Arthur Seyss-Inquart Austrian politician and lawyer Date of Birth: 22.07.1892 Country: Austria

Biography of Arthur Seyss-Inquart

Arthur Seyss-Inquart was an Austrian politician and lawyer who became a prominent figure in the Third Reich. He was born in Stonařov, Moravia, which was then part of Austria-Hungary. He was the youngest of six children of Emil Seyss-Inquart, a school director. In 1907, his family moved to Vienna, where they changed their Slavic surname to the Germanic Seyss-Inquart.

Seyss-Inquart studied law at the University of Vienna and volunteered for military service when World War I broke out in 1914. He served in the Tyrolean hunter units on the Russian, Romanian, and Italian fronts. Despite being wounded, he completed his university studies while recovering in a hospital.

After graduating, Seyss-Inquart established his own law practice in 1921 and collaborated with right-wing organizations, including the future Home Front. However, he distanced himself from the pro-German National Socialists. In 1933, he joined the Austrian fascist government at the invitation of Engelbert Dollfuss. Following Dollfuss' assassination by Austrian SS militants in July 1934, Seyss-Inquart became a state councilor to Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg.

Gradually realizing the inevitability of Austria's union with Germany, Seyss-Inquart aligned himself with the National Socialists and secured their representation in the upper echelons of Schuschnigg's government. In February 1938, as the threat of German invasion loomed, Schuschnigg appointed Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the Interior. On March 11, 1938, Schuschnigg resigned, and Seyss-Inquart sent a "request for assistance" to German authorities, which served as a pretext for the Wehrmacht's crossing of the Austrian border. Within two days, Seyss-Inquart became the last Chancellor of the First Austrian Republic.

On March 13, 1938, Seyss-Inquart joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and signed the law annexing Austria to the Third Reich. Until the outbreak of World War II, he remained the Reichsstatthalter (imperial governor) of Austria, with deputy Ernst Kaltenbrunner, as an SS Gruppenführer. From May 1939, Seyss-Inquart served as a minister without portfolio in the German government.

After the occupation of Poland and the establishment of the General Government on its territory, Seyss-Inquart became Hans Frank's deputy and was responsible for the southern regions of Poland. He was accused of creating Jewish ghettos and implementing "extraordinary measures" to suppress Polish resistance.

From May 1940, Seyss-Inquart served as the Reich Commissioner of the occupied Netherlands. Under his leadership, military organizations (Landwacht) of local National Socialists were created, and all other political movements were banned in 1941. Seyss-Inquart personally oversaw the suppression of local resistance, including strikes in Amsterdam and Arnhem in 1941. He approved around 800 death sentences during his rule, although some sources cite a figure of 1,500, including those who died in camps, victims of the deportation from Putten (October 1944), and 117 killed as punishment for an attack on SS chief Hans Rauter (March 1945).

It should be noted that after the Allied landing in Normandy, real power in the Netherlands shifted from Seyss-Inquart's administration to the military authorities and the Gestapo. Upon his arrival in the Netherlands, Seyss-Inquart purged state services, newspapers, and the management of industrial enterprises of Jews. Starting in 1941, a mass registration of Jews took place, and a ghetto was established in Amsterdam, with a transit camp in Westerbork. The deportation of Jews to Buchenwald and Mauthausen began in February 1941. In September 1944, with the approaching Allied forces, all prisoners from Westerbork were transferred to Theresienstadt. Out of 140,000 Dutch Jews, only 44,500 survived the war. In addition to Jews, 530,000 Dutch workers were forced to work in Germany, including 250,000 who were deported to Germany.

Seyss-Inquart resisted orders to send labor to the East and in 1944, he sent only 12,000 instead of the planned 250,000. When retreating from the Netherlands, Seyss-Inquart, in agreement with Albert Speer, sabotaged Berlin's orders for "scorched earth." In late 1944, he imposed an embargo on food supplies to the occupied areas of the Netherlands, but towards the end of the "Hunger Winter," in the last days of the war, he agreed not to obstruct the Allies' humanitarian operation to airdrop food to the affected areas.

After Hitler's suicide in April 1945, Seyss-Inquart replaced Joachim von Ribbentrop as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the "government" of Karl Dönitz. It is likely that Hitler never doubted Seyss-Inquart's loyalty until his death. On May 8, 1945, he surrendered to the Allies in Hamburg. In Nuremberg, Seyss-Inquart was indicted for crimes against peace, planning and waging aggressive war, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty on all counts, except for conspiracy, and sentenced to death. In his final statement, Seyss-Inquart said, "Death by hanging—well, I didn't expect anything else... I hope that this execution will be the final act in the tragedy of World War II... I believe in Germany."