Seyss-Inquart, Arthur

Seyss-Inquart, Arthur

(är`to͝or zīs`-ĭng`kvärt), 1892–1946, Austrian National Socialist leader. In Feb., 1938, Chancellor SchuschniggSchuschnigg, Kurt von
, 1897–1977, Austrian chancellor. He served (1932–34) as minister of justice and education and helped Engelbert Dollfuss repress the Social Democrats and organize the corporative state. After Dollfuss's assassination (1934) he became chancellor.
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 of Austria was forced by German pressure to appoint him minister of the interior. Seyss-Inquart became chancellor a few hours before German troops entered (Mar. 11) Austria. The Anschluss [union] of Austria and Germany was announced on Mar. 15, and Seyss-Inquart was made governor of Austria. In 1940 he was appointed German high commissioner in the occupied Netherlands, where he ruthlessly exterminated the Dutch Jews and deported many thousands to slave-labor camps. He was convicted as a war criminal and was hanged.