Dr Walter Riehl was an Austrian lawyer and politician who was an early exponent of Austrian National Socialism.
20 Facts About Walter Riehl
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Walter Riehl became deputy chairman of the DAP in March 1918 and two months leader took over as leader.
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Walter Riehl sought to blame Austria's problems on the Jews and wanted them expelled from the country.
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Walter Riehl supported profit sharing and land reform and sought to build up the party in universities, setting up a German Academic Association of National Socialists as early as June 1919.
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Where the DAP had been avowedly a "class" party, Walter Riehl sought to distance the group from any such consideration, instead tying it in to the wider Volkisch movement.
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Walter Riehl was aware from early on of the existence of the German Workers' Party in Germany itself and maintained correspondence with its early leader Anton Drexler.
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Walter Riehl was not a supporter of union with Germany but nonetheless he accepted a subservient role to Adolf Hitler at an early stage, referring to him "unseren reichsdeutschen fuhrer" in 1922.
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Walter Riehl remained as leader of the DNSAP until 1923 when it split between the pro-Hitler and pro-independence factions.
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Walter Riehl took charge of the pro-independence Deutschsozialen Verein wing of the party with Karl Schulz leading the Hitlerite group.
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Walter Riehl's party worked closely with the Greater German People's Party and in the 1927 election they presented a joint list under the name Nationale Einheitsfront.
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Walter Riehl played a role in Hermann Hiltl's Frontkampfervereinigung, a Pan-German militia group that was independent of the Nazis.
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Walter Riehl's profile fell somewhat after the split as the pro-Germany wing won the lion's share of support.
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However Walter Riehl would come back into favour in 1925 when he defended Otto Rothstock at his trial for the murder of Hugo Bettauer.
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Walter Riehl gained notoriety for his defences of right-wing leaders in a number of cases and in the aftermath of the Schattendorf Incident it was he who secured the acquittal of the accused rightist leaders.
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Walter Riehl returned to the Nazis on 26 September 1930, being admitted as member number 360.702.
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Walter Riehl returned to a prominent position within the party and used this influence to again promote his anti-Semitic agenda.
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Indeed, for Walter Riehl anti-Semitism was the entire basis of the Nazis' appeal in Austria, along with their anti-communism.
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Walter Riehl was especially critical of the leadership of Theodor Habicht and Alfred Frauenfeld, in particular the botched Coup d'etat of 1934 which resulted in the murder of Engelbert Dollfuss.
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Walter Riehl was eventually allowed to join the Nazi Party although he was never more than a rank-and-file member.
20.
Walter Riehl disappeared from the public eye after this although after the Second World War he held membership of the Austrian People's Party.