people of Austria, overcoming political and social divisions.<ref name="Ency_Christian_Pol">{{cite book |first=Gregor |last=Thuswaldner |chapter=Dollfuss, Engelbert (1892–1934) |editor-first1=Roy Palmer |editor-last1=Domenico |editor-first2=Mark Y. |editor-last2=Hanley |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |year=2006 |page=174}}</ref> Established on 20 May 1933 by [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social]] Chancellor [[Engelbert Dollfuss]] as the [[single-party state|only legally permitted party]] in the country, it was aligned with the [[Catholic Church]], and did not advocate any [[racial ideology]]. A [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] [[conservative]], [[authoritarian]], [[Austrian nationalism|nationalist]], [[corporatist]], and Catholic organisation, it advocated independence from [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] on the basis of protecting [[Catholic Church in Austria|Austria's Catholic]] religious identity from what they considered a [[Protestant]]-dominated German state.<ref>Atsuko Ichijō, Willfried Spohn. Entangled identities: nations and Europe. [[Ashgate Publishing]], Ltd., 2005, p. 61.</ref>

The Fatherland Front, which was strongly linked with Austria's Catholic clergy, absorbed Dollfuss's Christian Social Party, the agrarian ''[[Landbund]]'' and the right-wing paramilitary ''[[Heimwehr]]en'', all of which were opposed to [[Nazism]], [[Marxism]], ''[[laissez-faire]]'' [[capitalism]] and [[liberal democracy]]. It established an [[authoritarian]] and [[corporatist]] regime, the [[Federal State of Austria]], which is commonly known in German as the ''Ständestaat'' ("corporate state"). According to the Fatherland Front this form of government and society implemented the [[Catholic social teaching|social teaching]] of [[Pope Pius XI]]'s 1931 encyclical ''[[Quadragesimo anno]]''.<ref name="Pyrah162">{{cite book |author=Pyrah |title=Enacting Encyclicals? Cultural Politics and 'Clerical Fascism' in Austria |year=2008 |pages=162}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Dieter A. |last=Binder |title=The Christian Corporatist State: Austria from 1934 to 1938 |series=Austria in the Twentieth Century |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2009 |page=75}}</ref> The Front banned and persecuted all its political opponents, including [[Communist Party of Austria|Communists]], [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democrats]]—who fought against it in a brief [[Austrian Civil War|civil war]] in February 1934—as well as the [[Austrian Nazis]] who wanted Austria to join [[Nazi Germany|Germany]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Binder |first=Dieter A. |chapter=The Christian Corporatist State |title=Austria in the Twentieth Century |editor-first=Gino |editor-last=Germani |year=2009 |page=73}}</ref> Chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by the Nazis in July 1934. He was succeeded as leader of the VF and Chancellor of Austria by [[Kurt Schuschnigg]], who ruled until the invigorated Nazis forced him to resign on 11 March 1938. Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany the next day.

The Fatherland Front maintained a cultural and recreational organisation, called "New Life" ''(Neues Leben)'', similar to Germany's [[Strength Through Joy]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Pyrah |title=Enacting Encyclicals? Cultural Politics and 'Clerical Fascism' in Austria |year=2008 |page=160}}</ref> The "League of Jewish Front Soldiers" ({{lang|de|Bund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten}}), the largest of several Jewish defense paramilitaries active in Austria at the time, was incorporated into the Fatherland Front.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Unknown |first1=Unknown |title=Modern Era >> Anti-Semitism |url=https://www.bh.org.il/jewish-spotlight/austria/modern-era/anti-semitism/ |website=Jewish Communities of Austria |publisher=National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism |access-date=20 November 2009 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126025551/https://www.bh.org.il/jewish-spotlight/austria/modern-era/anti-semitism/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The role of the Fatherland Front has been a contentious point in post-war Austrian historiography. While many historians consider it to be the exponent of an Austrian and Catholic-clerical variant of fascism—dubbed "'''Austrofascism'''"—and make it responsible for the failure of liberal democracy in Austria, conservative authors stress its credits in defending the country's independence and opposition to Nazism.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Emmerich |last1=Tálos |first2=Wolfgang |last2=Neugebauer |chapter=Vorwort |trans-chapter=Foreword |title=Austrofaschismus: Politik, Ökonomie, Kultur, 1933–1938 |language=de |trans-title=Austrofascism: Politics, Economics, Culture, 1933–1938 |edition=7th |publisher=Lit Verlag |year=2014 |pages=1–2}}</ref>

