He went into law after the war, and in 1921 set up his own practice. During the early years of the first Austrian republic, he was close to the Vaterländische Front.
As a successful lawyer, he was asked to join the cabinet of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in 1933.
He became a State Councillor in 1937 under Kurt Schuschnigg. He was not a member of the Austrian National Socialist party at first. But by 1938, Seyß-Inquart was the highest-ranking politician in the Austrian National Socialist Party.
In February 1938, Seyß-Inquart was appointed Minister of the Interior by Schuschnigg, after Hitler had threatened Schuschnigg. On 11 March 1938, Schuschnigg resigned as Austrian Chancellor and Seyß-Inquart was appointed to the position by Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas. Hitler's plan was to have Seyß-Inquart send a telegram asking for German help to stop riots, but President Miklas did not make Seyß-Inquart chancellor until after Hitler's invasion of Austria. On 13 March 1938, Seyß-Inquart joined the National Socialist party.
Hitler was going to leave Austria independent, but after the welcome the invading German troops got during the Anschluß he decided to make Austria a new part of the Third Reich, called "Ostmark" (or "eastern boundary") . Seyß-Inquart wrote the statute which made Austria a province of Germany, and signed it into law on 13 March.
Seyß-Inquart became "Reichsstatthalter" or Governor of the so-called Ostmark. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was chief minister, and Burckel Commissioner for the Reunion of Austria (concerned with the "Jewish Question").
Seyß-Inquart was made an SS Gruppenführer, and in May 1939 Minister without portfolio in Hitler's government.
After the invasion of Poland Seyß-Inquart became governor of Southern Poland, but before he started work there the General Government was created, and Seyß-Inquart became a deputy to Governor General Hans Frank.
After Germany invaded the Low Countries, Seyß-Inquart became Reichskommissar for occupied Netherlands in May 1940. His job was to organize civil administration, create close economic ties with Germany and defend the interests of the Reich.
He supported the Dutch National Socialist Party (NSB) and allowed it to create a paramilitary "Landwacht", as an auxiliary police force. Other political parties were banned in late 1941, and many former government officials imprisoned at Sint-Michielsgestel. The administration of the country was largely controlled by Seyß-Inquart himself.
He introduced measures to combat 'terror', and when a widespread strike took place in Amsterdam, Arnhem and Hilversum in May 1943 special summary court-martials were held and a collective fine of 18 million guilders was imposed. Seyß-Inquart authorized the execution of around 800 people before liberation. Some people say it was not merely 800 but over 1,500, including executions under the so-called "Hostage Law" involving (among others) political prisoners who were close to being liberated, the Putten incident, and the reprisal execution of 117 Dutchmen for the attack on SS and Police Leader" Hanns Albin Rauter. From July 1944 on, most of Seyß-Inquart's powers were transferred to the military commander in the Netherlands and the Gestapo, but he was still an important and powerful political figure.
There were two small concentration camps in the Netherlands:
There was also a "Jewish assembly camp" at Westerbork, in addition to a number of other camps controlled by the military, the police, the SS or Seyß-Inquart's administration. These included a "voluntary labor recruitment" camp at Ommen. A total of around 530,000 Dutch civilians worked for the Germans, of whom 250,000 were sent to factories in Germany.
Seyss-Inquart was an anti-Semite: within a few months of his arrival in the Netherlands, he sacked Jews from government, the press and leading positions in industry. Anti-Jewish measures escalated after 1941: approximately 140,000 Jews were registered, a ghetto was created in Amsterdam and a transit camp set up at Westerbork. In February 1941, 600 Jews were sent to the Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps. Later, Dutch Jews were sent to Auschwitz. As Allied forces approached in September 1944 the remaining Jews at Westerbork were sent to Theresienstadt. Of 140,000 registered Dutch Jews, only 44,500 survived the war.
When Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945, Seyß-Inquart became the Foreign Minister in Admiral Karl Dönitz's new German government.
The Nazi regime had tried a 'scorched earth' policy, and also destroyed some docks and harbors. Seyß-Inquart agreed with Armaments Minister Albert Speer that destroying everything to keep valuable materials from Allied forces or a new government after the war was wrong. Seyß-Inquart also helped in the so-called 'hunger winter' of 1945 to distribute food, and allowed Allied airplanes to drop Swedish white bread for the hungry people of occupied northern Netherlands. He remained Reichskommissar until 8 May 1945, when, after a meeting with Karl Dönitz to confirm his blocking of the scorched-earth orders, he was captured in Hamburg.
At the Nuremberg Trials, Seyß-Inquart faced charges of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; planning, starting and fighting wars of aggression; war crimes; and crimes against humanity.
His defence lawyer was Gustav Steinbauer. Seyß-Inquart was nonetheless found guilty of all charges except conspiracy. On hearing of his death sentence, Seyss-Inquart made it clear he accepted responsibility for excesses during the war, "Death by hanging...well, in view of the whole situation, I never expected anything different. It's all right". He was hanged on 16 October 1946, at the age of 54, together with nine other Nuremberg defendants. His last words were "I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War and that the lesson taken from this world war will be that peace and understanding should exist between peoples. I believe in Germany".
Classical Athens
Classical Athens refers to the city of Athens from 508 to 322 BC. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes, after the tyranny of the Peistratids and the rule of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC. Athens was one of the most powerful cities in ancient times. It was important because there democracy developed.
In 477 B.C. Athens began the Delian League to join the city-states for protection. Their rival was the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. The Delian League's money was kept in the temple of Apollo.
In the classical period, Athens was a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's "Akademia" and Aristotle's "Lyceum". Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles, and other philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of western civilization, and the birthplace of democracy. Its culture and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC had widespread effects.
The classical period is usually dealt with by its most important political events, as follows:
When King Xerxes of Persia fought the Greeks of Asia Minor, Athens helped the Greeks in Asia Minor. In time, the Persians attacked Greece and the Greco-Persian wars began.
On the plain of Marathon, many Persians with bows and arrows fought the Greeks. Even though there were many more Persians than Greeks, the Greeks won because they had spears and swords of metal.
Themistocles, the general of Athens, warned the Athenians that the Persians would return, so they should make their navy bigger. The people did so, and Sparta offered to help. In 480 BC the Persians arrived and attacked the Greeks, both on land and on sea. The Persians won the battle of Thermopylae, but the battle gave the Greeks time to get ready.