Otto Ender (24 December 1875 – 25 June 1960) was an Austrian

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as the

chancellor of Austria The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies. Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...

between 1930 and 1931.

Early life and education

Ender, the first son of Herman and Victoria Ender, was born in Altach,

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

. The families of both parents were among the political elite of the village. The maternal great-grandfather, John Walser, was the first superintendent of the municipality created in 1801. The paternal grandfather, Johann Jakob final, had held the same position for 1835–1844 and 1850–1857. From 1861 to 1866 Johann Jacob was a member of the Conservative party in the Parliament of Vorarlberg. Ender studied at the Stella Matutina Jesuit college in

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...

from 1888 to 1896. After matriculation in 1896 he studied at the universities of Innsbruck,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

. In 1901 he received his doctorate from the University of Innsbruck. In 1901-02, he completed a legal internship year at the district court Feldkirch. From 1902 to 1908 he was articled clerk in Feldkirch and Vienna. In 1908 he opened his own law firm in Bregenz. The same year he married Maria Rusch. Thery had four sons and three daughters. In the following years, Ender became more engaged in the public. He gave lectures on the introduction of the land register. In 1914, he was appointed executive director of the State Mortgage Bank. After the war began, in the summer of 1914, he became head of the state purchasing agency and the Bregenzer branch of the War Grain transportation agency and member of the National Committee of Social Welfare. From 1915 to 1918, he was a member of the Nutrition Council in Vienna. In 1917/18, he was president of the building committee for the establishment of the sanatorium Gaisbühel. His professional qualifications were recognized in the War years by Media and lawyers. This professional experience was the foundation on which he could build up in the inter-wars period, his successful political career.

Political career

In November 1918, he founded an independent self-management of Tyrol Vorarlberg, together with Jodok Fink and Franz Loser. In the four state elections of the First Republic (1919, 1923, 1928 and 1932) he won for his Christian Social Party with 53-63% of the vote. He served as the governor of Vorarlberg from 1918 to 1930 and again from 1931 to 1934. He was the president of the

Federal Council of Austria The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat, ) is the upper house of the Austrian Parliament, representing the nine States of Austria at the federal level. As part of a bicameral legislature alongside of the National Council, it can be compared wi ...

three times in 1920s and 1930s. After the 1930 legislative election, Ender became

Chancellor of Austria The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies. Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...

on 4 December, however, his cabinet was brought down soon after upon the collapse of the

Creditanstalt The Creditanstalt (sometimes Credit-Anstalt, abbreviated as CA), full original name k. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe (), was a major Austrian bank, founded in 1855 in Vienna. From its founding until 1931, th ...

bank in May 1931. From 1934 to 1938, he was President of the Austrian Court of Audit. In March 1938, his political career ended with the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' annexation of Austria by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. He was imprisoned by the Gestapo in March 1938, and remained as such till September 1938. He was forced to retire by Nazi government in 1939 and was expelled from the country.

Death and legacy

Otto Ender died on 25 June 1960 and was buried in the municipal cemetery in Bregenz. To this day, the State of

awards scholarships to the students through the Dr. Otto Ender Foundation. His achievements are as founder and designer of the province of Vorarlberg, in terms of economic policy such as the establishment of the agricultural district authority, by beginning of the expansion of road network in the 1920s, establishing an agricultural school, expanding of the Vorarlberg water power with the purchase of Vorarlberg's power plants, and the establishment of the Vorarlberg Illwerke and by co-operating with the democratic constitutions of 1920 and 1923."Ender on Wienerzeitung"
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References

External links

*
Otto Ender 1875-1960 - Landeshauptmann, Bundeskanzler, Minister. Untersuchungen zum Innenleben eines Politikers
Peter Melichar -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ender, Otto 1875 births 1960 deaths 20th-century Chancellors of Austria People from Feldkirch District Chancellors of Austria Christian Social Party (Austria) politicians Governors of Vorarlberg Presidents of the Austrian Federal Council Members of the Federal Council (Austria)