1 Scholarly research on this topic is still at the beginning stage. An overview in English can be found in Verena Pawlowsky and Harald Wendelin, “Government Care of War Widows and Disabled Veterans after World War I” in this volume. Barbara Hoffmann’s Kriegsblinde in Österreich (Graz: Verein zur Förderung der Forschung von Folgen nach Konflikten und Kriegen, 2006) has a narrow focus on the ca. 300 “war-blinded persons.” Maureen Healy’s insightful essay, “Civilizing the Soldier in Postwar Austria,” in Gender and War in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe, ed. Nancy M. Wingfield and Maria Bucur (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), 47-69, includes disabled veterans in discussing the wider issue of the integration (or the lack thereof) of former soldiers in the early First Republic. I am completing a dissertation entitled “The Scar of War: War Victims and Politics in Interwar Austria” that will discuss war victim politics in its various aspects within the larger postwar context. I would like to thank Margarete Grandner, Jeremy King, Heather Perry, Aviel Roshwald, Iryna Vushko, Tara Zahra, and members of the Modern Russian and European History Workshop at the University of Chicago for commenting on parts or earlier versions of this essay.
2 Gabriella Hauch touches on this new political space from the vantage point of women’s political participation in “Welche Welt? Welche Politik? Zum Geschlecht in Revolte, Rätebewegung, Parteien und Parlament,” in Das Werden der Ersten Republik:… der Rest ist Österreich, Vol. 1, ed. Helmut Konrad and Wolfgang Maderthaner (Vienna: Carl Gerold’s Sohn, 2008), 317-26.
3 A note of clarification: in this essay “the state” refers generally to the central state (and its administrative apparatus) in Vienna and its subordinate agencies in the Länder, such as district governments (Bezirkshauptmannschaften). War victims, however, did not always make clear distinctions between the central state administration and those of the Länder; at least in some cases, by “state” they meant all public authorities that were part of a particular political order. It is therefore difficult to maintain a perfectly consistent and immaculate usage of the term “the state” in this essay.
4 Maureen Healy, Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), esp. ch. 1.
5 On internal unrests and growing problems of troop reliability, see the classic Richard G. Plaschka et al., Innere Front: Militärassistenz, Widerstand und Umsturz in der Donaumonarchie 1918 (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1974); on the draconian military justice applied to civilians, see Oswald Überegger, Der andere Krieg: Die Tiroler Militärgerichtsbarkeit im Ersten Weltkrieg (Innsbruck: Wagner, 2002) and the latest discussion in Jonathan Gumz, The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914-1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 105-41; on the military leadership’s domination of wartime administration, see Joseph Redlich, Österreichische Regierung und Verwaltung im Weltkrieg (Vienna and New Haven: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky and Yale University Press, 1925), esp. 113-56; on the military’s hoarding of foodstuffs at the expense of the homefront, see Gumz, The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 176-92.
6 John W. Boyer, Culture and Political Crisis in Vienna: Christian Socialism in Power, 1887-1918 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), ch. 7.
7 Healy, Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire, ch. 6 on the dangerous implications of changing (and changed) conceptions of authority for homefront men and imperial paternalism.
8 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (hereafter abbreviated as ÖStA), Archiv der Republik (hereafter abbreviated as AdR), Bundeskanzleramt (hereafter abbreviated as BKA), Staatsratsprotokolle and Kabinettsratsprotokolle, esp. October to December 1918, passim. I did not find serious discussion on the reliability of the existing bureaucracy.
9 On career bureaucrats’willingness to work for the new order, see Walter Goldinger, “Verwaltung und Bürokratie,” in Österreich 1918-1938: Geschichte der Ersten Republik, Vol. 1, ed. Erika Weinzierl and Kurt Skalnik (Graz: Styria, 1983), 195-96.
10 In addition to the cited Healy work on the state’s failure to deliver its part of the wartime bargain (see especially “Conclusion” in Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire), I also show in my upcoming dissertation’s Chapter 1 that through successive prewar legislations and wartime systematic build-up, the Cisleithanian state had practically made an issue of political legitimacy out of its performance on welfare provision for the dependents of mobilized soldiers and war victims.
