Editing Ignaz Seipel (section)

==== Chancellor of Austria ====
Seipel served as chairman of the Christian Social Party (CS) from 1921 to 1930. At his party's request, he was Chancellor of Austria in a Christian Social – Greater German coalition from 31 May 1922 to 20 November 1924. During his first term he personally coordinated the distribution of industry funds to right-wing militias. Seipel's primary concern was with their military efficiency; ideological proximity to the CS party was secondary. He focused on the right-wing Front Fighters Union of German Austria under the anti-Semite [[Hermann Hiltl]], which he also helped re-arm with financial resources from the Hungarian [[Horthy regime]].<ref name=":0" />

Seipel reorganized state finances with the aid of a [[Protocol for the reconstruction of Austria|League of Nations loan]] which was obtained when Austria officially renounced annexation to Germany. In order to fight the hyperinflation of the krone currency, the government prepared for the introduction of the [[Austrian schilling|schilling]] on 1 March 1925 and re-founded Austria's central bank, the {{Lang|de|Österreichische Nationalbank}}, with the task of securing monetary stability. 

In the fall of 1924 the Bavarian Immigration Police considered deporting [[Adolf Hitler]] from [[Bavaria]] to Austria if he were released from prison early. Hitler had been serving time at [[Landsberg Prison]] in Bavaria since April 1924 following his failed [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in 1923. Seipel did not want the putschist and troublemaker back in Austria and sent Bavaria a statement saying that Hitler had become a German by serving in its army. Bavaria attested that Austria had recognized the Austrian citizenship of German soldiers in other cases, but Seipel adhered to his legal opinion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ziegler |first=Walter |date=5 November 2006 |title=Versuchte Ausweisung Adolf Hitlers aus Bayern |trans-title=Attempted Expulsion of Adolf Hitler from Bavaria |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Versuchte_Ausweisung_Adolf_Hitlers_aus_Bayern |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Plöckinger |first=Othmar |title=Geschichte eines Buches: Adolf Hitlers "Mein Kampf". 1922–1945 |publisher=Oldenbourg |year=2006 |isbn=3-486-57956-8 |location=Munich |pages=59 |language=de |trans-title=History of a Book: Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" 1922–1945}}</ref>

===== Assassination attempt and resignation =====
After fierce criticism from his own party and an assassination attempt on 1 June 1924, he resigned on 8 November 1924 but remained chairman of the Christian Socialist Deputies' Association. The would-be assassin, Karl Jaworek (or Jawurek),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Botz |first=Gerhard |url={{Google books|OLASuzeE4kcC |page=29|plainurl=yes}} |title=1927, als die Republik brannte: von Schattendorf bis Wien |publisher=Edition va Bene |year=2001 |isbn=3-85167-128-7 |editor-last=Leser |editor-first=Norbert |edition= |location=Vienna-Kosterneuburg |pages=29 |language=de |trans-title=1927, When the Republic Burned: from Schattendorf to Vienna |chapter="Der Schattendorfer Zusammenstoss": Territorialkämpfe, Politik und Totschlag im Dorf |trans-chapter="The Schattendorf Clash": Territorial Battles, Politics and Murder in the Village |editor-last2=Sailer-Wlasits |editor-first2=Paul}}</ref> blamed Seipel for his poverty and shot the Chancellor at close range on the platform of a Vienna train station. Jaworek was sentenced to five years of hard labor.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 2014 |title=Attentat auf Kanzler Seipel: "Ich glaube, man hat auf mich geschossen" |trans-title=Attempt on Chancellor Seipel: "I think someone shot at me" |url=https://diepresse.com/home/zeitgeschichte/3814040/Attentat-auf-Seipel_Ich-glaube-man-hat-auf-mich-geschossen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604003440/https://diepresse.com/home/zeitgeschichte/3814040/Attentat-auf-Seipel_Ich-glaube-man-hat-auf-mich-geschossen |archive-date=4 June 2014 |access-date=4 June 2014 |website=Die Presse |language=de}}</ref>

