Dr. jur. Franz Pessler (1893–?) – Attorney Between Court-Appointed Defense and National Socialist “Judicial Murder” Introduction Dr. Franz Pessler, born on 13 May 1893 in Linz, was an attorney-at-law in Innsbruck, residing at Anichstraße 29. In July 1934, he became entangled in the dramatic events surrounding the National Socialist coup attempt in Austria. His role as court-appointed defense counsel for SS member Friedrich Wurnig, who was executed only hours after the fatal shooting of a police officer, must be viewed against the backdrop of the simultaneous assassination of Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß in Vienna. Historical Context: The Assassination of Dr. Engelbert Dollfuß on 25 July 1934 The assassination of Federal Chancellor Dr. Engelbert Dollfuß marked the climax of the National Socialist July Putsch in Austria. On that day, between 144 and 154 SS men from Vienna's SS-Standarte 89, disguised as Austrian soldiers and police officers, stormed the Federal Chancellery at Ballhausplatz in Vienna. At approximately 1:00 p.m., the putschists, led by Otto Planetta, encountered the fleeing Chancellor. From point-blank range—no more than fifteen centimeters away—a shot fired from Planetta’s pistol struck Dollfuß fatally in the neck. The severely wounded Chancellor was left by the putschists to bleed to death for more than three hours without medical assistance or spiritual care. It was not until 3:45 p.m. that Dollfuß was found dead in a corner of the Marble Hall. His death was, in fact, strategically disadvantageous to the coup plotters, as a living Chancellor would have provided them with a far more valuable hostage and bargaining position. The original coup plan called for the arrest of the entire federal government and the installation of the National Socialist sympathizer Anton Rintelen as the new Chancellor. Simultaneously with the assault on the Chancellery, other putschists occupied the Vienna radio station RAVAG and forced the broadcast of a false announcement claiming that a change of government had taken place. This message served as the agreed signal for a nationwide National Socialist uprising. Although violent clashes subsequently erupted in Styria, Carinthia, Upper Austria, and Salzburg, the government, led by the newly appointed Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, succeeded in suppressing the revolt by 30 July 1934. In total, the July Putsch claimed approximately 223 lives: 113 among the insurgents, 105 on the government side, and eleven uninvolved civilians. The historical assessment of Dollfuß remains controversial to this day. On the one hand, he dissolved Parliament in March 1933, ruled in an authoritarian manner, banned all political parties, and violently suppressed the Socialist uprising of February 1934. On the other hand, he was an uncompromising opponent of National Socialism, outlawed the Nazi Party in June 1933, and aligned Austria closely with the anti-Hitler Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Within the memory culture of the Second Austrian Republic, conservatives often commemorated Dollfuß as a “martyr chancellor,” while Social Democrats tended to regard him primarily as the man responsible for the bloody suppression of the workers’ movement. Adolf Hitler, who had approved the coup plans, sent a hypocritical telegram of condolence to Federal President Wilhelm Miklas after the putsch had failed. The principal perpetrators, Otto Planetta and Franz Holzweber, were tried before a specially established military tribunal, sentenced to death, and executed. Less than four years later, in March 1938, Hitler ultimately achieved what the failed putsch had sought to accomplish: the seizure of power in Austria through the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. read more:Blog (EN) Dr. Engelbert Dollfuß en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelbert_Dollfuss The Wurnig Case: Summary Justice and Abuse in Custody On 25 July 1934, the day of the National Socialist July Putsch, SS Squad Leader Friedrich Wurnig shot and killed Police Staff Captain Franz Hickl in Innsbruck. Wurnig was arrested immediately at the scene and subsequently brought before the newly established Military Tribunal—an instrument of the authoritarian Dollfuß regime that enabled summary proceedings with only limited legal safeguards. Even before his transfer to the Regional Court Prison in Innsbruck, Wurnig was subjected to severe physical abuse by law-enforcement officers. Several police and prison officials later came under suspicion of having participated in these assaults, including former Senior Police Constable Albin Rieger and Gendarmerie Officer Josef Eisner, who, at the time the source was compiled, were themselves being held in protective custody or pre-trial detention. The Trial of 1 August 1934 Only one week after the shooting, on 1 August 1934, Friedrich Wurnig was brought before the Military Tribunal in Innsbruck. The