11 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Tätigkeitsbericht der Ortsgruppe Bruck an der Leitha,” in Der Invalide 2.5, 1 Mar. 1919, 5-6. The most important sources for organized war victims’ activities and opinions in the early years were the Zentralverband’s biweekly newspaper Der Invalide and documents scattered in ÖStA AdR Bundesministerium für soziale Verwaltung (hereafter abbreviated as BMfsV), Kriegsbeschädigtenfürsorge (hereafter abbreviated as KBF).
12 For example, Karl Burger, “Der Invalide,” Der Invalide 1.1, Nov. 1918, 1; Dr. H. H.,“Neujahr, wir und die Gesellschaft,” Der Invalide 2.1, 1 Jan. 1919, 1; K. Sch., “Der Kriegsbeschädigte Arbeiter,” Der Invalide 2.4, 15 Feb. 1919, 4. Mitzi Schwarz,“Witwenlos,” Der Invalide 2.14, 15 Jul. 1919, 2-3. Another counter-example was Archduke Salvator’s 10,000K donation to Amstetten’s organized war victims, Karl Grundei, “Meine Urlaubsreise,” Der Invalide 2.16, 15 Aug. 1919, 6.
13 On emergency measures to make up for this big hole, see for example ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF Karton (hereafter abbreviated as K) 1360 10878/1918; on the alleged Hungarian nonchalance, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Tätigkeitsbericht der Ortsgruppe Bruck an der Leitha,” 5.
14 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Tätigkeitsbericht der Ortsgruppe Bruck an der Leitha,” 5. Local authorities offering space to organized war victims was not unusual. For example, the Zentralverband ’s Vienna 12th District Local Branch was housed in the 12th district’s Magistratisches Bezirksamt building on Schönbrunnerstraße 259, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Wien XII,” Der Invalide 2.23, 1 Dec. 1919, 5.
15 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Tätigkeitsbericht der Ortsgruppe Bruck an der Leitha,” 5.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Hans Hautmann, Geschichte der Rätebewegung in Österreich, 1918-1924 (Vienna: Europaverlag, 1987).
19 Alfred Ableitinger, “Grundlegung der Verfassung,” in Österreich 1918-1938, Vol. 1, 161.
20 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Tätigkeitsbericht der Ortsgruppe Bruck an der Leitha,” 5.
21 Ibid., 6.
22 Invalid Offices were planned and set up by imperial government in 1918 as part of the effort to build a comprehensive war victim welfare system. Every district (politischer Bezirk), or in exceptional cases, several districts together, should have one Invalid Office under the control of Land Commission for the Care of Homecoming Soldiers. They constituted a department within each district government. See ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1359 6544/1918.
23 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Tätigkeitsbericht der Ortsgruppe Bruck an der Leitha,” 5-6.
24 Ibid.
25 See also John W. Boyer’s short discussion on the “sense of shock and trauma” among some officials during the immediate postwar months in “Silent War and Bitter Peace: The Revolution of 1918 in Austria,” Austrian History Yearbook 34 (2003): 3-4.
26 I discuss the spontaneous, and in most cases non-partisan rise of war victim movement more fully in the Chapter 2 of my dissertation. For contemporary reports, see for example,“Versammlung im Verbandsheim,” Der Invalide 1.2, Dec. 1918, 2-3; A. v. Sch. “Der Zentralverband der deutschösterreichischen Kriegsbeschädigten: Werden, Aufgabe und Organisation,” Der Invalide 2.1, 1 Jan. 1919, 2-3; “Der Ausschuß und seine bisherige Tätigkeit,” Der Invalide 2.2, 15 Jan. 1919, 1-3. On the mobilization of widows following the passage of Invalid Compensation Law in April 1919, see, for example, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Wien XVI,” Der Invalide 2.11, 1 Jun. 1919, 3; and “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Generalversammlung der Ortsgruppe und Bezirksstelle Gmunden,” Der Invalide 2.12, 15 Jun. 1919, 6.
27 Hans Kelsen, one of the architects of the Constitution of 1920, had emphasized the constitutional dissociation and discontinuity of the Republic from the monarchy in his “Die Verfassung Deutschösterreichs,” Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechtes der Gegenwart 9 (1920): 247-49. This view was made official in Article 1 of the Gesetz vom 21. Oktober 1919 über die Staatsform (Staatsgesetzblatt 1919/Nr. 484): “Deutschösterreich... ist eine demokratische Republik unter dem Namen ‘Republik Österreich.’ Die Republik Österreich übernimmt jedoch — unbeschadet der im Staatsvertrage von St. Germain auferlegten Verpflichtungen — keinerlei Rechtsnachfolge nach dem ehemaligen Staate Österreich [my emphasis], das ist den ‘im Rechtsrate vertretenen Königreichen und Ländern.’”
