Engelbert Dollfuss
After an active role in the Heimwehr-Austrofascist clash with the Clericals, Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss appointed him Mayor of Vienna in 1934. He succeeded elected Mayor Karl Seitz. Ardently anti-Nazi, Schmitz was Mayor four years later when Austria was absorbed into the Third Reich in the Anschluss. Until that point, Schmitz spoke out publicly against Nazism and its tactics.