| Richard Steidle | |
|---|---|
Steidle (middle), 1930 |
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| Born | Richard Steidle September 20, 1881 Merano |
| Died | August 30, 1940 (aged 58) Buchenwald concentration camp |
| Citizenship | Austrian |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Leader of the Heimwehr in Tyrol |
| Title | Heimwehr leader |
| Term | 1927-1930 |
| Successor | Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg |
| Political party | Christian Social Party |
Richard Steidle (20 September 1881 in Merano, South Tyrol – 30 August 1940 in Buchenwald concentration camp) was an Austrian lawyer and the leader of the paramilitary Heimwehr in Tyrol. He was a leading representative of the pro-independence tendency on the far right of Austrian politics and as such was opposed to the Nazi Party which supported the incorporation of Austria into a Großdeutschland.
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A local official in the Christian Social Party, Steidle was a founder of the Heimwehr in 1919 with the group's stated intention being the prevention of further loss of territory to Italy, following the loss of Steidle's homeland.[1]
Steidle saw the sole aim of Heimwehr as being anti-communism and rejected the anti-semitism that became the hallmark of other leaders. He summed up his opinion by arguing that he hated only Jewish Marxists and that patriotic Jews were welcome in the Heimwehr.[2] Despite this Steidle had previously been a member of the Antisemitenbund in 1919.[3] His newly moderated views caused some controversy within the Heimwehr and led to Steidle splitting from his former ally Walter Pfrimer, the regional leader in Styria and a staunch anti-Semite.[4]
In the early 1920s he advocated the union of Tyrol with Germany because of the increasingly liberal slant of the government in Vienna.[5] Although he would bactrack from this idea he nonetheless maintained links with the right in Germany during the early 1920s, receiving weapons from Georg Escherich and Rudolf Kanzler whilst he took on as his deputy Waldemar Pabst after he fled Germany following the failure of the Kapp Putsch.[6]
Having become one of the leading figures in the Heimwehr, Steidle was in 1927 chosen as the group's overall leader in a largely unsuccessful attempt to create unity amongst the disparate regional groups.[7] Now an important figure, Steidle enjoyed a good relationship with Johann Schober and was considered for a place in his third government, although no appointment was made.[8] He also served as president of the Österreichischer Alpenverein for a time.[9]
As leader of the Heimwehr he attempted to unite the movement behind an agreed platform of corporatist fascism in 1930 by writing the so-called 'Korneuburger Oath'.[10] However agreement could not be reached with the regional leaders and indeed the oath only threw divisions into an even sharper focus as some regions refused to countenance it.[11] By the end of the year Steidle was forced to relinquish his role as overall head of the movement in favour of Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg.[12]
Steidle grew closer to the anti-Nazism of the Austrofascists who came to dominate Austrian politics in the mid 1930s and in 1934 he was appointed Consul general in Trieste under Kurt Schuschnigg's government. Steidle held this position until the Anschluss when, along with many of his fellow government officials, he was sent to Buchenwald where he died two years later.[13]