28 See, for example, Hunold, “Volk in Not!” Der Invalide 2.11, 1 Jun. 1919, 1.
29 The early estimate put the total number of war victims at around 300,000. See K. Sch. “Der Kriegsbeschädigte Arbeiter,” 3-4. The first postwar official population count was 6,067,430 as of 31 January 1920, according to Statistisches Handbuch für die Republik Österreich 1 (1920): 8. The government’s high estimate of Invalid Compensation Law of 1919 beneficiaries were 100,000 disabled veterans, 80,000 children of disabled veterans, 125,000 widows, and 225,000 orphans, which meant that more than 8 percent of the total population could be qualified clients, ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1366 12415/1919. See Chap. 2 of my dissertation for a more detailed discussion on the size of the war victim population.
30 “Denkschrift der Foderungen der Kriegsbeschädigten,” Der Invalide 1.1, Nov. 1918, 3.
31 Burger, “Der Invalide,” 1-2.
32 A. K. “Einige Worte an die Kameraden,” Der Invalide 1.2, 15 Dec. 1918, 1.
33 Schwarz, “Witwenlos,” 2-3.
34 From the seasoned war victim organizer Weißsteiner’s talk in a Hietzing local branch meeting, “Aus den Ortsgruppen,” Der Invalide 2.15, 1 Aug. 1919, 8.
35 “Beschlagnahme oder Besteuerung der Kriegsgewinne?” Der Invalide 2.19, 1 Oct. 1919, 1-2.
36 ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBFK1364 4580/1918, K1366 13136/1919, K1367 21310/1919.
37 Dr. H. H., “Neujahr, wir und die Gesellschaft,” 1-2. The Tyrolean war victim organization declined local Volkswehr’s offer to host a ball for their benefit on the ground that “[w]e… totally do not agree with the basic idea behind this kind of charity events, because our position is that we are not a beggars’ association, and we want our demands to have a solid legal grounding,” “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Landes-Vollversammlung des Vereines der ‘Kriegsinvaliden Deutsch-Tirols,’” Der Invalide 2.6, 15 Mar. 1919, 5. On organized war victims’opposition to begging, see “Die Kriegsbeschädigten und der Straßenbettel,” Der Invalide 2.19, 1 Oct. 1919, 4.
38 For example, “Ein Tag in der Schutzstelle für Kriegerwitwen und-Waisen,” Der Invalide 2.19, 1 Oct. 1919, 2-3. For Zentralverband ’s charity broker role (connecting help-seekers with potential benefactors), see the example in Die Schutzstelle für Kriegerwitwen und-Waisen, “Beschäftigungsraum für Kriegerwaisen,” Der Invalide 2.19, 1 Oct. 1919, 3.
39 The complaint of being forgotten or simply ignored after the war was over was copious, especially in the Der Invalide coverage on local war victim organization meetings. For more articulate complaints, see for example Dr. H. H., “Neujahr, wir und die Gesellschaft,” 1-2.
40 Richard Bessel, Germany after the First World War (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 251-53, 263-84.
41 A. v. Sch. “Der Zentralverband der deutschösterreichischen Kriegsbeschädigten,” 2-3.
42 Dr. H. H., “Neujahr, wir und die Gesellschaft,” 1.
43 Ibid. More on Hanusch’s thinking in the next section.
44 Ibid.
45 See, for example, Eric J. Leed’s discussion in his No Man’s Land: Combat and Identity in World War I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), esp. 73-97, 120-23.
46 K. Sch., “Die Superarbitrierungskommissionen und wir Invaliden,” Der Invalide 2.3, 1 Feb. 1919, 5-6.
47 Hunold, “Volk in Not!” 1.
48 For example, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Wien III,” Der Invalide 2.19, 1 Oct. 1919, 8; Walter Rentmesiter, “Zur Invalidenfrage,” Der Invalide 2.24, 15 Dec. 1919, 1-2.
