With the coming of age on November 20 1930 Otto von Habsburg, the eldest son of Emperor Karl I and Zita, assumed the duties of Chief of the Imperial House, who has played and continues to play with a sense of duty and dignity and serve the pan-monarchist ideals. Towards the end of the year '20 in Austria, where the Republic had banished the Habsburgs by depriving them of all good, growing a wide array monarchico, guidato dall’associazione ANELLO DI FERRO e affiancato dal 1925 dalla “Pia Unione di Preghiere” per la beatificazione di Carlo I. A partire dal 1931 oltre 1.600 comuni in Tirolo, Stiria e Austria inferiore divenivano “imperiali” per avere concesso la cittadinanza onoraria a Otto, mentre un busto del padre veniva collocato ufficialmente nella Cripta dei Cappuccini di Vienna. Obbiettivo: restaurare la monarchia su base federale e ispirazione cattolica, unico baluardo contro il nazismo e il comunismo. Scampato il primo pericolo nel 1934, dopo l’assassinio del cancelliere Dolfuss, per l’intervento dell’Italia, il nuovo governo di Vienna cercò il sostegno del sempre più popolare Otto: l’abrogazione of anti-Habsburg in 1919, the return of many family members in Austria, the publication of books and magazines pro-monarchist are proof. "A posteriori, from the international point of view, never the chances of a return of the monarchy in Austria were as great as between 1934 and 1936" (F. Orlandini, Otto of Austria, 2004, p.. 53 ). The widespread royalist sentiments can easily see in what he wrote in 1937, the jew novelist Joseph Roth (author of famous masterpieces THE MARCH OF THE Radetsky and Crypt of the Capuchins ): "We need law and not arbitrary. We need a crown and the cross is not the swastika. We want the Austrian double eagle ... Long live the Emperor Otto . The lack of courage of the Austrian institutions, while governed by convincing people of monarchists, unfortunately, will be fatal. In 1938, the disinterest of France and England, the anti-Habsburg hostility of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, the rapprochement between Italy and Germany favor Hitler, that Otto would not meet in 1933, already aware of its expansionist delusional. While there is growing pressure on Austria Nazi, Archduke asks Chancellor von Schuschnigg to the ouster of the Nazi government, alerted the army (which had restored the imperial banners) the refusal of any award in Berlin. On 17 February 1938, threatened by the Nazi invasion, Otto wrote to the Registrar confirmed the value of the monarchy as a guarantee of independence and freedom of Austria, suggests-to resist Hitler - the approach to the Western powers, the peace with the workers' parties and the refusal of any further concession to the Nazis, already favored by an amnesty. In case of impossibility of von Schuschnigg and his resignation, offered to assume the duties of the Registrar to ensure the government international relief and freedom of action! The hesitation of the Austrian political prejudice the proposed solution March 12 and will deliver to Nazism in Austria: it is no coincidence that among the first to be persecuted, along with the Jews, will be the monarchists! The forced annexation of Austria will be the first step towards the Second World War. Against Otto, who has strongly protested the international press for his country's brutal assault on 20 April issued an arrest warrant for the crime of high treason, which forces him to flee with his family in the United States. The careful diplomacy of Otto on the Anglo-Americans contribute to the "Moscow Declaration" of 1943, which, despite the opposition of the Soviet Union, recognize Austria as nation victims of Nazism and its right to raise it as an independent state. The example of Otto von Habsburg, a supporter of the postwar revival of Europe for 20 years and brilliant member of parliament in Strasbourg, demonstrates that the representatives of the monarchy - even in the most difficult historical situations - may better serve their country because expression of competence and sense of institutions. Otto von Habsburg, who will soon celebrate its first 96 springs, must look with admiration at all eager to benefit principles to their land.
Source - UMI , September 4, 2008