== Bases of support and opposition == {{Conservatism in Austria|Parties}} While the Front's aim was to unite all Austrians, superseding all political parties, social and economic interest groups (including [[trade union]]s), it only enjoyed the support of certain parts of the society. It was mainly backed by the Catholic church, the Austrian bureaucracy and military, most of the rural population—including both landowners and peasants<ref name="Kirk15">{{cite book |first=Tim |last=Kirk |title=Fascism and Austrofascism |series=The Dollfuss/Schuschnigg Era in Austria |year=2003 |page=15}}</ref>—(with its centre of gravity in western Austria),<ref name="Kitschelt">{{cite book |first=Herbert |last=Kitschelt |title=The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis |publisher=[[Michigan University Press]] |year=1997 |page=165}}</ref> some loyalists to the [[Habsburg dynasty]], and a significant part of the large Jewish community of Vienna.<ref>{{cite book |first=Evan Burr |last=Bukey |title=Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938–1945 |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlersaustriapo0000buke |url-access=registration |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |year=2000 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hitlersaustriapo0000buke/page/14 14] |isbn=9780807825167}}</ref> The VF was strongly linked with the Catholic student fraternities of the ''Cartell-Verband''—that maintained networks similar to [[Old boy network|old boys]] in English-speaking countries—in which most VF leaders had been members.<ref name="Pyrah162"/>

Despite its self-identification as a unifying force, in reality the front was opposed by both the Austrian Nazis and the Social Democrats. Support for the latter, concentrated in Vienna and industrial towns, came from unionised workers and the party's paramilitary ''[[Republikanischer Schutzbund]]'' ("Republican Protection League"), whose February 1934 uprising (or "Austrian Civil War") was crushed in a few days. The Austrian Nazis, by then dominating Austria's existing [[German nationalism in Austria|pan-German nationalist movement]], were supported by a part of the secular, urban middle and lower middle class, including civil servants and public sector workers, professionals, teachers and students. However they did not have a mass following as in Germany.<ref name="Kirk15"/><ref name="Kitschelt"/><ref>{{Cite book |author=Payne |title=A History of Fascism |url=https://archive.org/details/historyfascism00payn |url-access=limited |year=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyfascism00payn/page/n262 248]|publisher=UCL Press |isbn=9781857285956 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Philip |last=Morgan |title=Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945 |url=https://archive.org/details/fascismeuroperou00morg |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fascismeuroperou00morg/page/n94 72]}}</ref>

==History== {{more citations needed section|date=November 2012}} After [[World War I]] and the dissolution of [[Austria-Hungary]] sealed by the 1919 [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint-Germain]], three political camps controlled the fate of the Austrian [[First Republic of Austria|First Republic]]: the [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democrats]], the [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social Party]], and the [[German nationalism in Austria|German nationalists]], organised in the [[Greater German People's Party]] and the ''[[Landbund]]''. Since 1921 the Christian Social Party had formed [[coalition government]]s along with the German nationalists; Chancellor [[Ignaz Seipel]], a proponent of [[Catholic social teaching]], advocated the idea of a [[Corporate statism|"corporated" state]] surmounting the [[parliamentary system]], based on the encyclicals ''[[Rerum novarum]]'' (1891) by [[Pope Leo XIII]] and ''[[Quadragesimo anno]]'' (1931) by [[Pope Pius XI]].

