Kurt von Schuschnigg was born in Trento, South Tyrol, Austria-Hungary, on 14th December, 1897. He fought in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War. After the war Schuschnigg became a lawyer in Innsbruck. He joined the Christian Social Party and was elected to the Nationairat in 1927.
Chancellor Schuschnigg at an Austrian Fatherland Front rally, probably the proclamation of Chancellor Schuschnigg as Front fuehrer on October 10th 1936.
In 1932 Engelbert Dollfuss, the Austrian chancellor, appointed Schuschnigg as his minister of justice. The following year he became minister of education. When Dollfuss was assassinated in 1934, Schuschnigg became the Austria's new chancellor. He attempted to eliminate the threat to his government by Heimwehr, a national paramilitary defence force, by disbanding it on October, 1936
Schuschnigg capitulated to Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden in February, 1938. He attempted to gain control of the situation by arranging for a plebiscite to be held on 13th March, 1938. However, this move was undermined when the German Army invaded two days before the plebiscite was due to take place. Schuschnigg was imprisoned by the Nazi Government until he was liberated by American troops in 1945.
Sepulchral plate of Kurt von Schuschnigg, parish church in Mutters, Tyrol
After the Second World War Schuschnigg was a professor of political science at St. Louis in the USA (1948-67) and wrote The Brutal Takeover (1971). Kurt von Schuschnigg died in Mutters near Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria on 18th November, 1977.
