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History Austria & Hungary

Prison Elite

How Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg Survived Nazi Captivity

by (author) Erika Rummel

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2021
Category
Austria & Hungary, Holocaust, Historical, 20th Century, Germany
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487527600
    Publish Date
    Jun 2021
    List Price
    $29.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781487527570
    Publish Date
    Jun 2021
    List Price
    $74.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487527587
    Publish Date
    Jun 2021
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

After the Anschluss (annexation) in 1938, the Nazis forced Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg to resign and kept him imprisoned for seven years, until his rescue by the Allies in 1945. Schuschnigg’s privileged position within the concentration camp system allowed him to keep a diary and to write letters which were smuggled out to family members.

 

Drawing on these records, Prison Elite paints a picture of a little-known aspect of concentration camp history: the life of a VIP prisoner. Schuschnigg, who was a devout Catholic, presents his memoirs as a "confession," expecting absolution for any political missteps and, more specifically, for his dictatorial regime in the 1930s. As Erika Rummel reveals in fascinating detail, his autobiographical writings are frequently unreliable.

 

Prison Elite describes the strategies Schuschnigg used to survive his captivity emotionally and intellectually. Religion, memory of better days, friendship, books and music, and maintaining a sense of humour allowed him to cope. A comparison with the memoirs of fellow captives reveals these tactics to be universal.

 

Studying Schuschnigg’s writing in the context of contemporary prison memoirs, Prison Elite provides unique insight into the life of a VIP prisoner.

About the author

Erika Rummel has taught at the University of Toronto and WLU, Waterloo. She has lived in big cities (Los Angeles, Vienna) and small villaes in Argentina, Romania, and Bulgaria. She has written extensively on social history, translated the correspondence of inventor Alfred Nobel, the humanist Erasmus, and the Reformer Wolfgang Capito. She is the author of a number of historical novels, most recently The Road to Gesualdo and The Inquisitor's Niece, which was judged best historical novel of the year by the Colorado Independent Publishers' Association. In 2018 the Renaissance Society of America honoured her with a lifetime achievement award. She divides her time between living in Toronto and Santa Monica, California. The Loneliness of the Time Traveller is her eighth novel.

Erika Rummel's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"Rummel brilliantly describes and analyzes how Schuschnigg attempted to cope psychologically with his personal plight and to explain to himself why he had failed as chancellor."

<em>Central European History</em>