49 See note 27, and Boyer, “Silent War and Bitter Peace,” 3.
50 “Denkschrift der Forderungen der Kriegbeschädigten,” 3.
51 For example, B… “Die Pensionliquidatur,” Der Invalide 2.16, 15 Aug. 1919, 9-10; “Ein Tag in der Schutzstelle für Kriegerwitwen und-Waisen,” 2-3.
52 The Zentralverband claimed it had 170,000 members in A. v. Sch., “Der Zentralverband der deutschösterreichischen Kriegsbeschädigten,” 2-3. The state authorities had a lower estimate at 100,000 in October 1919, after the fracturing of the Zentralverband. See ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1368 29149/1919. The Zentralverband’s status of being the only war victim organization that enjoyed partnership co-determination rights ended in 1920. See, for example, ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1370 63/1920.
53 Robert B..., “Zeit ist Geld,” Der Invalide 2.13, 1 Jul. 1919, 3-4.
54 See for example, the 22-point demand in “Denkschrift der Forderungen der Kriegsbeschädigten,” 3-4.
55 For example, Hunold, “Volk in Not!” 1.
56 Vague threats: Oberleutnant H. Kauders, “Aufklärungen über die ‘Zuwendung an Kriegsbeschädigte,’” Der Invalide 2.2, 15 Jan. 1919, 5; more concrete: “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Wien, Protokoll der Sitzung des Landesverbandes Niederösterreich…,” Der Invalide 2.24, 15 Dec. 1919, 4-6.
57 A. v. Sch., “Der Zentralverband der deutschösterreichischen Kriegsbeschädigten,” 4.
58 Polizeidirektion Wien to Staatsamt für Inneres, 17 November 1919, ÖStA AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 22 K4860 42409/1919.
59 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Generalversammlung der Ortsgruppe Wien am 9. Februar 1919,” 7.
60 On war victims’ demonstrations, see, for example, ÖStA AdR BKA/allgem-Inneres 15/3 K2435 2104/1919, and AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 22 K5099 18369/1920 incident in Linz.
61 The head of the Zentralverband made a public threat in the presence of several high-level government officials in a large rally of Viennese war victims, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Generalversammlung der Ortsgruppe Wien am 9. Februar 1919,” Der Invalide 2.4, 15 Feb. 1919, 6. A strong barrage of threats forced ministerial officials to adopt a conciliatory and at times pleading tone in another big rally, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Wien, Protokoll der Sitzung des Landesverbandes Niederösterreich…,” 4-6.
62 According to a Zentralverband representative, one-sixth of the annual national budget for the 1919-1920 fiscal year would be devoted to war victim welfare-related expenses, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Generalversammlung der Ortsgruppe und Bezirksstelle Gmunden,” 6-7. An example of successfully forcing their way onto other interest groups’ turf, see H… “Kleine Mitteilungen: Trafikantenversammlung,” Der Invalide 2.12, 15 Jun. 1919, 4. See also ÖStA AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 22 K5067 23892/1919 and 25248/1919 on occupying spaces that were already designated for other uses.
63 About possible over-burdening state finances by certain welfare practices, see Finance Ministry’s criticisms in ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1367 22894/1919. Tobacconists’ Association fought hard to prevent its members’ concessions from being revoked to make way for war victim applicants. See Burger, “Trafiken!” Der Invalide 2.4, 15 Feb. 1919, 2. There was detectable opposition from the business circles against the proposed compulsory hiring quota reserved for disabled veterans. See, for example, Karl Grundei, “Ein Jahr!” Der Invalide 2.22, 15 Nov. 1919, 3.
64 K. Sch., “Die Superarbitrierungskommissionen und wir Invaliden,” 5-6.
65 Ibid., 5. In fact, as the Republic reactivated Military Invalid Superarbitration Commissions after 19 November 1918, two non-military members were added to each commission. ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1364 1290/1918.
66 Dr. Hollitscher, “Vollzugsanweisung des Deutschösterreichischen Staatsrates vom 12. Februar, betreffend Abänderungen und Ergänzungen der Superarbitrierungsvorschriften,” Der Invalide 2.6, 15 Mar. 1919, 1-2. Before the said public warning, reform in this matter had been discussed by state officials. See ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1365 593/1919, 1469/1919. The public warning was obviously a strategy to pressure the authorities to move immediately.
