Abstract
In this important study, Lucile Dreidemy chronicles the fascinating ‘second life’ of the Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß in the eighty years following his murder by Austrian National Socialists in July 1934. Rather than a biography of the statesman himself, the book offers a ‘critical confrontation with Dollfuß and the mythologizing of his person’ (p. 15). Dreidemy traces the evolution of the Dollfuß myth from its origins in the politician’s own self-depictions to the present day, utilizing a sophisticated discursive and semiotic analysis to interpret an array of ‘texts’, ranging from speeches and biographies to posters and monuments. Interrogating processes of ‘affective appropriation, complexity reduction and compression’ (p. 20), the author demonstrates how Dollfuß was transformed into a ‘state cult’ ( Staatskult ), how his portrayal as the martyr chancellor ( Märtyrerkanzler ) served as a foundation for the Austrian victim myth and how the periodic Dollfuß controversies of the Second Republic reflect the myth’s continued historical significance.
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