German Community (secret society)
The German Community (German: Deutsche Gemeinschaft, DG), was the cover for a secret society in Austria.
The Deutsche Gemeinschaft was founded in Vienna in 1919 by representatives of German Catholic and nationalist student fraternities. It had a total of about 100 prominent members, including university professors, officers, economists, etc. Prominent members included Carl von Bardolff, Arthur Seyß-Inquart, Engelbert Dollfuß, Alfons Dopsch, Othmar Spann, Rudolf Much, Oswald Menghin, Emmerich Czermak, Wilhelm Czermak, Hermann Neubacher, Leopold Arzt and Karl Wache.
In 1919-1930, the secret society Die Burg was disguised as the association Deutsche Gemeinschaft (German Community), whose purpose was "to raise the economic strength of German Austria."[1] The means to achieve the declared goal was to fill key academic and government positions in Austria with members or sympathizers of the society. This went hand in hand with combating the so-called "Odd Fellows," which included liberals, socialists, Marxists, Bolshevists, Jews, Freemasons, and the sympathizers of all of these. The structure and the admission rituals of the society were strongly oriented towards the Freemasons, despite the enmity with them.
In 1930, the community was dissolved. Since its foundation, the DG was closely connected to the German Club, both in terms of personnel and structure. The latter was founded in Vienna in 1908 and existed until 1939. In 1938, the German Club welcomed the Anschluss and announced that five members of the German Club alone belonged to the Seyß-Inquart government: in addition to Seyß himself, Hans Fischböck, Franz Hueber, Hugo Jury and Oswald Menghin. In addition to the German Club, the Academic Section and the conspiratorial Bärenhöhle clique of professors at the University of Vienna were also strongly networked with the German Community.[2]
Notes
- ↑ Martina Aicher: Deutsche Gemeinschaft (Österreich). In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Judenfeindschaft in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Bd. 5: Organisationen, Institutionen, Bewegungen. de Gruyter Saur, Berlin/Boston 2012, S. 151.
- ↑ Mitchell G. Ash, "Die Universität als Ort der Politik seit 1848." (in German), Universität - Politik - Gesellschaft (V&R unipress): pp. 84-86}}
References
- Gerhard Jagschitz: Der Putsch. Die Nationalsozialisten 1934 in Österreich. Styriaverlag, Graz/Wien 1976.
- Wolfgang Rosar: Deutsche Gemeinschaft. Seyss-Inquart und der Anschluß. Europa-Verlag, Wien/Frankfurt/Zürich 1971.