67 Representatives from the Zentralverband were present in both the 30 December 1918 preparatory meeting and the first official meeting on 10 January 1919. They enjoyed voting power in the commission deliberation process. ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1364 4580/1918, K1365 988/1919, K1367 7603/1919.
68 For example, Ferdinand Hanusch, “Ein Geleitwort,” in Ludwig Brügel, Soziale Gesetzgebung in Österreich von 1848 bis 1918 (Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1919), viii.
69 “Entlassung von Kriegsbeschädigten Staatsangestellten: Staatssekretär Hanusch an den Zentralverband der deutschösterreichischen Kriegsbeschädigten am 30. Jänner 1919,” Der Invalide 2.4, 15 Feb. 1919, 5.
70 Dr. H. H., “Neujahr, wir und die Gesellschaft,” 1.
71 ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1366 12415/1919.
72 “Der Ausschuß und seine bisherige Tätigkeit,” 3. The money to subsidize the publication of Der Invalide came originally from the Economic Ministry. Der Invalide ’s circulation did grow substantially from 3,000 copies per issue at its inception to 50,000 copies per issue near the end of 1919, see Die Redaktion, “Das erste Jahr unserer Zeitung,” Der Invalide 2.22, 15 Nov. 1919, 1.
73 For example, Dr. A. Deutsch, Arzt des Invalidenamtes Wien, “Merkblatt für Invalide: Zur Wiederrinführung ins Erwerbsleben,” Der Invalide 2.3, 1 Feb. 1919, 1-3; and Deputy Interior Minister Otto Glöckel’s speech at the 9 Febrauary 1919 Viennese war victim rally, “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Generalversammlung der Ortsgruppe Wien am 9. Februar 1919,” 7.
74 ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1365 672/1919, 1245/1919.
75 ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1365 8533/1919.
76 “Die Invalidenbewegung,” Der Invalide 2.15, 1 Aug. 1919, 4.
77 There was no official or precise statistic in this regard at the beginning of the First Republic. This had much to do with the imperial nature of the military data collecting and the rapid and chaotic dissolution of the monarchy. See also ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1367 21094/1919, in which the Social Ministry and the National Statistics Office discussed the need to collect relevant data in the wake of IEG’s taking effect.
78 ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1366 11174/1919.
79 On the planning and implementation of Lebensmittelaktion, see ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1366 10675/1919 and K1554 folders on Lebensmittelaktion. For this project, 2 million K were made available to the Zentralverband.
80 “Unsere Lebensmittelaktion,” Der Invalide 2.12, 15 Jun. 1919, 3. A few small organizations (with membership smaller than 1,000) or institutions received assistance through the Zentralverband, too.
81 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Ortsgruppe Wien XVII. Protokoll,” Der Invalide 2.18, 15 Sep. 1919, 8.
82 For organized war victims’ participation in other official committees, see, for example, the composition of subcommittees of the Upper Austrian Invalidenentschädigungskommission in ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1367 21114/1919.
83 “Der Ausschuß und seine bisherige Tätigkeit,” 2; J. Vietoris, “Bericht über die Tätigkeit des Staatsangestelltenausschusses bis 15. März 1919,” Der Invalide 2.8, 15 Apr. 1919, 5. To organized war victims, war victim welfare administration being staffed by their own was a top priority. See, for example, the Zentralverband’s intervention in Invalid Office personnel issues in Upper Styria on 4 March 1919, ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1365 6081/1919.
84 See, for example, the Styrian case in ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1366 18098/1919.
85 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Erster Verbandstag des Landesverbandes Oberösterreichs,” Der Invalide 2.12, 15 Jun. 1919, 6.
86 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Wien, Protokoll der Sitzung des Landesverbandes Niederösterreich…,” 5.
87 “Aus den Ortsgruppen: Ortsgruppe Pottendorf,” Der Invalide 2.17, 1 Sep. 1919, 8-9. According to this account, the Zentralverband representative Weißsteiner pointed out that many war victims thought “the government had tried to fulfill its duties towards widows and orphans as much as possible, or at least good enough to offer them the minimum of what people had been promised during the national election campaigns.”
