Enacting Encyclicals? Cultural Politics and ‘Clerical Fascism’ in Austria, 1933–1938

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Notes

1. Allgemeiner deutscher Katholikentag, Vienna, 7–12 September 1933 (Vienna, 1934), p.111. Quoted in Ernst Hanisch, “Der politische Katholizismus als ideologischer Träger des ‘Austrofaschismus’”, in Emmerich Tálos, Wolfgang Neugebauer, eds, Austrofaschismus: Politik – Ökonomie – Kultur, 1934–1938 (Vienna: LIT Verlag, 2005), pp.68–86.

2. Klaus‐Jörg Siegfried, Klerikalfaschismus: Zur Entstehung und sozialen Funktion des Dollfußregimes in Österreich – Ein Beitrag zur Faschismusdiskussion (Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, 1979).

3. Hanisch describes the term as ‘Unbrauchbar, weil theoretisch überhaupt nicht reflektiert’ [‘useless, as it has not at all been reflected upon theoretically’], (note 1), p.68.

4. Short parts of this and earlier sections have been adapted from Chapter 5 of my book, The Burgtheater and Austrian Identity: Theatre and Cultural Politics in Vienna, 1918–38 (Oxford: Legenda, 2007).

5. See Günter Berghaus, “The Ritual Core of Fascist Theatre: An Anthropological Perspective”, in Roger Griffin and Matthew Feldman, eds, Fascism, 5 Vols (London: Routledge, 2004), Vol. III, pp.83–88; this is a reproduction from Gunter Berhaus, ed., Fascism and Theatre: Comparative Studies on the Aesthetics and Politics of Performance in Europe, 1925–1945 (Oxford: Berghahn, 1996), pp.39–71.

6. Roger Griffin, “Staging the Nation's Rebirth: The Politics and Aesthetics of Performance in the Context of Fascist Studies”, in Berghaus (note 5), pp.11–29.

7. Berghaus, “Introduction”, in Berghaus (note 6), p.4.

8. I have followed Griffin's use of the terms ‘fascist’ and ‘Fascist’ in this paper, whereby the upper‐case variant refers to the regimes of Mussolini's Italy and Nazi Germany. See the preface to Roger Griffin, ed., International Fascism: Themes, Causes and the New Consensus (London: Arnold, 1998).

9. On the festival, see Michael P. Steinberg, Austria as Theater and Ideology: The Meaning of the Salzburg Festival (London: Cornell University Press, 2000), p.18. This is a partially revised version of the first edition (published by Cornell in 1990), which carried the title and subtitle in reverse order.

10. See Erika Weinzierl, Ecclesia semper reformanda (Vienna: Geyer, 1985); Erika Weinzierl, Ferdinand Klostermann, eds, Kirche in Österreich, 1918–1965, 2 Vols (Vienna: Herold, 1966); Alfred Diamant, Austrian Catholics and the First Republic: Democracy, Capitalism and the Social Order, 1918–1938 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960).

11. For a more detailed overview of events, see Tim Kirk, “Fascism and Austrofascism”, in Günter Bischof, Alexander Lassner, Anton Pelinka, eds, The Dollfuß/Schuschnigg Era: A Re‐assessment (Brunswick: Transaction, 2003), pp.10–31. For a discussion of the constitution, see the essay by Helmut Wohnout from the same volume: “A Chancellorial Dictatorship with a ‘Corporative’ Pretext: The Austrian Constitution between 1934 and 1938”, pp.143–62. Also see Adolf Merkl, Die ständisch‐autoritäre Verfassung in Österreich: Ein kritisch‐systematischer Grundriß (Vienna: n.p., 1935).

12. Roger Griffin, The Nature of Fascism (London: Pinter, 1991), pp.121, 124–5.

13. Gerhard Jagdschitz, “Der österreichische Ständestaat”, in Erika Weinzierl, Kurt Skalnik, eds, Österreich 1918–38 (Graz: Verlag Styria, 1983), pp.497–515.

14. Roger Griffin, ed., Fascism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

15. See especially: Griffin with Feldman (note 5), Vol. IV, which includes a number of country‐specific essays, but no contribution on Austria.

