National Socialists in prisons and concentration camps. Nevertheless the movement continued its existence and soon began an underground reorganization. Meanwhile numerous followers had escaped to the Reich, and were gradually taken in here. HITLER, it is true, always denied that these refugees had contact with the Party, contrary to his own promise. The truth is that a thousand threads were being spun both ways, and that those revolutionary elements (who were later also organized by the Party) exercised constant pressure within the NSDAP-and thus also on HITLER-to speed up the "Anschluss". It is patent that infinite effort was necessary to neutralize this pressure for four long years, and to ward off the many attempts at a violent solution of the Austrian problem.

At first the Austrian Nazis, led by Gauleiter LEOPOLD, seemed to be convinced that their methods had brought disaster, and that it would be more useful to let me work in peace, so as to bring about more trusting relations between the Reich and Austria once again. They fought the "Heimwehr" movement, which had now become the most active factor in Austria's politics.

Unfortunately the leader of that movement was young Prince STARHEMBERG, who did not measure up to political requirements. The halo of a great name, a clean-cut, aristocratic appearance, and personal bravado gave him merely the outside appearance of a leader's personality. Beside him stood the much less scrupulous condottiere, Major REY, retired, Knight of the Order of Maria Theresa. It was claimed that he had taken part in the conspiracy against DOLLFUSS, and had gone over to the side of the "Heimwehr" only in the last minute. As usual, other opportunists pushed their way upward within the movement, in order to obtain good positions in civil service. There was no clear-cut, firm leadership; and the cardinal error of the movement-there was no program for the solution of the German problem. It could not bypass this question if it was to become the people's movement into which SCHUSCHNIGG wished to develop it, in order to use it as a solid framework for his policies. STARHEMBERG probably lacked the farsightedness to recognize this necessity and thought it sufficient to act on the expediency of the moment. As I told him often in later years, he of all men should have recognized the necessity for a moderating counterpart to his opposition of and sharp criticism of Nazi methods, which were caused by the DOLLFUSS "Putsch"; a concrete and positive attitude towards the German problem would have been that moderating counterpart. People of German countries be

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lieved it safe to attribute an unerring awareness of national factors in history to STARHEMBERG, scion of that heroic defender of Vienna, of the man who had once saved the Reich at the last minute. The Prince himself had stood in the ranks of those fighters who defended the Prussian Silesia in 1920 against the Poles. Whether it was his dependency on Austria's clergy or a desire of his government, the fact remains that STARHEMBERG never took the right stand in this problem. This is what finally brought the failure of his organization. A fairer judgment about him will be possible, when the history of the "Heimwehr" has been written. The manner of his exit disappointed everyone.

Next to the "Heimwehr", a major role in Austria's domestic politics was played by the movement to restore the Hapsburg monarchy. Emperor Karl's attempts had failed. After Admiral HORTHY had quelled BELA KUHN's Bolshevik revolt, the Emperor went to Hungary, in order to reconquer that one country, at least. But HORTHY had to tell the Emperor that his stay would expose the country to utter ruin. To refuse the Emperor was so hard for HORTHY, the monarchist and faithful servant of his late Emperor Franz Joseph! HORTHY often described it to me.

"My duty to the country," HORTHY said, "required me to convince His Majesty that he could not stay. The Little Entente was armed to the teeth, and we did not have a single cannon. The Little Entente would have answered a Hapsburg restoration in Hungary with an immediate invasion from three sides; they would have destroyed the country entirely! The Emperor said that negotiations had been conducted with the Little Entente at his request, and everything was under control. I asked who had negotiated for him, and with whom: His brother-in-law, SIXTUS, he said, had negotiated with BRIAND. With SIXTUS, I replied, he had already had enough bad experiences. I offered to contact BRIAND immediately myself. If BRIAND'S reply was satisfactory, I would hand all power over to the Emperor immediately. His Majesty still thought that I personally clung to my post (of Regent); he offered to make me Duke of Otrano, and to award me the Grand Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa (I had the Knight's Cross of that Order). I replied that such purely personal considerations played no part at all at present; the thing was, to save Hungary. I immediately commissioned the French envoy, FOUCHE, to ascertain from BRIAND how the negotiations with the Little Entente stood. Twenty-four hours later I had the reply that BRIAND knew nothing of the whole story!"

It seemed that the old intriguers, Empress ZITA and her brother, again had their hands in the pie [Translator's Note: It is not clear whether this sentence is still part of the quotation of HORTHY, or merely PAPEN's own comment].

Later on the Regent told me often, that in his opinion a restoration must be viewed within the framework of the whole European development. Archduke Albrecht was often considered (as potential king of Hungary). He was a son of Archduke FRIEDRICH and the latter's wife, Princess CROY, who descended from the Arpads (Hungary's first royal house). This predestined him particularly for St. Stephen's crown (of Hungary). But this intelligent member of the Hapsburg family had buried his chances with the Hungarian people by his marriage.

