Arthur Seyss-Inquart was a senior Nazi Party official who as
Reich Commissioner had control of the Netherlands during World
War Two. Seyss-Inquart remained loyal to Adolf Hitler until the
end of the war. He was arrested as a war criminal, tried at
Nuremberg, found guilty and sentenced to death. Seyss-Inquart
was born on July 22nd 1892 in Stannern, which was then part of
Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1907 the family moved
to Vienna where Seyss-Inquart studied law at the University of
Vienna. During World War One he served in the Austrian Army as
an ‘Emperor’s Rifleman’ (Kaiserjäger). He fought in Russia,
Italy and Rumania and was decorated for bravery on a number of
occasions. Seyss-Inquart was seriously wounded in 1917 and while
recuperating from his injuries he completed his law degree.
After the war, Seyss-Inquart became a lawyer and set up his own
practice in 1921. He believed that Austria’s best interests lay
in a union with Germany – the ‘Anschluss’. He was taken in by
the ideas of the ‘Fath