16. Irmgard Bärnthaler, Die Vaterländische Front: Geschichte und Organisation (Vienna: Europa, 1971), pp.123–5.

17. Griffin (note 14), p. 125.

18. Ibid.

19. Stanley G. Payne, “Fascism: A Working Definition” in Griffin with Feldman (note 5), Vol. I, p.258.

20. Though the rhetoric was somewhat more pugnacious, see Alfred Pfoser, Literatur und Austromarxismus (Vienna: Löcker, 1980), especially pp.18–21.

21. For instance, the Krimm parish church in Vienna's nineteenth district. See Robert Kriechbaumer, Ein vaterländisches Bilderbuch: Propaganda, Selbstinszenierung und Ästhetik der vaterländischen Front (Vienna: Böhlau, 2002).

22. Bärnthaler (note 16), p. 119.

23. Emilio Gentile, The Sacralization of Politcs in Fascist Italy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996), p.158.

24. Anton Staudinger, “Austrofaschistische ‘Österreich’‐Ideologie”, in Tálos and Neugebauer (note 1), pp.28–53 (especially pp.29–30; 33–5).

25. Ibid. See also Klaus Heydemann, “Reden über Österreich: Von Wildgans zu Brandstätter”, in Friedbert Aspetsberger, ed., Staat und Gesellschaft in der modernen österreichischen Literatur (Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1977), pp.79–91; Erich Zöllner, Der Österreichbegriff: Formen und Wandlungen in der Geschichte (Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, 1988), pp.86–90; and Anton Wildgans, Rede über Österreich (Vienna and Leipzig: Speidel, 1930), p. 14.

26. ‘[The Nazi policy of] Gleichschaltung is rejected as un‐Austrian. … We only give our support to works which we can describe as Christian in the positive sense, which thus testify to respect for the teachings of Christianity (ethics, order), respect for real Germanness and therefore for the Austrian idea, and respect for the new national community’. Quoted in Kulturdienst, 1 June 1935, published at irregular intervals by the cultural department (Kulturreferat) of the Patriotic Front. Source: Austrian State Archives (Staatsarchiv), Archive of the Republic (Archiv der Republik), Party Archives (Parteiarchive)/Patriotic Front (Vaterländische Front), Box 38.

27. On the ‘Jewish Question’, see Bruce F. Pauley, “Friend or Foe? The Dollfuss‐Schuschnigg regime”, in his From Prejudice to Persecution: A History of Austrian anti‐Semitism (London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), pp.260–73.

28. See: Griffin (note 12), p. 32, where he identifies the ideal type of fascism as ‘a palingenetic form of ultra‐nationalism’.

29. Gerhard Jagschitz, “Der österreichische Ständestaat 1934–1938”, in Weinzierl, Skalnik (note 10), Vol. II, pp.497–515.

30. Hanisch (note 1), p.68.

31. For more on Seipel's pivotal position, see Albert Fuchs, Geistige Strömungen in Österreich 1867–1918 (Vienna: Löckler, 1984), pp.67–68; and Klemens von Klemperer, Ignaz Seipel: Christian Statesman in a Time of Crisis (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), pp.268–73.

32. See: Anton Pelinka, “Christliche Arbeiterbewegung und Austrofascismus”, in Tálos, Neugebauer (note 1), pp.88–99.

33. Josef Aussermair, Kirche und Sozialdemokratie: Der Bund der religiösen Sozialisten 1926–1934 (Vienna: Europa, 1979).

34. Hanisch (note 1), p.77.

35. See Gordon Brook‐Shepherd, Dollfuss (London: Macmillan, 1961).

36. Hanisch (note 1), p.83.

37. Despite its association with Bismarck's battle to restrict the influence of the Catholic Church in state affairs, the term ‘Kulturkampf’ is used by commentators in the context of interwar Austria to refer to the broad ideological conflict between the parties of Left and Right.

38. Examples of campaigns waged by the Catholic Right against cultural ‘decadence’ include protests at the staging of Arthur Schnitzler's play about sexual mores, Reigen, staged in 1921 at the Kammerspiele of the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna; see Gerd K. Schneider, Die Rezeption von Arthur Schnitzlers Reigen 1897–1994 (Riverside: Ariadne, 1995), Chs 5–6, pp.130–223; Alfred Pfoser, “Die Wiener Aufführung”, in Alfred Pfoser, Kristina Pfoser‐Schweig, Gerhard Renner, eds, Schnitzlers Reigen, 2 Vols. (Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1993), Vol. I: Der Skandal, pp.81–174.