When Emperor KARL had died prematurely, chances for his engaging young son OTTO improved. Emperor KARL was so strongly rejected, particularly in German circles, because his wife, the Empress ZITA, was feared or even hated everywhere. She was believed to be the prime mover, the puller of all strings. Ambitious intriguer that she was, she had in her day launched that notorious peace feeler through her brother, SIXTUS of Parma, without even notifying her German ally. She has never been forgiven this felony. Now she was only the pretender's mother, but still she cast her long, threatening shadow across the stage. HORTHY had been aide to Emperor FRANZ JOSEPH for six years. He has told me of the wedding of the then Archduke KARL, which took place in a small castle of the house of Parma near Wiener Neustadt. There was little room in the small chapel and in the dining room. Therefore all members of the imperial houses were requested to come without retinue. Only His Majesty the Emperor was accompanied by HORTHY, who thus became the only one in the exalted company who was not a prince of the blood. At that early date, he told me, he had the saddening premonition that this alliance would bring the imperial house misfortune. His premonition proved correct.

To return to the restoration movement in Austria in the 1930s. It was headed by Herr von WIESNER. His not quite Aryan extraction disgusted the National Socialists. They fought him to the hilt. It cannot be said that the movement ever assumed the volume which would have made it a decisive factor. The movement limited itself to the organization of traditional local celebrations. During these the pretender was represented by the clean-cut, dignified Archduke EUGEN, who was up to the best traditions in every respect. However, the movement was big

enough to keep the always suspicious Successor States on their toes.

The monarchist movement also suffered from the cardinal mistake of the narrow limits of its political aim. If Austria could neither live nor die as a republic, why would it lead a better existence as a monarchy? The House of Hapsburg had played family politics too strongly during the last few centuries. And after the Congress of Vienna and the Peace of Nikolsburg it saw its German mission purely and solely in the twilight of conflicting European power politics. Archduke OTTO and his advocates did not seem to understand that now, with BISMARCK's interregnum smashed and the Danube Monarchy dissolved, the historic moment had come to achieve a unification-if only a limited one. Or was it again the hand of his mother who, as Princess of the House of Parma-Bourbon, refuted every idea of this kind? Of course, the movement was also backed by the older officers of the former imperial and royal army; one of the foremost was Generaloberst Prince SCHOENBURG-WALDENBURG-HARTENSTEIN, one time minister of war. The fact that the oldest son of the Duke was an enthusiastic pioneer of National Socialism is an example of the divided political orientation of even those old families. The younger officer corps, however, leaned more towards the pugnacious movement which revolutionized Germany. The leaders were General der Infanterie KRAUSS and Feldmarschall-Leutnant Frieherr von BARDORFF, long-time aide to the murdered archduke-heir-apparent. Freiherr von BARDORFF was head of the "Deutscher Club" in Vienna, a loose league of friends of the "Anschluss", who organized a series of political and military lectures during the winter.

*

The intellectual center of the Austrian side was the "Kulturbund". It comprised the cream of the old society, government diplomatic corps, universities-in brief, everybody who had name, rank, and influence in Vienna. The "Bund" was headed by Mrs * a many-sided, well educated, and gracious lady; her only point open to attackers was her not quite Aryan extraction. With admirable zeal and skill she knew how to persuade a number of important men of letters or statesmen to hold lectures each season. Thus she added emphasis to Vienna's and the government's reputation as a cosmopolitan center of Europe. These lectures were not always interesting. But "smart form" demanded one's attendance at the lecture and at the ensuing supper.

It is obvious that I had to pay the closest attention to all the above-named organizations, clubs, and programs. Agents re

ported on the lectures in the "Heimwehr", Nazi, and monarchist circles. I appeared seldom at the "Deutscher Club", as I did not desire to let my work appear as though I wished to promote the Austrian problem in this fashion. I placed infinitely more value on the winning of opposing groups, and, e. g., to gain influence on the "Kulturbund's" intellectual program.

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The old Austrian society was divided in its sympathies and political views. They furthermore lost their focus in the collapse of the dynasty, whose highest court offices and hereditary positions they had held for centuries. There also followed a shake-up in land ownership. The conquerors had eliminated the Hapsburg dynasty. But they did not even grant the Emperor CHARLES an apanage, as England is granting it to every negro-chief, enabling him to lead a modest life. He was destitute. And the Successor States, except Hungary, had promulgated compulsory land reforms. They had expropriated much of the holdings of these large landlords, leaving them only their large castles, which they could not keep up without a large income. This was in particular the method of the Czechoslovak state, which had spared only those holdings whose families and owners had always been considered "Czechised" [tschechisiert].

Thus it came about that foreign diplomats could rent all of Vienna's big palaces, those architectural jewels of FISCHER von ERLACH and other masters. One exception was the property of Prince KINSKY. He was an excellent sportsman, the husband of the divorcee von MUMM, nee Baroness von BUSCHE, who unfortunately died at a young age.

The heads of most other great families thus lived in the country. Vienna saw them only in the winter. From time to time they showed up at the "Jockey Club".

I must tell a little episode concerning this club, which will better than anything else reveal the difficulties which awaited us. In the old days the "Jockey Club” enjoyed an excellent reputation. Like the "Jockey Clubs" of London or Paris, and the "Union Club" of Berlin, it presented horse-racing cards, including the big international trials at classic Freudenau. Everyone of rank and name in the monarchy was a member, even if his knowledge of horses included only the number of their legs. Now no horses ran in quiet little post-war Austria, and the Club led the existence of a Sleeping Beauty. But it continued to be a convenient meeting place with good drinks and usually dubious food, where one could find old diplomats or friends from the country for an evening of bridge. Its head at the time was Count Ferdinand COL