Screen 1: The Staff of the Administrative Library

1930 to 1950: Civil Servants and System Change

Public administration operates within a framework of laws and regulations, ensuring the implementation of political decisions and contributing to social stability and security. Civil servants, as representatives of the state, bear a unique responsibility for upholding the constitutional order – and are often directly impacted by changes in political regimes.

Personnel records from the Administrative Library in the late 1930s offer a revealing glimpse into the major political upheavals that shaped Austria from the late monarchy through the First Republic, the corporative state, the Nazi regime, and into the Second Republic.

Several employees of the Administrative Library began their service during the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. They witnessed first-hand the reorganization of the state following the monarchy's collapse in 1918. As the newly formed, much smaller Republic of Austria reorganized its administrative structures, many public service positions were eliminated, and employment was no longer automatically continued.

The corporative state introduced new rules for public employees with the decree "Measures Concerning Public Employees" (Federal Law Gazette 52/1934) after the dissolution of parliament. Political neutrality became mandatory, and disciplinary actions or dismissals on political grounds became more common.

These restrictions intensified under the Nazi regime. The "Decree on the Reorganisation of the Austrian Civil Service" (RGBl No. 87/1938) not only targeted political dissenters but also used racial origin as a criterion for dismissal, aligning with Nazi ideology to systematically purge the civil service.

After World War II, public employees once again faced scrutiny. During the process of denazification, individuals considered compromised were dismissed or permanently barred from civil service roles.