Editing Engelbert Dollfuss (section)

== Assassination ==
{{main|July Putsch}}
[[File:Grave of E. Dollfuß.jpg|thumb|Grave of Engelbert Dollfuss]]

As a result of his consistent opposition to Nazi demands, Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by a group of Austrian Nazis, including [[Otto Planetta]], [[Franz Holzweber]], Ernst Feike, Franz Leeb, Josef Hackl, Ludwig Maitzen, Erich Wohlraab, and Paul Hudl, who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted ''[[coup d'état]]''. During mass trials which took place after the coup, Hudl was sentenced to life in prison, while the others were sentenced to death for their involvement. Planetta and Holzweber were hanged on 31 July 1934, Feike was hanged on 7 August 1934, and Leeb, Hackl, Maitzen, and Wohlraab were hanged on 13 August 1934. Hudl was released under an amnesty in 1938.<ref>[http://erfurt-web.de/PlanettaOtto&recommend_site] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=33686|title=Pics of Planetta and Holzweber (1934 coup)|work=Axis History Forum|access-date=5 July 2015|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175927/http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=33686|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/76087169/?terms=%22josef%20haekel%22&match=1| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210822190530/https://www.newspapers.com/image/76087169/?terms=%22josef%20haekel%22&match=1| archive-date = 2021-08-22| title = 14 Aug 1934, p. 6 –The Gazette and Daily at Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="Death">{{Cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747609-1,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102143720/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747609-1,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 2, 2012 | magazine=Time | title=Austria: Death for Freedom | date=August 6, 1934 | access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref>

In his dying moments, Dollfuss asked for [[Viaticum]], the [[Eucharist]] administered to a dying person, but his assassins refused to give it to him.{{sfn|Messner|2004|p=33}} Mussolini had no hesitation in attributing the attack to the German dictator: the news reached him at [[Cesena]], where he was examining the plans for a psychiatric hospital. Mussolini personally gave the announcement to Dollfuss's widow, who was a guest at [[Villa Mussolini|his villa]] in [[Riccione]] with her children. He also put at the disposal of [[Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg]], who spent a holiday in [[Venice]], a plane that allowed the prince to rush back to Vienna and to face the assailants with his militia, with the permission of President [[Wilhelm Miklas]].<ref>Richard Lamb, ''Mussolini and the British'', 1997, p. 149</ref>

Mussolini also mobilised a part of the Italian army on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with war in the event of a German invasion of Austria to thwart the putsch. Then he announced to the world: "The independence of Austria, for which he has fallen, is a principle that has been defended and will be defended by Italy even more strenuously", and then replaced in the main square of [[Bolzano]] the statue<ref>[[:de:Walther-Denkmal (Bozen)]]</ref> of [[Walther von der Vogelweide]], a Germanic troubadour, with that of [[Nero Claudius Drusus|Drusus]], a Roman general who conquered part of Germany. This was the greatest moment of friction between Italian Fascism and National Socialism and Mussolini himself came down several times to reaffirm the differences in the field.

The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by uprisings in many regions in Austria, resulting in further deaths. In [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthia]], a large contingent of northern German Nazis tried to seize power but were subdued by the Italian units nearby. At first, Hitler was jubilant, but the Italian reaction surprised him. Hitler became convinced that he could not face a conflict with the Western European powers, and he officially denied liability, stating his regret for the murder of the Austrian Chancellor. He replaced the ambassador to Vienna with [[Franz von Papen]] and prevented the conspirators from entering Germany, also expelling them from the Austrian Nazi Party. The Nazi assassins in Vienna, after declaring the formation of a new government under Austrian Nazi [[Anton Rintelen]], previously exiled by Dollfuss as Austrian Ambassador to Rome, surrendered after threats from the Austrian military of blowing up the Chancellery using [[dynamite]], and were subsequently tried and executed by [[hanging]].<ref name="Death"/> [[Kurt Schuschnigg]], previously Minister of Education, was appointed new chancellor of Austria after a few days, assuming the office from Dollfuss's deputy Starhemberg.

Out of a population of 6.5 million, approximately 500,000 Austrians were present at Dollfuss's burial in [[Vienna]].<ref name="Death"/> He is interred in the [[Hietzing]] cemetery in Vienna.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.viennatouristguide.at/Friedhoefe/Hietzing/Ehrengraeber/z_dollfuss.htm |title=Vienna Tourist Guide: Dollfuss Hietzinger Friedhof |publisher=Hedwig Abraham |access-date=6 February 2010 |archive-date=8 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100108075800/http://www.viennatouristguide.at/Friedhoefe/Hietzing/Ehrengraeber/z_dollfuss.htm |url-status=live }} (includes photographs)</ref>  His wife, [[Alwine Dollfuß|Alwine Dollfuss]] (who died in 1973) was later buried beside him.  Two of his children, Rudolf and Eva, were in Italy as guests of [[Rachele Mussolini]] at the time of his death, an event which saw Mussolini himself shed tears over his slain ally.<ref name="Eve"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aspetos.at/de/traueranzeige/rudolf_dollfuss |title=Rudolf Dollfuß – Traueranzeige und Parte † 05.11.2011 – ASPETOS |access-date=January 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428114838/http://www.aspetos.at/de/traueranzeige/rudolf_dollfuss |archive-date=2012-04-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>