Otto Steinhäusl
Otto Steinhäusl | |
---|---|
Born | 10 March 1879 České Budějovice, Austria-Hungary |
Died | 20 June 1940 (aged 61) Vienna, Ostmark, Nazi Germany |
Allegiance | First Austrian Republic (to 1938) Nazi Germany |
Service/ | Schutzstaffel |
Rank | Oberführer |
Commands held | Polizeipräsident of Vienna |
Awards | Anschluss Medal |
Otto Steinhäusl (10 March 1879 – 20 June 1940) was an Austrian-born SS-Oberführer, Polizeipräsident (police president) of Vienna, and President of Interpol (1938–1940).
Early career
Steinhäusl served as Vienna's head of police and Polizeipräsident starting in the early 1930s. It is also believed to be the time which he joined the underground Austrian SS. Otto Strasser alleged that Steinhäusl was a secret Gestapo agent, and that in July 1933 there was an operation orchestrated by Steinhäusl to either kidnap Strasser, and smuggle him across the German frontier, or imprison him. However, the attempt met with failure.[1]
In the aftermath of the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss on 25 July 1934, Steinhäusl was found to be one of the conspirators and arrested. In December 1935, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison by a military court for high treason. Steinhäusl was released from prison in July 1936, due to the Juliabkommen.[1]
Anschluss and reinstatement
On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the German
Polizeipräsident of Vienna and President of Interpol
As Polizeipräsident of Vienna, Steinhäusl conspired with two higher leaders of the Austrian SS,
As sociologist Mathieu Deflem writes, "Steinhäusl became the new
Death and aftermath
Steinhäusl, a long-time sufferer of tuberculosis, died on 20 June 1940 in Vienna. He was 61 years old.
Secretary General of Interpol, Oskar Dressler sent a report to all ICPC members which specified that he and other police, including Nazi officials Arthur Nebe and others, had decided “to request the Chief of the German Security Police” to accept the Presidency of the ICPC. Reportedly, twenty-seven police officials representing 15 states consented to the suggestion. Because this was less than two-thirds of the total ICPC membership, the countries that could not be addressed were not counted and those that had abstained were considered as not voting against the motion, so that, the Nazi controlled ICPC leadership reasoned, the necessary majority was reached. In a circular letter of 24 August 1940, Reinhard Heydrich declared that he had been informed that his candidacy as ICPC President had "passed unanimously." Heydrich continued that he would "lead the Commission into a new and successful future" and that the ICPC headquarters would “from now on be located in Berlin”.[4]
Summary of SS career
Dates of rank
- SS#292773
- SS-Standartenführer: 12 March 1938
- SS-Oberführer: 25 July 1938
Notable decorations
- Anschluss Medal (1938)
See also
References
- ^ a b Douglas Reed, Nemesis? The Story of Otto Strasser, 1940, Page 71
- ^ "History of Interpol". Archived from the original on 2005-11-24. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Evan Burr Bukey, Hitler's Austria, Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938-1945, The University of North Carolina Press, 2000, p. 59
- ^ a b Deflem, Mathieu. 2002. "The Logic of Nazification: The Case of the International Criminal Police Commission ('Interpol')." International Journal of Comparative Sociology 43(1):21-44.