Emil Fey (23 March 1886 – 16 March 1938) was an officer in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

, leader of the right-wing paramilitary

Heimwehr The Heimwehr (, ) or Heimatschutz (, ) was a nationalist, initially paramilitary group that operated in the First Austrian Republic from 1920 to 1936. It was similar in methods, organization, and ideology to the Freikorps in Germany. The Heimwe ...

forces and politician of the

First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I which ended the Habsburg rump state of ...

. He served as

Vice-Chancellor of Austria The vice-chancellor of Austria is a member of the Government of Austria and is the deputy to the Chancellor. It is functionally equivalent to a deputy prime minister in other countries with parliamentary systems. The current vice-chancellor ...

() from 1933 to 1934, leading the country into the period of the Ständestaat under Chancellor

Engelbert Dollfuß Engelbert Dollfuss (alternatively Dollfuß; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian politician and dictator who served as chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended t ...

. Fey played a vital role in the violent suppression of the '' Republikanischer Schutzbund'' (Republican Protection League) and, during the 1934

Austrian Civil War The Austrian Civil War () of 12–15 February 1934, also known as the February Uprising () or the February Fights (), was a series of clashes in the First Austrian Republic between the forces of the authoritarian Fatherland Front (Austria), rig ...

, of the Social Democratic Workers' Party .

Life

A career officer since 1908, Fey in the rank of a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

fought with the

Common Army The Common Army (, ) as it was officially designated by the Imperial and Royal Military Administration, was the largest part of the Austro-Hungarian land forces from 1867 to 1914, the other two elements being the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (of Au ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was awarded the

Military Order of Maria Theresa The Military Order of Maria Theresa (; ; ; ; ; ) was the highest military honour of the Habsburg monarchy, Austrian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire. History Founded on 18 June 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolín, by the Empress Mari ...

in 1916. After the war, he joined the Carinthian paramilitary Heimwehr forces against the Yugoslavian troops. In 1927 he founded a local Heimwehr branch in Vienna and became a member of the conservative Christian Social Party. As his political career proceeded, he increasingly rivalled with Heimwehr leader Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg; both commanders backed the rise of Chancellor Dollfuß and his successor

Kurt Schuschnigg Kurt Alois Josef Johann von Schuschnigg (; 14 December 1897 – 18 November 1977) was an Austrian politician who was the Chancellor of Austria, Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria from the 1934 assassination of his predecessor Engelbert D ...

, only to be largely disempowered after the implementation of the authoritarian

Federal State of Austria The Federal State of Austria (; colloquially known as the "") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and politi ...

(''Ständestaat''). On 17 October 1932 Fey joined Dollfuß' cabinet in the rank of a state secretary concerned with

public security Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensu ...

. He immediately had all conventions of the Social Democrats, the

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

and the

Austrian Nazis Austrian Nazism or Austrian National Socialism was a pan-German movement that was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. The movement took a concrete form on 15 November 1903 when the German Worker's Party (DAP) was established in Austri ...

banned. After the chancellor had suspended the sessions of the National Council, Fey on 15 March 1933 concentrated Heimwehr forces to occupy the

Austrian Parliament Building The Austrian Parliament Building (, colloquially ''das Parlament'') in Vienna is the meeting place of the two houses of the Austrian Parliament. The building is located on the in the first district, ''Innere Stadt'', near Hofburg Palace and t ...

, however, any operation was aborted by the Vienna police. During a parade in May 1933, Major Fey reportedly "knocked three Nazis unconscious with his own ochsenknüttel" (square-edged bludgeon) and promoted Austrian nationalism. Chancellor Dollfuß made him his deputy on 21 September 1933. Fey continued the search for weapons belonging to the ''Republikanischer Schutzbund'', which had been banned in March 1933. The resistance of the ''Schutzbund'' to a government search for weapons at the headquarters of its

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

branch on 12 February 1934 sparked the Austrian Civil War. Dollfuß mistrusted Fey's capabilities and on 1 May he lost his office of vice-chancellor to his bitter rival Starhemberg. During the

July Putsch The July Putsch () was a failed coup d'état in Austria against the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis from 25 to 30 July 1934. The Austrian Legion and Austrian '' Schutzstaffel'' soldiers with support from ...

and Dollfuß' assassination he stayed in the background, later accusations of collaboration with the Nazis have never been conclusively established. He once again joined the Schuschnigg cabinet as Minister for Interior until his final disempowerment in 1935, shunt off to the ''

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft The Erste (, literally ''First-Danube-Steamboat-Shipping Company'') or DDSG was a shipping company founded in 1829 by the Austrians, Austrian government for transporting passengers and cargo on the Danube. History The company built its first st ...

''. Upon the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'' annexation of Austria by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, Fey was interrogated by

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

agents on 15 March 1938. Harassed, he returned home, summoned his 46-year-old wife Malvine and his son Herbert, and wrote an appeal for help to the former Vice-Chancellor

Edmund Glaise-Horstenau Edmund Hugo Guilelmus Glaise von Horstenau (also known as Edmund Glaise-Horstenau; 27 February 1882 – 20 July 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician who became the last vice-chancellor of Austria, appointed by Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg under ...

. Without awaiting the answer, he shot his family and himself in the early morning of the following day.

Notes

References

*This article includes information translated from the German-language Wikipedia article :de:Emil Fey. *Isabella Ackerl und Friedrich Weissensteiner: ''Österreichisches Personenlexikon der Ersten und Zweiten Republik''. Ueberreuter, Wien 1992, S. 108f., *Attilio Renato Bleibtreu: ''Unser (Emil) Fey. Ein Bild des Helden''. Jung-Österreich, Wien 1934 *Georg J. E. Mautner Markhof: ''Major Emil Fey. Heimwehrführer zwischen Bürgerkrieg, Dollfuß-Mord und Anschluss''. Stocker, Graz u. a. 2004,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fey, Emil 1886 births 1938 suicides 1938 deaths Politicians from Vienna Vice-chancellors of Austria Murder–suicides in Austria Suicides by firearm in Austria Austrian murderers Austrian Roman Catholics Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Military personnel from Vienna Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa Christian Social Party (Austria) politicians Fatherland Front politicians Politicians who died by suicide Heimwehr personnel