prosecution was conducted by Public Prosecutor Dr. Ernst Grünewald, while the proceedings were presided over by Senior Regional Court Councillor Dr. Josef Ziegler. Dr. Franz Pessler was appointed as Wurnig’s court-assigned defense counsel. The verdict found Wurnig guilty of murder under § 134 of the Austrian Penal Code. On the very same day, at 8:00 p.m., Friedrich Wurnig was executed by hanging in the courtyard of the Innsbruck Regional Court Prison. The Murder of Innsbruck Police Commander Franz Hickl (1934) During the National Socialist July Putsch of 25 July 1934, violent clashes also occurred in Tyrol between supporters of the Austrian federal government and National Socialist insurgents. The aim of the Nazis was the violent overthrow of the Austrofascist corporate state under Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß, who was assassinated by putschists in Vienna on the same day. In Innsbruck, SS Squad Leader Friedrich Wurnig shot and killed Police Staff Captain Franz Hickl in front of the Federal Police Headquarters in Herrengasse on the afternoon of 25 July 1934. Hickl was regarded as a determined opponent of the illegal National Socialist movement and, as a senior police officer, played a key role in efforts to suppress Nazi activities in Tyrol. His murder caused widespread shock and was viewed by the authorities as a direct attack on the Austrian state and its security forces. Wurnig was arrested immediately after the shooting and brought before the specially established Military Tribunal in Innsbruck. On 1 August 1934, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out later that same evening in the courtyard of Innsbruck Prison. Subsequent investigations examined allegations that Wurnig had been severely mistreated by law-enforcement officials while in custody. The events of the July Putsch claimed several lives in Tyrol and resulted in numerous arrests. They stand as a striking example of the political radicalization and violence that characterized Austria in the years preceding the Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938. Franz Hickl remains one of the most prominent Tyrolean victims of the National Socialist coup attempt of 1934. read more:www.doew.at/erinnern/fotos-und-dokumente/1934-1938/krachendes-oesterreich/opfer-des-terrors-der-ns-bewegung-in-oesterreich-1933-1938/franz-hickl austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Franz_Hickl Dr. Franz Pessler – Court-Appointed Defense Counsel for Friedrich Wurnig The Allegation: Failure of Duty of Care In 1939, one year after the Anschluss of Austria into Nazi Germany, the circumstances surrounding the execution of Friedrich Wurnig were re-examined by the authorities. Suspicion arose that, as a result of the severe abuse and injuries inflicted upon him while in custody, Wurnig may have been in such a physical condition at the time of his execution that carrying out the death sentence should have been considered impermissible. A report submitted by the Innsbruck Public Prosecutor’s Office to the Senior Public Prosecutor’s Office on 26 January 1939 stated: “Based on a report filed by the police, there is reason to suspect that, owing to the mistreatment and injuries inflicted upon him, Wurnig was, at the time of his execution, in such a condition that it would have been the duty of the presiding judge, the public prosecutor, and possibly also the defense counsel to ensure that the execution of the death sentence was postponed until his condition had improved.” As a result, Dr. Franz Pessler, who had served as Wurnig’s court-appointed defense attorney, also came under scrutiny. He was accused of failing, in his capacity as legal counsel, to take action to prevent or postpone the execution of a defendant who had allegedly been subjected to severe mistreatment and whose physical condition may have rendered the immediate enforcement of the death sentence inappropriate. The allegations formed part of a broader investigation initiated after the Nazi takeover, which sought to review the actions of judicial and law-enforcement officials involved in the suppression of the July Putsch of 1934 and the subsequent prosecution of National Socialist insurgents. Dr. jur. Franz Pessler- original documentDr. jur. Franz Pessler (born 13 May 1893 in Linz) Residence: Anichstraße 29, 6020 Innsbruck Source: Proceedings related to the National Socialist coup attempt of July 1934. In: Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW, ed.), Resistance and Persecution in Tyrol and Vorarlberg 1934–1945. A Documentation, Vienna/Munich 1984, pp. 412–413. Document 24: Report of the Innsbruck Public Prosecutor’s Office to the Senior Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Higher Regional Court of Innsbruck concerning the indictment of Public Prosecutor Dr. Ernst Grünewald and others for offences under §§ 101 and 152 of the Austrian Penal Code (StG), dated 26 January 1939. Source: Central State Archives, Potsdam. DÖW 1906.
