THE TRAGIC CHANCELLOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 224, 21 September 1935, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE TRAGIC CHANCELLOR.

Austria And Her Thorny Road.

INTERVIEW WITH DR. VON SCHUSCHNIGG.

(By GLADYS BAKER.)

VIENNA, August 3. tiT AM just off for my vacation!" said Chancellor Kurt von Scliuschnigg, with a ring of happy anticipation in his usually unemotional voice. "My wife and I have taken a small house in the quiet lake district of Salzkammergut. We shall have time there for books and music. We are both looking forward to motoring to Salzburg in the evenings for the concerts of the summer festival." . A few brief hours later he stepped into the high-powered motor car which hurled his 34-year-old wife to instant death, injured his small son and left him shaken with the impact of this personal tragedy, which also, it is said, will interrupt his Governmental duties. His pretty young wife he adored. Between them existed a rare congeniality of tastes and temperament. His young son, with whom he expected to spend many care-free hours, lies in a hospital bed at Linz. The little white house on the edge of the lake is empty. All Vienna buzzes with the rumour that, until the Chancellor has recovered, Vice-Chancellor Prince Ri'diger von Starhemberg will occupy the most influential post in the Austrian Government. With Starhemberg holding the reins the hopes of the Royalists revive for an earlier restoration of the Habsburg dynasty. "I Must Do What Is Best For Austria." Although Schuschnigg is also a Royalist, he is known to be more conservative. I asked him if he personally thought restoration would be to the advantage of Austria. He said:

"I do not think Austria could stand any experiment at the present time. We do not want to take anything in hand which might not work out. I think for the present it would be best to leave things a3 they are. Restoration," he added, "is not a question of the emotions but the intellect. Therefore I am neither for it nor against it. It is not a matter of how I personally feel about it. I must do what is best for Austria." Emphatically he denied the prophecy which has become almost a slogan here. "Preposterous! A rumour, absolutely unfounded. The Government will avoid any action which might disturb the development of European peace. Anything that would cause outside trouble would be disastrous to Austria. The interview took place in the gold and damask study of the historic grey stone building on Ballhaus Plata. -The 38-year-old Chancellor sat at the desk formerly occupied by the assassinated Dolfuss, whose dying request had been that Schuschnigg should succeed him. On a console table in front of him a death mask of his former chief; the door a memorial corner with a carved wooden Madonna and a sin o le flame burning night and day. Asked if there would be danger of a Royalist coup d'etat should the Archduke Otto return to Austria, Chancellor Schuschnigg said: "I do not believe Habsburg family will ever try to comc back through a coup d etat. A forced restoration is against the principles of the Royalists. The Government with its army and its strong executive forces would be able, any revolutionary movement." Dismemberment a Mistake. Referring to the laws recently passed by Parliament revoking the banishment of the Habsburg family and restoring their confiscated properties, he declared: "The legislation has absolutely no political significance. It does not mean that we are one step nearer the return of the monarchy. Even when there was no question of restoration I worked with many others for the repeal of a decree which was unjust to the Habsburg family." He said it was quite unlikely that a Regent of Habsburg descent might be appointed nntil the monarchy question was settled. I asked him if there would be a personal union between Austna and Hungary such as existed before 1918 in the event of si Habsburg restoration in Austria. He reached for a cigarette, lit it, and thoughtfully replied: — "I consider the dismemberment of the old Austro-Hungarian monarchy a great mistake. But we have to accept facts as laid down by the Treaty of St. Germain. Austria has no revisionist tendencies." "Has Austria ambition to recover any of her lost territories?" "We are not looking beyond our own borders," he declared. "We feel ourselves strong enough to build our own home with our own forces. If the same policy were observed by other States I see no reason why we should not live peaceably together. Austria," lie reiterated, "has no aspirations to regain her former possessions." Hostility of Little Entente: But it is fear of territorial revisic»c which forms the crux of the antirestoration row in Europe. Hie Little Entente leads the chorus of opposition. Rumania fears Austrian restoration would also mean a king on the throne of Hungary (where legitimatism is running high) and bring about a return of Transvlvania and other provinces which prior "to the Trianon belonged to the latter State. In Yugoslavia J r e storat : ou is a question. It

is an, open secret that the Croatiansi have never been reconciled to being Serbian subjects. Only recently Czechoslovakia has shown a less active opposition, preferring restoration to a possible Anschluss. Prance, fearing the spread of Nazism in Austria, is ready to about-face on the Habsburg question, but she is still bound by her treaties to support the Little Entente. It is said Italy shares the views of France. England, with her eye on her coming elections and public opinion, looks on with more or less indifference. Germany is violently and vocally opposed. Schuschnigg was asked: "Do you think ti'ere is any chance of Austria's reconciliation with Germany?" He answered: "There could be immediate reconciliation, provided Germany recognises unreservedly Austria's absolute independence as a State. The matter is now out of our hands." Dr. Schuschnigg is the youngest government loader in Europe. But his earnest face and prematurely grey hair show the strain of responsibilities. His humour reveals itself only by the faint glimmer of a smile in the calm grey eyes, and a deepening indentation (suspiciously like a dimple) in his lean, bronzed cheek. Ho is tall, well knit, with an air of fitness in manner and step. There is no sign of tho frail young man who found health in a vigorous army career. In the lapel of the plain dark business suit he wears only tho insignia of the Patriotic Front, though ho has been four times decorated by his Government for bravery in military service.

The Nazi Movement. Turning to the political situation at home, the Chancellor was asked about the Socialist movement and the growth of Nazi-ism. Ho said: "There is 110 organised Socialist movement. After the uprising of last February, most of the intellectual leaders left the country. The more conservative members joined the new Trades Unions and the Patriotic Front. Radicals of both the former Socialist and Nazi parties may have come together, but I do not believe a great many moderate Socialists have joined the Nazi ranks." Chancellor Sehuschnigg also stated that the Nazi movement was and is kept alive by outside propaganda, and could not exist except for financial support from across the border. He denied that there was dissatisfaction among the people over taxation to support Austria's various military organisations. "Tha/t, too," hi) said, "is mostly Nazi propaganda. We have, as a matter of fact, less taxation than other States. Since wo are not allowed a big army, and have no compulsory military service, certain military organisations grew out of political and cultural movements. These were placed at the disposal of the Government, which decreased the police appropriation of our budget. Much of their support comes from private contribution, and volunteers performing sentry duty last year 011 the frontier did so at their own expense." About Austria's economic situation, he said: "There is decided improvement. We have not passed the crisis, but Government finance is better and unemployment lowest since 1031. At present only 235,000 persons in Austria are on the dole." "My Very Limited Knowledge." Before the fatal accident, the Chancellor had planned to take a few weeks oil for a brief holiday. It would have been a well-earned period of relaxation, since his schedule is one of the busiest of all European leaders. His only recreation is a brisk canter every morning before early breakfast. He seldom leaves his office at the Ballhaus until 8 p.m. When there are no official duties, he spends his evenings reading. He is of studious bent, his leaning towards scholarship having been instilled by the Jesuits during his early schooling at Feldkirch. When I asked him what ha most liked to do, he said modestly: "To improve my very limited knowledge."—N.A.N.A.