Karl Josef Seitz (; 4 September 1869 – 3 February 1950) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the Social Democratic Workers' Party. He served as member of the Imperial Council, President of the National Council and Mayor of Vienna.

Early life

Seitz was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, the capital of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. He was the son of a struggling small-time coal trader. After the premature death of his father, in 1875, the family was thrown into abject poverty, and Seitz had to be sent off to an orphanage. He, nonetheless, received adequate education and earned a scholarship so that he could enroll in a teacher-training college in the city of St. Pölten,

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. In 1888, he took employment as a public elementary school teacher in Vienna. Already an outspoken

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, he was disciplined several times for his political activism. His founding of a Social Democratic teachers' union in 1896 led to his delegation into the Lower Austrian Board of Education in 1897, which then led to his termination as a teacher later that year.

Early political career

Seitz now turned to full-time politics and established himself as one of the party's most eminent experts on educational policy. In 1901, Seitz was elected to the Imperial Council and, in 1902, to the provincial parliament of

. Following the outbreak of

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 ...

in 1914, Seitz developed pronounced

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

leanings and participated in the 1917

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Socialists' Congress. Seitz entered history in 1918, when Austria-Hungary was breaking down, and its disintegration into smaller independent

nation states A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly ...

was becoming manifest. On 21 October the Imperial Council members, representing the empire's ethnically-German provinces, moved to form a Provisional National Assembly for " German Austria". In its constituent session, the Provisional National Assembly appointed Seitz as one of its three chairmen. All three presidents together functioned as head of state in the ''Staatsratsdirektorium''. After the election to the Constituent National Assembly, that was changed on 15 March 1919. Seitz became the First President, and the other two presidents became deputies of the First President. The First President was also to be head of state. He retained the position until 9 December 1920.

President

Almost simultaneously, Seitz was also appointed provisional chairman of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria after the death of the party nestor Victor Adler. In 1919, his positions both as

President of Austria The president of Austria () is the head of state of the Austria, Republic of Austria. The office of the president was established in 1920 by the Constituent National Assembly (Austria), Constituent National Assembly of the First Austrian Repu ...

and as party chairman were formalised. Following the implementation of the definitive

Constitution of Austria The Federal Constitution of Austria () is the body of all constitutional law of the Republic of Austria on the federal level. It is split up over many different acts. Its centerpiece is the Federal Constitutional Law (''Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz' ...

on 1 October 1920, Seitz declined to seek re-election. He left office on 9 December but did not retire from politics and retained both his party chairmanship and his seat in the newly established National Council, Seitz now devoted his attention to Vienna local affairs.

Mayor of Vienna

On 13 November 1923, he was elected Mayor of Vienna. The extensive and competently administered public welfare and education programs that he implemented, particularly promoting the building of residences, were very popular, even by his party's opponents, and they were positively remembered for decades.

Personal life

Karl Seitz married Emma Seidel, daughter of Amalie Seidel, one of the first women members of the Austrian parliament.

Later life

With the rise of the Fatherland Front in 1934 and the Social Democracts' failed insurrection against the federal government, the Social Democratic Worker's Party was outlawed. Having thus lost his party chairmanship, Seitz was also removed from his post as a mayor, taken into custody and released without charge a few weeks later. Even though a majority of Viennese considered his removal from office illegitimate, Seitz's political career had essentially been brought to an end. Continuing to live in Vienna, Seitz witnessed 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 ...

with

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 ...

in 1938 and the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939. There were contacts with the important resistance group (Maier-Mesner group, CASSIA) around the later-executed priest Heinrich Maier, who was in contact with the American secret service OSS. Maier had set up an information network to receive important information and to realise political plans for after the war.Fritz Molden: Die Feuer in der Nacht. Opfer und Sinn des österreichischen Widerstandes 1938-1945. Amalthea, Vienna 1988, p 122; Christoph Thurner "The CASSIA Spy Ring in World War II Austria: A History of the OSS's Maier-Messner Group" (2017), pp 14; Hansjakob Stehle: Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus. In: Die Zeit. 5.1.1996. In 1944, he was placed under arrest a second time and for a time was even imprisoned in the

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

, only to again return to Vienna when Nazi Germany eventually collapsed in May 1945. Though now ill, Seitz served the newly established

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

as its honorary chairman and a nominal National Council member until his death, at the age of 80.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seitz, Karl 1869 births 1950 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Austria Austrian Civil War Austrian people of World War II Austrian prisoners and detainees Mayors of Vienna Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1901–1907) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1907–1911) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918) Members of the Provisional National Assembly Members of the Constituent National Assembly (Austria) Members of the 1st National Council (Austria) Members of the 2nd National Council (Austria) Members of the 3rd National Council (Austria) Members of the 4th National Council (Austria) Members of the 5th National Council (Austria) Members of the 6th National Council (Austria) Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Ambassadors of Austria to Peru People from Austria-Hungary Politicians from Vienna Presidents of Austria Prisoners and detainees of Austria Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians