Walter Pfrimer

Walter Pfrimer
Pfrimer (right) with Heimwehr leader Richard Steidle, about 1930
Born	Walter Pfrimer (1881-12-22)December 22, 1881 Marburg an der Drau
Died	May 31, 1968(1968-05-31) (aged 86) Judenburg
Nationality	Austrian
Citizenship	Austrian, German (1938-1945)
Occupation	Lawyer
Known for	Heimwehr leader
Political party	Nazi Party

Walter Pfrimer (born 22 December 1881 in Marburg an der Drau – died 31 May 1968 in Judenburg) was an Austrian politician and leader of the Heimwehr in Styria. He was the leader of a failed putsch in 1931.

The son of a wine merchant, Pfrimer studied law at the University of Graz, gaining his doctorate in 1906. As a student he had been a member of the Burschenschaft and an ardent follower of the German nationalist and antisemitic hard-liner Georg Ritter von Schönerer before settling into a position as a lawyer in Judenburg.

He became a Heimwehr leader early in the movement's life and initially won the financial backing of the Alpine Montangesellschaft, the largest heavy industry concern in Austria. His Heimwehr unit was amongst the best armed, having received weapons from both Bavarian Georg Escherich rightist paramilitary leader and the local Landeshauptmann Anton Rintelen.

Pfrimer advocated Pan-Germanist and Völkische ideals and used the swastika for his Heimwehr units. Like his sometime ally Richard Steidle in Tyrol he unashamedly endorsed fascism for the Heimwehr, unlike other units that were close to the more ideologically pragmatic Christian Social Party, and in 1930 publicly advocated the overthrow of the government and the establishment of a fascist regime in Austria. The two fell out however after Pfrimer, who argued that Jews must be treated as a foreign race, suggested that Steidle was too weak on the issue. Pfrimer took up with Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg and helped to ensure that the nobleman replaced Steidle as Heimwehr leader in 1930. He was also a staunch opponent of socialism, often leading his men in violent attacks on the Social Democratic Party of Austria, whilst rejecting parliamentary democracy as un-German.