39. For a survey of the Austrian Left after 1934, see Wolfgang Neugebauer, “Die Folgen des Februar 1934: die österreichische Arbeiterbewegung in der Illegalität” in Erich Fröschl, Helge Zoitl, eds, Der 12. Februar 1934: Ursachen, Fakten, Folgen (Vienna: Wiener Volksbuchhandlung, 1984), pp.367–81.

40. Emmerich Tálos, “Das austrofaschistische Herrschaftssystem”, in Tálos, Neugebauer (note 1), pp.394–420.

41. Ibid; also Diamant (note 10).

42. Ibid., p.276.

43. Tálos (note 40), p.402. Diamant also argues that there was a contradiction between Pius's requirement that corporative groups should be formed ‘voluntarily’ and the need to give them legal personality and leadership, (note 20), p. 283. However, he attributes this difficulty to the vague nature of the encyclical rather than to a practical failing on the part of the Austrian state.

44. Diamant argues that, by abolishing democratic controls, the constitution ‘handed the state over the very capitalists whom the Vatican had castigated for cloaking their selfish ends with Catholic doctrines’ and allowed industrialists even greater control over the economy, ibid., p.285.

45. Diamant argues that, ‘without doubt’, the constitution was more greatly determined by romantic ideology, and other circumstantial factors, than by a narrow reading of Quadragesimo Anno; ibid., p.279.

46. See: Griffin (note 12), especially the preface; p.9.

47. Hanisch (note 1), p.75.

48. Ibid., p.83.

49. For a more general overview of the cultural scene after 1933, see Friedbert Aspetsberger, Literarisches Leben im Austrofaschismus: Der Staatspreis (Königstein: Hain, 1980), pp. 28–29; Alfred Pfoser and Gerhard Renner, “’Ein Toter führt uns an!’ Anmerkungen zur kulturellen Situation im Austrofaschismus”, in Tálos and Neugebauer (note 1), pp. 338–57; Horst Jarka, “Zur Literatur‐ und Theaterpolitik im ‘Ständestaat’”, in Franz Kadrnoska, ed., Aufbruch und Untergang (Wien: Europa Verlag, 1981), pp.499–538; Anton Staudinger, “Abwehr des Nationalsozialismus durch Konkurrenz? Zur Kulturpolitik im Austrofaschismus”, in Evelyn Schreiner, ed., 100 Jahre Volkstheater (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1989), pp.34–87.

50. Preface by Kurt Schuschnigg, in Rudolph Lothar, Das Wiener Burgtheater: Ein Wahrzeichen österreichischer Kunst und Kultur (Vienna: Augartenverlag Stephan Szabo, 1934).

51. Pfoser (note 20), pp.62–64.

52. Der Kunstgarten, 9/i (October 1930), p.3.

53. Edda Fuhrich‐Leisler, “The Theater in der Josefstadt under Ernst Lothar”, in Kenneth Segar, John Warren, eds, Austria in the Thirties: Culture and Politics (Riverside: Ariadne, 1991), pp. 219–33.

54. This theme is discussed fully in Chapter 5 of my book (note 4).

55. In practice, censorship was patchily applied: Pfoser, Renner (note 38), pp. 229–30. For the situation of the press, see Elisabeth Spielhofer, ‘Der Pressefreiheit würdige Grenzen ziehen…’: Theorie und Praxis der Pressepolitik im österreichischen Ständestaat (1933–1938) unter Berücksichtigung der deutsch‐österreichischen Presseabkommen (unpublished doctoral thesis: University of Vienna, 1992), pp.26–37.

56. Schreyvogl had in fact been admitted to the post before the imposition of authoritarian rule, but without public acknowledgement. This led to an outcry in the press over Christian Social infiltration and interference at the Burgtheater. The truth, however, was more sinister: Schreyvogl was a Nazi sympathiser who exploited Austria's ambiguous insistence on being ‘German’ to appeal to both the Nazi and Austrian regimes; see Pyrah (note 5), Ch. 5.

57. On the regime's ideology, see Anton Staudinger “‘Austria’ – The Ideology of Austrofascism”, in Segar, Warren (note 53), pp.1–24; on the theatre, see Horst Jarka, “Zur Literatur‐ und Theaterpolitik im ‘Ständestaat’”, in Kadrnoska (note 49), pp.499–538. Also see John Warren, “Austrian Theatre and the Corporate State” in Segar, Warren (note 43), pp.267–91.

