The Ostmärkische Sturmscharen (; ' Eastern March Stormtroopers') was a right-wing paramilitary group in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, founded on 7 December 1930. Recruited from the Katholische Jugend (

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Youth), later from journeymen and teacher organisations, it formed an opposition to both to the nationalist

Heimwehr The Heimwehr (, ) or Heimatschutz (, ) was a nationalist, initially paramilitary group operating in Austria during the 1920s and 1930s that was similar in methods, organization, and ideology to the Freikorps in Germany. It was opposed to parliam ...

forces and the Social Democratic

Republikanischer Schutzbund The Republikanischer Schutzbund (, ''Republican Protection League'') was an Austrian paramilitary organization established in 1923 by the Social Democratic Party (SDAPÖ) to secure power in the face of rising political radicalization after World ...

. The Christian Social politician

Kurt Schuschnigg Kurt Alois Josef Johann von Schuschnigg (; 14 December 1897 – 18 November 1977) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who was the Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria from the 1934 assassination of his predecessor Engelbert Doll ...

was its ''Reichsführer''. Founded in Innsbruck,

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, the Ostmärkische Sturmscharen spread over the entire Austrian territory when the association's headquarters were relocated to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1933. The organisation then comprised about 15,000 members according to their own figures, though it never became very popular. Nevertheless, in

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

they incorporated the local Heimwehr and received massive support from the Austrian Bauernbund (Farmers' League) organisation. The Bauernbund chairman

Leopold Figl Leopold Figl (2 October 1902 – 9 May 1965) was an Austrian politician of the Austrian People's Party (Christian Democrats) and the first Federal Chancellor after World War II. He was also the youngest Federal Chancellor of Austria after the w ...

, post-war

Chancellor of Austria The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies. Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...

, acted as Lower Austrian ''Landesführer''. On the eve of the Austrian Civil War, the Märkische Sturmscharen increasingly adopted a Catholic

clerical fascist Clerical fascism (also clero-fascism or clerico-fascism) is an ideology that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with clericalism. The term has been used to describe organizations and movements that combine religious elements ...

and antisemite stance. Martial sports and military training became fundamental, and the association began to deploy paramilitary task force formations.

Engelbert Dollfuss Engelbert Dollfuß (alternatively: ''Dolfuss'', ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian clerical fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ...

, Austrian chancellor since 1932, attempted to strengthen them as a counterweight to the radical Heimwehr forces. Sturmscharen troopers also participated in the violent suppression of the Schutzbund revolt in February 1934. After the Austrofascist

Federal State of Austria The Federal State of Austria ( de-AT, Bundesstaat Österreich; colloquially known as the , "Corporate State") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the clerical fascist Fa ...

was established in 1934, Schuschnigg became chancellor upon Dollfuss' assassination during the Nazi

July Putsch The July Putsch was a failed coup attempt against the Austrofascist regime by Austrian Nazis from 25 to 30 July 1934. Just a few months after the Austrian Civil War, Austrian Nazis and German SS soldiers attacked the Chancellery in Vienna in an ...

and the Austrian right-wing paramilitary forces were gradually absorbed by the Fatherland Front (''Vaterländische Front'', VF) unity party. On 11 April 1936, the Ostmärkische Sturmscharen declared themselves a cultural organisation, hence the final merger of all defence forces into the VF by decree of Chancellor Schuschnigg in October was for them merely a formality. After the Austrian ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938, some former members of the Sturmscharen engaged in resistance to Nazism.

External links

Entry
on Aeiou Encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostmarkische Sturmscharen 1930s in Austria Paramilitary organisations based in Austria Austrofascism