[1] In the aftermath of the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss on 25 July 1934, Steinhäusl was found to be one of the conspirators and arrested.

By noon on the same day, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler removed the current President of Interpol, Dr. Michael Skubl, who would later be replaced by Steinhäusl, who had just been released from prison.

Hoping to preempt a massive reorganization that might place their own careers in jeopardy, they persuaded the chief of Ordnungspolizei, Kurt Daluege, to refrain from a purge, claiming that most of the detectives, policemen, and even neighborhood patrolmen had been illegal Nazi activists before the Anschluss.

The response was the concoction of fraudulent documents that included backdated membership cards, forged dossiers, fabricated reports, and a host of other laundered or counterfeit items.

[3] As sociologist Mathieu Deflem writes, "Steinhäusl became the new International Criminal Police Commission President in April 1938.

Not only was Steinhäusl’s loyalty to Germany secure, German leaders also reckoned he would be but an interim figure, as he was known to suffer from tuberculosis.

In a circular letter of 24 August 1940, Reinhard Heydrich declared that he had been informed that his candidacy as ICPC President had "passed unanimously."