Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg

Common card · No. 355080

Prince Ernst Rüdiger Camillo von Starhemberg, often known simply as Prince Starhemberg (10 May 1899 – 15 March 1956), was an Austrian nationalist and politician who helped introduce the dictatorial conservative Ständestaat in Austria during the interwar period. A fierce opponent of Anschluss, he fled Austria when the Nazis invaded the country and briefly served with the Free French and British forces in World War II. Starhemberg was a leader of the Heimwehr and later of the Fatherland Front. He served in the Bundesrat between 1920 and 1930, as Minister of Interior in 1930, Vice-Chancellor in 1934 and subsequently Acting Chancellor and Leader of the Front after the murder of Engelbert Dollfuß, relinquishing the former position after a few days. Disenchanted by the moderate ways of Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, he was ousted from power in 1936, when the Heimwehr was dissolved, and fled the country after the Anschluss to avoid retaliation from vengeful Nazis. Starhemberg lived in exile in Switzerland...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Setzer, Franz Xaver (1886-1939), Public domain