[[Theodor Körner (president)|Theodor Körner]], a retired general and successful Social Democratic candidate for parliament in 1924, paid tribute to Seipel during the election campaign. The [[Innsbruck]] newspaper {{Lang|de|Volkszeitung}} quoted him saying that Seipel was "as a character of integrity in every respect, a diligent, selfless worker".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kollman |first=Eric C. |title=Theodor Körner. Militär und Politik |publisher=Verlag für Geschichte und Politik |year=1973 |isbn=3-7028-0054-9 |location=Vienna |pages=134 |language=de |trans-title=Theodor Körner. Military and Politics}}</ref>

===== Reelection and second term =====
From 1926 to 1929, Seipel was again Chancellor, fighting in particular against the Social Democrats. He united the CS with the Greater German People's Party, the ''[[Landbund]]'' (Rural Federation), and the [[Austrian Nazism|National Socialist]] "[[Walter Riehl|Riehl]] and Schulz Group" to form an anti-[[Marxism|Marxist]] front (the "Citizens' Bloc"). After the [[1927 Austrian legislative election|National Assembly election]] of 1927 in which Seipel's bloc won the majority of seats, there was a more rapid growth in the fundamental attitude that opposed Austrian democracy. With the help of Austrian industrialists, Chancellor Seipel strengthened the role of the increasingly anti-democratic [[Heimwehr]] and remained its most influential advocate until his death.<ref name=":0" /> This made him the great enemy of the Social Democrats.

In the Austrian town of [[Schattendorf]] on 30 January 1927, members of a right-wing paramilitary group fired on Social Democratic demonstrators, including members of its paramilitary Republican Protection League (''[[Republikanischer Schutzbund]]''), killing two and wounding five. The acquittal of the men charged in the deaths led to the [[July Revolt of 1927]] in Vienna during which police killed 89 protestors and wounded over 600. Afterwards, Social Democrats called Seipel a "[[prelate]] without clemency", a "prelate without mercy" and a "blood prelate". In his statement before the lower house of parliament, the [[National Council (Austria)|National Council]]''',''' on 26 July 1927, Seipel said, "In these days of misfortune, do not ask anything of the parliament and the government that would seem merciful to the victims and the guilty but would be cruel to the wounded republic."<ref>Stenographisches Protokoll. 7. Sitzung des Nationalrates der Republik Österreich. III. Gesetzgebungsperiode. 26. Juli 1927 [Stenographic Minutes. 7th Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Austria. 3rd Legislative Period. 26 July 1927]. pp. 133 ff.</ref> Seipel's statement was followed by an intensely heated parliamentary debate. The opposition seized on the phrase "without mercy" and linked it to their criticism of the excessive police action, for which they blamed Police Commissioner and former Austrian chancellor [[Johannes Schober|Johann Schober]].
[[File:Emblem of the Heimatschutz.png|thumb|Emblem of the Heimwehr.]]
In 1928, Seipel, in agreement with [[Karl Buresch]], the governor of [[Lower Austria]], championed the interests of the Heimwehr by approving its march in [[Wiener Neustadt]], as well as one by the Republican Protection League, against the express wish of Wiener Neustadt Mayor Anton Ofenböck. As Chancellor, Seipel was able to show his strength with a massive contingent of police and military. There were no violent incidents on the days of the marches.

Seipel resigned from the office of chancellor on 4 April 1929, although he continued in office until 4 May, when he was succeeded as head of government by [[Ernst Streeruwitz]], also of the Christian Social Party.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 April 1929 |title=Kabinett Seipel zurückgetreten |language=de |trans-title=Seipel Cabinet Resigns |pages=1 |work=Vossische Zeitung |url=https://dfg-viewer.de/show/?set%5Bmets%5D=https://content.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/zefys/SNP27112366-19290404-0-0-0-0.xml}}</ref> In all, five federal governments of the First Republic were under Seipel's leadership.