88 Paul Nikola, Zehn Jahre Kriegsgeschädigtenfond: Auf Anregung des Präsidenten des Kriegsgeschädigtenfonds Dr. Josef Resch, Bundesminister für soziale Verwaltung (Vienna: Kriegsgeschädigtenfond, 1930), 7-9. Of the 36 board members, only 12 were sent by war victim organizations. The norm for similar institutions before mid-1920s was half of the seats going to organized war victims.
89 About Communists’ recruitment efforts during the first half of 1919, see ÖStA AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 15/3 K2435 14577/1919, 14856/1919, 16820/1919, 19044/1919, 21102/1919, 25243/1919; AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 22 K5066 7417/1919, 13456/1919. Karl Grundei reported that Communist agitators were mobilizing disabled veterans against the IEG in sanatoriums in “Meine Urlaubsreise,” 7. About war victims’ presence in the putsches, see Gerhard Botz, Gewalt in der Politik: Attentate, Zusammenstöße, Putschversuche, Unruhen in Österreich, 1918-1934 (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1976), 45-70. Of the ca. 3,000 demonstrators on 17 April, there were around 800 disabled veterans and homecoming soldiers.
90 Polizeidirektion Wien to Staatsamt für Inneres,“Ungarische Gesandtschaft; Einflussnahme auf die Gestaltung der innerpolitischen Situation in Deutschösterreich,” ÖStA AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 22 K4860 23886/1919.
91 Der Zentralverband, “Unser I. Verbandstag,” Der Invalide 2.9, 1 May 1919, 2; “Generalversammlung der Ortsgruppe und Bezirksstelle Gmunden,” 6. Perhaps a sign of success, the Zentralverband had to defend its own cooperative approach. It criticized the radical Left for using war victims only as means to ulterior ends. See Hunold, “Invalide als Mittel zum Zweck,” Der Invalide 2.10, 15 May 1919, 1-2.
92 See, for example, the case of Waidhofen a. d. Ybbs in Karl Burger, “Keine Lebensmittel für Kriegsbeschädigte, aber Ueberfluß für Kriegsgewinner und Preistreiber,” Der Invalide 2.13, 1 Jul. 1919, 1-2. Burger’s account portrayed organized war victims in alliance with the republican state against the alliance between community leaders (and district administrators) and the alleged war profiteers.
93 “Deutschösterreichs Tod,” Der Invalide 2.15, 1 Aug. 1919, 1.
94 Boyer, “Silent War and Bitter Peace,” 52-56.
95 On the Austrian brand of corporatism, see, for example, Günter Bischof and Anton Pelinka, eds., Austro-Corporatism: Past, Present, Future (New Brunswick, N. J.: Transaction, 1996) and Peter J. Katzenstein, Corporatism and Change: Austria, Switzerland, and the Politics of Industry (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986).
96 Some contemplated the possibility of “Invalids’ Council” following the model of Soldiers’ and Workers’ Councils. But it was not supported by the majority organized war victims. See the police report on a 6 May 1919 Viennese rally, ÖStA AdR BKA/allgem. Inneres 15/3 K2435 16820/1919. The idea of a straight “Invalid Chamber” was also raised in 1919, but the Social Ministry shot it down for potential incursions on state jurisdiction, ÖStA AdR BMfsV KBF K1367 27672/1919.
97 For social partnership attempts in early First Republic, see Peter G. Fischer, “Ansätze zu Sozialpartnerschaft am Beginn der Ersten Republik: Das Paritätische Industriekomitee und die Industriekonferenzen,” in Österreich November 1918: Die Entstehung der Ersten Republik, Protokoll des Symposiums in Wien am 24. und 25. Oktober 1978 (Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, 1986), 124-40. On the “deep history” of social partnership, see Gerald Stourzh and Margarete Grandner, eds., Historische Wurzeln der Sozialpartnerschaft (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1986).
98 On intetest group politics during the First Republic, see Emmerich Tálos, “Interessenvermittlung und partikularistische Interessenpolitik in der Ersten Republik,” in Handbuch des politischen Systems Österreichs: Erste Republik, 1918-1933, ed. idem. et al. (Vienna: Manz, 1995), esp. 376-82, 385-89.
99 I borrow the terms from Ernst Hanisch, Der lange Schatten des Staates: Österreichische Gesellschaftsgeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, 1890-1990 (Vienna: Carl Ueberreuter, 1994), esp. 15-16.