17 Facts About Karl Renner

Karl Renner was an Austrian politician and jurist of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria.

Karl Renner is often referred to as the "Father of the Republic" because he led the first government of German-Austria and the First Austrian Republic in 1919 and 1920, and was decisive in establishing the present Second Republic after the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, becoming its first President after World War II.

Karl Renner was especially interested in the problems of the Austrian state, whose existence he justified on geographical, economic and political grounds.

Karl Renner became the first head of government of that newly established small German-speaking republic which refused to be considered the heir of the Habsburg monarchy and wished to be known as the Republic of German-Austria.

Karl Renner was the leader of the delegation that represented this new German-Austria in the negotiations of St Germain where the "Republic of Austria" was acknowledged but was declared to be the responsible successor to Imperial Austria.

Karl Renner was Chancellor of Austria of the first three coalition cabinets from 1918 until 1920 and at the same time Minister of Foreign Affairs, backed by a grand coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Social Party.

From 1931 to 1933, Karl Renner was President of Parliament, the National Council of Austria.

On 2 April 1938, Karl Renner appealed to Austrians to vote yes in the 10 April plebiscite that legitimized the Anschluss; many Austrians followed his advice, and as a result, Austrians welcomed the Germans and Hitler himself.

Seven days later Karl Renner's cabinet took office, declared the independence of Austria from Nazi Germany and called for the creation of a democratic state along the lines of the First Austrian Republic.

One-third of State Chancellor Karl Renner's cabinet, including the crucial seats of the Secretary of State of the Interior and the Secretary of State for Education, was staffed by Austrian Communists.

The British were particularly hostile, and even American President Harry S Truman, who believed that Renner was a trustworthy politician rather than a token front for the Kremlin, denied him recognition.

However, Karl Renner had secured multi-party control of the government by designating two Under-Secretaries of State in each of the ministries, appointed by the two parties not designating the Secretary of State.

Karl Renner's government opted to restore the 1920 Constitution, as amended in 1929.

Karl Renner died in 1950 in Vienna and was buried in the Presidential Tomb at the Zentralfriedhof.

Karl Renner didn't want us concentration campers in Vienna after the war and he frankly said that Austria would not give anything back to them.

For most of his life, Karl Renner alternated between the political commitment of a social democrat and the analytical distance of an academic scholar.

Karl Renner argued that the separation of public and private law is a creation of capitalism, whereby the state enforces the interests of capital owners.