1931: The Pfrimer Putsch

The Pfrimer putsch on September 12 and 13, 1931 was the first failed attempt to eliminate the constitutional order of the democratic Austrian Republic. Lawyer Walter Pfrimer, the state director of the Styrian Homeland Protection (Heimatschutz),  mobilised 14,000 members of the Home Guard (Heimwehr) and proclaimed assumption of power in the state. A provisional constitutional commission replaced the term “Republic” with “Federal State”. The Homeland Protection occupied a large part of Upper Styria, and mayors and regional chief officers were arrested. Although planned as a copy of Italian Fascism, only 600 men advanced to Amstetten in the March on Vienna. The putsch failed mostly because of a lack of support from Home Guard associations in other provinces. The slow advance of the executive authority, however, enabled the rebels to demobilise and dispose of most of their armaments. Sympathy in parts of the political elite and the population led to Pfrimer’s acquittal as well as that of seven other Homeland Security commanders by the jury in Graz’s high treason trial from December 14 to 18, 1931.