[[File:TribunaFrentePatrióticoAustriaco1936.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Fatherland Front rally, 1936]]

===Creation=== On 10 May 1932, the Christian Social politician Engelbert Dollfuss was designated [[Chancellor of Austria]] by President [[Wilhelm Miklas]]. Dollfuss formed another right-wing government together with the ''Landbund'' and the ''Heimatblock'', the political organisation of the paramilitary [[Heimwehr]] forces. This coalition, however, relied on an extremely narrow majority. Dollfuss exploited [[Self-elimination of the Austrian Parliament|a constitutional crisis in March]] to suspend the National Council and rule by decree, which was tolerated by Miklas. Two months later the "Fatherland Front" was founded by Chancellor Dollfuss as a merger of his Christian Social Party, the Heimwehr forces and other right-wing groups, and was intended to collect all "loyal Austrians" under one banner.

On 30 May 1933, the government banned the ''[[Republikanischer Schutzbund]]'', the paramilitary troops of the Social Democratic Party; the [[Communist Party of Austria|Communist Party]] and the [[Austrian Nazism|Austrian Nazi Party]] were prohibited shortly afterwards. From 12 February 1934 onwards, the remaining ''Schutzbund'' forces revolted against their disbanding, sparking the [[Austrian Civil War]] against Heimwehr troops and the [[Austrian Armed Forces]]. After the suppression, the Social Democratic Party too was declared illegal and dissolved. Social Democratic officials like the [[Vienna]] mayor [[Karl Seitz]] were deposed and replaced by VF politicians.

===Corporate state=== On 1 May, a rump session of the Nationalrat recast the constitution into an [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] and [[corporatism|corporatist]] document. The official name of the country was changed to the [[Federal State of Austria]], with the VF as the only legally permitted political organisation. Thereafter, the organisation held a monopolistic position in Austrian politics with both civilian and military divisions. Dollfuss remained its undisputed leader until his assassination during the Nazi [[July Putsch]] on 25 July 1934. He was succeeded by [[Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg]], while his VF fellow Justice Minister [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] became chancellor.

[[Image:1clerofascismo1.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Truck with supporters of Schuschnigg (pictured on the posters) campaigning for the independence of Austria, March 1938 (shortly before the ''Anschluss'')]]

In 1936, Schuschnigg also took over the leadership of the VF. The Front was declared a corporation under public law and the only legal political organisation in Austria. Its symbol was the [[crutch cross]] (''[[Kruckenkreuz]]''),<ref name="Jelavich200">{{cite book |first=Barbara |last=Jelavich |title=Modern Austria: Empire and Republic, 1815–1986 |url=https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb/page/200 200]}}</ref> and its official greeting was ''Österreich!''<ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Robert |editor-last=Kriechbaumer |title=Österreich! und Front Heil!: aus den Akten des Generalsekretariats der Vaterländischen Front; Innenansichten eines Regimes |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |year=2005 |page=142}}</ref> ("Austria!") or ''Front heil!''.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Horst |last=Schreiber |title=Nationalsozialismus und Faschismus in Tirol und Südtirol: Opfer, Täter, Gegner |publisher=StudienVerlag |year=2008 |page=42}}</ref> The party flag was adopted as the second state [[flag of Austria]]. Though membership was obligatory for officials, the VF never became a mass movement. By the end of 1937 it had 3 million members<ref name="Payne95_249">{{cite book |first=Stanley G. |last=Payne |title=A History of Fascism, 1914–1945 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffascism00payn |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffascism00payn/page/249 249]|isbn=9780299148706 }}</ref> (with 6.5 million inhabitants of Austria); it could however never win the support of its political opponents, neither from the circles of the Social Democrats nor from the Austrian Nazis.

