The Short- and Long-Term Effects of the Authoritarian Regime and of Nazism in Austria: the Burden of a 'Second Dictatorship'

Abstract

This article considers two types of right extremism in Austria’s history: Nazism and the preceding ‘Austro-Fascism’ that tried to resist Nazism. By first considering the roots of ‘Austro-Fascism’, followed by how Austrians reacted to Nazism on social, political and economic levels, the author identifies the ‘victim myth’ found in Austrian history after 1945 and is able to uncover how the post-war period was impacted by and tried to distance itself from Austria’s long relationship with German nationalism and two dictatorial pasts (the authoritarian dictatorship of Dollfuß and Schuschnigg, and the Nazi regime). The article is structured as follows: 1. ‘Austro-Fascism': Interlude and Austrian Symptom, 2. Impacts of the Nazi Dictatorship (1938-1945), 3. National Identity and the ‘Victim Myth’, 4. Reconstruction of the State, Inconsistent Denazification and Continuities, 5. The ‘Long Durée’ of the Nazi Heritage, 6. Conclusion.