58. See Margret Dietrich, “Burgtheater und Öffentlichkeit in der Ersten Republik”, in Margret Dietrich, ed., Das Burgtheater und sein Publikum (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1976), Vol. I, pp.479–707; Tekla Kulczicky de Wolczko, Hermann Röbbeling und das Burgtheater (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Vienna, 1950); Johann Hüttner, “Die Staatstheater in den dreißiger Jahren: Kunst als Politik – Politik in der Kunst”, in Hilde Haider‐Pregler, Beate Reiterer, eds, Verspielte Zeit: Österreichisches Theater der dreißiger Jahre (Vienna: Picus, 1997), pp.60–76.

59. Hüttner, “Die Staatstheater in den dreißiger Jahren”, in ibid., p. 63; Bärbel Fritz, “Der Festspielzyklus ‘Stimmen der Völker im Drama’ am Wiener Burgtheater unter der Direktion von Hermann Röbbeling”, in Bärbel Fritz, Brigitte Schultze, Horst Turk, eds, Theaterinstitution und Kulturtransfer I: Fremdsprachiges Repertoire am Burgtheater und auf anderen europäischen Bühnen (Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 1997), pp.243–59.

60. The ‘Austrian’ cycle was limited to only three plays. The others were Armut by Anton Wildgans, performed only six times between 13 March 1935 and 1 April 1937, and Der Verschwender by Ferdinand Raimund. The latter was a success, running from 29 February 1935 until after the Anschluss, ending after 53 performances on 28 April 1941.

61. See my article “The ‘Enemy Within’? The Social Democratic Kunststelle and the State Theatres in Red Vienna”, Austrian Studies, 14 (October 2006), pp.143–164.

62. D[avid Josef] B[ach], “Kunst und Wissen: Theater der Kirche”, Arbeiterzeitung, 22 November 1931, p.3.

63. Bärbel Fritz, “Der spanische Beitrag im Wiener Festspielzyklus (1936): Calderón als katholische Autorität” in Fritz, Schultze, Turk (note 59), pp. 295–308. See also Hüttner (note 58), p. 67.

64. Mitteilungsblatt der Österreichischen Kunststelle, 40, 1 June 1936, pp.1–2. See also Brigitte Schultze, “Krasiński hergeholt: Nie‐Boska Komedia (Die Un‐Göttliche Komödie [sic], 1833) am Burgtheater (1936)”, in Fritz, Schultze, Turk (note 59), pp. 267–94.

65. Pyrah (note 4), ch. 5.

66. Letter from Kardinal Theodor Innitzer to Karl Schönherr, inscribed “Vienna, 15 July 1933”, Austrian Theatre Museum (Österreichisches Theatermuseum), Collection of written materials (Handschriftensammlung), Schönherr‐Splitternachlass, A3924.

67. Berghaus (note 5), p.88.

68. Judith Beniston, Welttheater: Hofmannsthal, Richard von Kralik and the Revival of Catholic Drama in Austria, 1890–1934 (Leeds: Maney, 1998).

69. See Ernst Hanisch, Die Ideologie des politischen Katholizisus in Österreich, 1918–38 (Vienna: Geyer, 1977).

70. Ignaz Seipel, Nation und Staat (Vienna: Braumüller, 1916), especially pp.6–7; 14–20. For an assessment, see Klemens Klemperer, Ignaz Seipel, Christian Statesman in a Time of Crisis (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), pp.54–65; 158–219; see also Friedrich Heer, Der Kampf um die österreichische Identität (Vienna: Böhlau, 2001), pp.359–69.

71. Steinberg (note 9).

72. Rudolf Henz, Franz Krieg, Der Spielmann: Ein Legendenspiel, with music by J. Leichthaler (Augsburg and Vienna: Anton Böhm & Sohn [1935(?)]).

73. This was, among other things, a symbolic attempt to colonise the physical space once associated with ‘Red’ Vienna under Social Democratic control.

74. Mitteilungsblätter der Österreichischen Kunststelle, 20, 15 June 1935; Staatsarchiv/Archiv der Republik Parteiarchive/Vaterländische Front.

75. Henz, Krieg (note 72), emphasis added.