Facts of the Case In connection with the National Socialist uprising of 25 July 1934, SS Squad Leader Friedrich Wurnig shot and killed Police Staff Captain Franz Hickl in Innsbruck at approximately 3:00 p.m. while Hickl was about to enter the Federal Police Headquarters in Herrengasse. Wurnig was immediately arrested after the crime, initially detained at the police headquarters, and during the night transferred to the Regional Court Prison in Innsbruck. While being escorted from the police building to a motor vehicle, during the journey itself, and especially upon his arrival at the prison, he was severely and brutally mistreated by law-enforcement officers. The former senior police constable Albin Rieger, former police inspector Heinrich Gamper, the gendarmes Josef Eisner and Johann Burger, and the prison guards Josef Treichl and Johann Reichmann were suspected of having participated in the mistreatment of Wurnig and thereby committing the offences of abuse of official authority under § 101 StG and grievous bodily harm under §§ 152 and 157 StG. On 1 August 1934, the main trial against Friedrich Wurnig took place before the Military Tribunal established under Federal Law Gazette BGBl. II No. 163/34. The prosecution was represented by Public Prosecutor Dr. Grünewald, the presiding judge was Senior Regional Court Councillor Dr. Josef Ziegler, and the court-appointed defence counsel was Attorney Dr. Franz Pessler. Wurnig was found guilty of murder under § 134 StG and was executed by hanging in the courtyard of Innsbruck Prison at 8:00 p.m. on the same day. The relevant records were held by the Historical Commission of the Reichsführer SS in Vienna. Based on a police report, suspicion subsequently arose that, due to the injuries and mistreatment inflicted upon him, Wurnig may have been in such a physical condition at the time of his execution that it would have been the duty of the presiding judge, the prosecutor, and possibly also the defence counsel to ensure that the execution was postponed until his condition had improved. The Killing of Dr. Josef Honomichl Also on 25 July 1934, in connection with the National Socialist uprising, the Tyrolean Home Guard (Heimatwehr) arrested a number of hostages in Innsbruck and detained them in the headquarters of the Tyrolean Home Guard in Wilhelm-Greil-Straße. Among those arrested was the National Socialist Captain (ret.) Dr. Josef Honomichl. During the night of 25–26 July 1934, Honomichl was shot dead by Home Guard Captain Johann Tomaschek in the stairwell of the headquarters building. Criminal proceedings concerning this act were not initiated until after the political upheaval of spring 1938. The investigation then clearly established that Tomaschek had murdered Captain Honomichl in a treacherous manner. Dr. Ernst Grünewald was accused of having abused his office by failing to initiate criminal proceedings against those responsible, despite having appeared at the crime scene on the night of 25 July 1934. Instead, he accepted the explanation given to him that Tomaschek had acted in legitimate self-defence after Honomichl had allegedly attempted to attack him. Furthermore, Dr. Grünewald was accused of being responsible for the Innsbruck Public Prosecutor’s Office dismissing a complaint concerning Honomichl’s killing under § 90 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in early August 1934, rather than properly initiating a judicial investigation against the perpetrator or perpetrators. Judgment of the Innsbruck Regional Court From the judgment of the Innsbruck Regional Court sitting as a jury court against Johann Tomaschek of Innsbruck and others for the crime of murder and incitement to murder, dated 30 June 1939. (Source: DÖW, Vol. 1, pp. 413–414; Regional Court Innsbruck, file 5 Vr 897/38; DÖW 7962.) It was ordered pursuant to § 265 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that the death sentence should first be carried out on Johann Tomaschek and subsequently on Rudolf Penz. Pessler’s Fate: Imprisonment in Dachau The surviving sources reveal that Dr. Franz Pessler was already being held in Schutzhaft (“protective custody”) in Dachau Concentration Camp at the time the report was compiled in early 1939. He was therefore not regarded by the Nazi authorities as a National