Mayor of Graz on 'Leave of Absence' as NaziFiout Government. A picture just received in London of Herr Schmidt, the Mayor of Graz, Austrian Nazi stronghold, who has been given 'leave of absence' because he is suspected of Nazi sympathies. Herr Schmidt was stated to have arranged to join in the Nazi celebrations following the 'Nazification' of the Government. The Government was said to have shown its strength by effecting the removal Schmidt, but this display of authority has now been nullified by the defiance of 20,000 Nazis who took part in a torchlight parade through the city. 2 March 1938