Fatherland Front (Austria)
The Vaterländische Front (VF, English: Fatherland's Front also translated as Patriotic Front ) was a right-wing, austrofascist Austrian political party. It was founded in 1933 by Engelbert Dollfuss to collect all "loyal Austrians" under one banner. After the prohibition of all other political parties, the VF held a monopolistic position in Austrian politics with both civilian and military divisions.
In spite of the efforts of Dollfuss, the VF never became a mass movement. By the end of 1937 it had 3 million members (with 6.5 million inhabitants of Austria), but only a few party loyalists held genuine allegiance; [citation needed] it could not win the support of its political opponents (from the circles of the Social Democratic Party of Austria and the Nazi Party). The party was banned after the Anschluss (annexation of Austria to Germany) in March 1938.
The symbol of the VF was the crutch cross (Kruckenkreuz), and its official greeting was Front heil!.[citation needed]
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