Socialist sympathizer. Rather, he appears to have been a man who, although perhaps not always successfully from a modern perspective, attempted to uphold the principles of the rule of law under extremely difficult circumstances. After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, the Nazi judicial system inherited the records of the former Austrofascist regime. The Wurnig case was subsequently used by National Socialist authorities to denounce what they portrayed as the “unjust judiciary” of the Dollfuß government. This was done less out of a commitment to justice than as part of an effort to legitimize the Nazi regime’s own system of terror and repression. In this context, Pessler became a convenient scapegoat. read more:www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/en/historical-site/dachau-concentration-camp-1933-1945/ A Testimony from Dachau: “My Friend Pessler" An important and previously little-noticed source is provided by Elisabeth Walder’s recent publication, KZ-Dachau Häftlingsnummer 14354 (Innsbruck, 2025). On page 68, Dr. Ernst Verdross, former Director of the Municipal Administration of Hall in Tirol and himself a prisoner in Dachau for a period of time, offers a revealing account of Pessler. (Incidentally, Verdross’s brother, the distinguished international law scholar Dr. Alfred Verdross, became associated with the Austrian resistance network O5 around Otto and Ernst Molden.) Writing about life in the concentration camp, Ernst Verdross recalled: “My friend Pessler helped me. He was something of a celebrity in the camp. When it became known that he had successfully defended the Jew Hasselmann, who had been accused of murdering his father, even the SS turned to him. They sought his advice on legal matters…” The brief but highly significant phrase—“my friend Pessler”—suggests that the Innsbruck attorney enjoyed considerable respect among his fellow prisoners. Ernst Verdross was a highly regarded jurist and senior municipal official; it is difficult to imagine that he would have described as a friend someone whom he believed guilty of serious ethical misconduct. The friendship that developed between the two lawyers under the extreme conditions of Dachau therefore points in the opposite direction. It suggests that Pessler conducted himself honorably and retained the respect of those who knew him, even within the brutal environment of the concentration camp. While the historical record does not allow a definitive judgment on every aspect of his conduct in the Wurnig case, Verdross’s testimony provides valuable evidence that Pessler was regarded by his contemporaries as a man of integrity rather than as a willing participant in injustice. read more:Blog 87 (EN) Dr. Ernst Verdross (einzeln) Book _ Presentation _Concentration Camp Dachau Blog (EN) Dr. _Manfred _Mumelter (EN) Friedrich Corazza Conclusion Dr. Franz Pessler is representative of those lawyers who operated within the deeply contradictory legal system of the Austrofascist Corporate State (1934–1938). On the one hand, he was formally appointed to provide legal representation; on the other, he was largely powerless before a Military Tribunal that had already departed from fundamental principles of due process and the rule of law. The tragedy of his biography is underscored by the fact that he himself was later imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp—transforming from the court-appointed defender of an executed SS man into a prisoner of the Nazi regime.
The testimony of Dr. Ernst Verdross—“My friend Pessler”—allows for a more nuanced assessment of his character and conduct. It suggests that, under the extreme conditions of Dachau, Pessler was regarded as a man of integrity who enjoyed the confidence and respect of fellow prisoners such as Verdross. Whether Pessler survived National Socialist imprisonment has not yet been conclusively established. His story serves as a reminder against hasty moral judgments and highlights the importance of placing individual actions within their broader historical context. It also illustrates the need for a careful examination of a judicial system that, long before 1938, had already ceased to operate according to the principles of the rule of law.
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