Arthur Seyss-Inquart (German: Seyß-Inquart [ˈartuːɐ̯ saɪs ˈɪŋkvart] ⓘ; 22 July 1892 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician who served as Chancellor of Austria in 1938 for two days before the Anschluss.

His positions in Nazi Germany included deputy governor to Hans Frank in the General Government of Occupied Poland, and Reichskommissar for the German-occupied Netherlands.

The newly installed Nazis proceeded to transfer power to Germany, and Austria subsequently became the German province of Ostmark, with Seyss-Inquart as its governor (Reichsstatthalter).

This area constituted a German linguistic island in the midst of a Czech-speaking region; this may have contributed to the outspoken national consciousness of the family, and the young Arthur in particular.

At the beginning of World War I in August 1914 Seyss-Inquart enlisted with the Austrian Army and was given a commission with the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger, subsequently serving in Russia, Romania and Italy.

However, the acclamation for the German army from the majority of the Austrian population led Hitler to change course and opt for a full Anschluss, in which Austria was incorporated into Nazi Germany as the province of Ostmark.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner served as chief minister and Josef Burckel as Commissioner for the Reunion of Austria (concerned with the "Jewish Question").

[9] Among the Dutch people he was mockingly referred to as "Zes en een kwart" ("six and a quarter"), a play on his name, and the fact that Seyss-Inquart suffered from a limp.

He introduced measures to combat resistance, and when there was a widespread strike in Amsterdam, Arnhem and Hilversum in May 1943, special summary court-martial procedures were brought in, and a collective fine of 18 million guilders was imposed.

Seyss-Inquart was an unwavering anti-Semite; within a few months of his arrival in the Netherlands, he took measures to remove Jews from the government, the press and leading positions in industry.

As Allied forces approached in September 1944, the remaining Jews at Westerbork were removed to Theresienstadt, the SS-established concentration camp/ghetto in the Nazi German-occupied region of Czechoslovakia.

When the Allies advanced into the Netherlands in late 1944, the Nazi regime had attempted to enact a scorched earth policy, and some docks and harbours were destroyed.

Seyss-Inquart, however, was in agreement with Armaments Minister Albert Speer over the futility of such actions, and with the open connivance of many military commanders, they greatly limited the implementation of the scorched-earth orders.

[12] Before Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, he named a new government headed by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz in his last will and testament, in which Seyss-Inquart replaced Joachim von Ribbentrop, who had long since fallen out of favour, as Foreign Minister.

It was a token of the high regard Hitler felt for his Austrian comrade, at a time when he was rapidly disowning or being abandoned by so many of his other key lieutenants.

He remained in his posts until 5 May 1945, when, after a meeting with Dönitz to confirm his rescission of the scorched earth orders, he was arrested on the Elbe Bridge in Hamburg by two soldiers of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, one of whom was Norman Miller (birth name: Norbert Mueller), a German Jew from Nuremberg who had escaped to Britain at the age of 15 on a Kindertransport.

The final judgment against him cited his involvement in harsh suppression of Nazi opponents and atrocities against the Jews during all his billets, but particularly stressed his reign of terror in the Netherlands.

"[17] Before his execution, Seyss-Inquart returned to the Catholic Church, receiving absolution in the sacrament of confession from prison chaplain Father Bruno Spitzl.

His body, with those of the other nine executed men and that of Hermann Göring (who had committed suicide the previous day), was cremated at the Ostfriedhof in Munich, and their ashes were scattered into the River Isar.