Karl Seitz

For the Austrian Olympic water polo player, seeKarl Seitz (water polo).

Not to be confused withCarl Zeiss.

Karl Seitz
Seitz photographed by Ferdinand Schmutzer, 1925
President of Austria
De facto 10 November 1920 – 9 December 1920
Chancellor	Michael Mayr
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Michael Hainisch
Mayor and Governor of Vienna
In office 13 November 1923 – 12 February 1934
Preceded by	Jakob Reumann
Succeeded by	Richard Schmitz
Second President of the National Council
In office 15 December 1920 – 20 November 1923
Preceded by	Matthias Eldersch
Succeeded by	Matthias Eldersch
President of theConstituent National Assembly
In office 5 March 1919 – 9 November 1920
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
President of theProvisional National Assembly
In office 21 October 1918 – 16 February 1919 Serving with Franz Dinghofer,Jodok Fink/Johann Hauser
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	(1869-09-04)4 September 1869 Vienna,Austria-Hungary
Died	3 February 1950(1950-02-03)(aged 80) Vienna,Austria
Political party	Social Democratic Workers' Party
Spouse	Emilie Heindl

Karl Josef Seitz(German pronunciation:[kaʁlˈzaɪts];4 September 1869 – 3 February 1950) was anAustrianpoliticianof theSocial Democratic Workers' Party.He served as member of theImperial Council,President of theNational CouncilandMayor of Vienna.

Early life

Seitz was born inVienna,the capital ofAustria-Hungary.He was the son of a struggling small-time coal trader. After the premature death of his father, in 1875, the family was thrown into abject poverty, and Seitz had to be sent off to an orphanage.

He, nonetheless, received adequate education and earned a scholarship so that he could enroll in a teacher-training college in the city ofSt. Pölten,Lower Austria.In 1888, he took employment as a public elementary school teacher in Vienna.

Already an outspokensocial democrat,he was disciplined several times for his political activism. His founding of a Social Democratic teachers' union in 1896 led to his delegation into the Lower Austrian Board of Education in 1897, which then led to his termination as a teacher later that year.

Early political career

Seitz now turned to full-time politics and established himself as one of the party's most eminent experts on educational policy. In 1901, Seitz was elected to theImperial Counciland, in 1902, to the provincial parliament ofLower Austria.Following the outbreak ofWorld War Iin 1914, Seitz developed pronouncedpacifistleanings and participated in the 1917StockholmSocialists' Congress.

Seitz entered history in 1918, when Austria-Hungary was breaking down, and its disintegration into smaller independentnation stateswas becoming manifest. On 21 October the Imperial Council members, representing the empire's ethnically-German provinces, moved to form a Provisional National Assembly for "German Austria".In its constituent session, the Provisional National Assembly appointed Seitz as one of its three chairmen. All three presidents together functioned as head of state in theStaatsratsdirektorium.After theelection to the Constituent National Assembly,that was changed on 15 March 1919. Seitz became the First President, and the other two presidents became deputies of the First President. The First President was also to be head of state. He retained the position until 9 December 1920.

President

Almost simultaneously, Seitz was also appointed provisional chairman of theSocial Democratic Workers' Party of Austriaafter the death of the party nestorVictor Adler.In 1919, his positions both asPresident of Austriaand as party chairman were formalised.

Following the implementation of the definitiveConstitution of Austriaon 1 October 1920, Seitz declined to seek re-election. He left office on 9 December but did not retire from politics and retained both his party chairmanship and his seat in the newly establishedNational Council,Seitz now devoted his attention to Vienna local affairs.

Mayor of Vienna

On 13 November 1923, he was electedMayor of Vienna.

The extensive and competently administered public welfare and education programs that he implemented, particularly promoting the building of residences, were very popular, even by his party's opponents, and they were positively remembered for decades.

Personal life

Karl Seitz married Emma Seidel, daughter ofAmalie Seidel,one of the first women members of the Austrian parliament.

Later life

With the rise of theFatherland Frontin 1934 and the Social Democracts' failedinsurrection against the federal government,the Social Democratic Worker's Party was outlawed. Having thus lost his party chairmanship, Seitz was also removed from his post as a mayor, taken into custody and released without charge a few weeks later. Even though a majority of Viennese considered his removal from office illegitimate, Seitz's political career had essentially been brought to an end.

Continuing to live in Vienna, Seitz witnessed theAnschlusswithNazi Germanyin 1938 and the outbreak ofWorld War IIin 1939. There were contacts with the important resistance group (Maier-Mesner group, CASSIA) around the later-executed priestHeinrich Maier,who was in contact with the American secret serviceOSS.Maier had set up an information network to receive important information and to realise political plans for after the war.In 1944, he was placed under arrest a second time and for a time was even imprisoned in theRavensbrück concentration camp,only to again return to Vienna when Nazi Germany eventually collapsed in May 1945. Though now ill, Seitz served the newly establishedSocial Democratic Party of Austriaas its honorary chairman and a nominal National Council member until his death, at the age of 80.

External links

• Media related toKarl Seitzat Wikimedia Commons
• Newspaper clippings about Karl Seitzin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW