Hermann Neubacher

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Hermann Neubacher (June 24, 1893-July 1, 1960) was an Austrian Nazi politician who held a number of diplomatic posts in the Third Reich.

Born in Wels, he was educted in Kremsmünster and Vienna before seeing service in Italy in World War I.[1] Initially connected to the Social Democratic Party of Austria through his friendship with a number of leading members whilst in charge of a housing project in Vienna, Neubacher became attracted to Pan-Germanism and in 1925 founded his own Österreich-Deutsch Volksbund as a society for this school of thought.[2] He was also a member of the Deutsche Gemeinschaft secret society and in this group he built up friendships with fellow members Engelbert Dollfuß and Arthur Seyss-Inquart.[3]

Neubacher became a member of the Nazi Party in Austria because he felt it was the best way to bring about Anschluss, although he was more in tune with the Anton Reinthaller-led moderate faction than than the extremists under Theodor Habicht.[4] After a spell as assistant to Josef Leopold he became Landesleiter of the Austrian Nazi party in 1935, attempting to restructure the banned group. His tenure came to an end the same year when he was imprisoned for distributing illegal material and upon his release he dropped out of politics to take up a role with IG Farben.[5]

Under the Nazis he was chosen to serve as Mayor of Vienna, although he soon incurred disfavour for his habit of working with former Social Democrats and his lax attitude towards the Jews and before long he was downgraded to the role of general representative of Josef Bürckel.[6]

When war broke out Neubacher took on the role of a special plenipotentiary envoy in the Balkans, initially serving as an economic adviser in Romania before taking on the role of ambassador to the same country and afterwards Greece as well.[7] In 1943 he devised the Neubacher Plan as a means to improve German occupation in the Balkans. In a wide ranging raft of reforms Neubacher suggested five main ideas to Joachim von Ribbentrop. These were:

  1. The return of Montenegro to Serbia.
  2. Installing General Milan Nedić as President of the resulting Greater Serbia.
  3. Autonomy in Montenegro.
  4. The re-opening of the University of Belgrade and an end to German supervision of cultural life.
  5. Reduction in German military presence and the establishment of a gendarmerie controlled by the new government.[8]

Ultimately only point 4 of his proposals was approved, although he did succeed in ending German military reprisals and in combating to an extent the Ustaše reprisals against Serbia.[9]

After the war Neubacher faced trial in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and in 1951 a military court sentenced him to 20 years, although he was not ultimately required to serve the full sentence.[10] He died in Vienna aged 67.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, p. 278
  2. ^ Rees, op cit
  3. ^ Rees, op cit
  4. ^ rees, op cit, p. 279
  5. ^ Rees, op cit
  6. ^ Rees, op cit
  7. ^ Rees, op cit
  8. ^ Sabrina P. Ramet, The Three Yugoslavias: State-building and Legitimation, 1918-2005, p. 134
  9. ^ Ramet, op cit, pp. 134-135
  10. ^ Rees, op cit
Preceded by:
Richard Schmitz		 Mayor of Vienna
1938 — 1940		 Succeeded by:
Philipp Wilhelm Jung