===''Anschluss''=== Schuschnigg acknowledged that Austrians were Germans and that Austria was a "German state" but he strongly opposed an ''[[Anschluss]]'' and passionately wished for Austria to remain independent from Germany.<ref name="Ryschka">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vsl6mwMXl4YC&pg=PA37|title=Constructing and Deconstructing National Identity: Dramatic Discourse in Tom Murphy's The Patriot Game and Felix Mitterer's In Der Löwengrube|first=Birgit|last=Ryschka|date=1 January 2008|publisher=Peter Lang|via=Google Books|isbn=9783631581117}}</ref>

Schuschnigg's government had to face the increasing pressure by its powerful neighbour Nazi Germany under Austrian-born Adolf Hitler. The state's fate was sealed when the [[Kingdom of Italy|Italian]] dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] approached the German Nazis. To ease tensions, Schuschnigg on 11 July 1936 concluded an agreement, whereafter several conspirators of the 1934 July Putsch were released from prison. Nazi confidants like [[Edmund Glaise-Horstenau]] and [[Guido Schmidt]] joined Schuschnigg's cabinet, while [[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]] attained the office of a State Councillor, though the Austrian Nazi Party remained illegal.

On 12 February 1938 Hitler summoned Schuschnigg to his [[Berghof (residence)|Berghof]] residence, constraining the readmission of the Nazi Party and the replacement of the Austrian chief of staff [[Alfred Jansa]] by [[Franz Böhme]] to pave the way for a [[Wehrmacht]] invasion. Schuschnigg had to appoint Seyss-Inquart Minister of the Interior, encouraging the political activation of the Austrian Nazis.

Realizing that he was in a bind, Schuschnigg announced a [[referendum]] on Austrian independence. In hopes of increasing the likelihood of a "Yes" vote, he agreed to lift the ban on the Social Democrats and their affiliated trade unions in return for their support of the referendum, dismantling the one-party state. This move came too late. Schuschnigg was finally forced to resign under German pressure on 11 March and was succeeded by Seyss-Inquart. The Fatherland Front was immediately banned after the ''[[Anschluss]]'', the annexation of Austria to Germany, two days later.

After the [[Second World War]], in 1945, former members of the Fatherland Front like [[Julius Raab]] and [[Leopold Figl]] founded the conservative and Christian democratic [[Austrian People's Party]] (ÖVP) that became one of the two major parties of the [[Second Austrian republic]]. Unlike the Fatherland Front, the ÖVP was fully committed to democracy and put less emphasis on religion.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Paula Sutter |last=Fichtner |title=Political Parties |series=Historical Dictionary of Austria |edition=2nd |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2009 |page=233}}</ref>

==See also== *[[Austria within Nazi Germany]]

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}} {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} *{{cite journal |last=Thorpe |first=Julie |date=April 2010 |title=Austrofascism: Revisiting the 'Authoritarian State' 40 Years On |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20753589 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=45 |issue=2 |publisher=[[JSTOR]] |pages=318 |doi=10.1177/0022009409356916 |jstor=20753589 |access-date=2025-03-20}}

==External links== *{{commons category-inline|Fatherland Front (Austria)}}

[[Category:Austrofascism|*]] [[Category:1933 establishments in Austria]] [[Category:1938 disestablishments in Austria]] [[Category:Anti-communist parties]] [[Category:Anti-Marxism]] [[Category:Anti-Masonry in Austria]] [[Category:Anti-Nazism in Austria]] [[Category:Catholic political parties]] [[Category:Christian fascism]] [[Category:Conservative parties in Austria]] [[Category:Defunct political parties in Austria]] [[Category:Fascism in Austria]] [[Category:Fascist anti-Nazism]] [[Category:Fascist parties]] [[Category:Nationalist parties in Austria]] [[Category:Parties of one-party systems]] [[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1938]] [[Category:Political parties established in 1933]] [[Category:Right-wing parties in Europe]] [[Category:Para-fascist parties]]