A Strategy of Containment: Heinrich Drimmel's Political Activism in the Realm of Higher Education Policy in the Early Second Republic

For over nine years, Heinrich Drimmel served as minister for education, becoming one of the most influential conservative politicians of the early Second Republic during his tenure. While the minister was responsible for many policy fields, higher education was particularly close to Drimmel’s heart. Yet today his reign is mostly interpreted as a period of continued provincialization and missed opportunities. That does not imply that Drimmel was a hapless politician – quite the contrary. This article investigates Drimmel’s biography, his political agenda, and his ideological background of political Catholicism, all of which are rooted in the authoritarian regime of the Ständestaat. The analysis establishes that Drimmel’s aim was to preserve conservative hegemony at Austrian universities, and he had the means to realize it through a strategy of containing modernity of thought. Drimmel’s “success” had long-lasting effects on the tertiary sector and scientific research in Austria.