Heinrich ANSDERGASSEN: Career under National Socialism and the End of the War (Part 2)

Further article about Heinrich Andergassen:

Heinrich ANDERGASSEN (Part 1)

Heinrich ANDERGASSEN (Part 3)

Photo Andergassen, Heinrich, January 15, 1946, during his trial in Naples. The free encyclopedia Wikipedia. Online, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Andergassen#/media/Datei:Andergassen.jpg (as of March 17, 2026)

Heinrich ANDERGASSEN

While the first part of this biography focused on the origins, education, and early years of Heinrich Andergassen in the Austrian Federal Army and the Gendarmerie, this second part is dedicated to his radical career after the "Anschluss" of Austria. The focus is on his entry into the NSDAP and the SS, his work with the Gestapo, as well as his role as head of the SD external office in Meran and Jewish affairs officer in the Operations Zone Alpine Foothills. This article also examines his involvement in war crimes, his subsequent conviction by an Allied court, and his execution in 1946.
These partly enigmatic, partly disturbing accounts from people who experienced Andergassen as a helper or "decent officer" shed telling light on the contradictions of his character. They reveal a man who masterfully knew how to show a second face – friendly and helpful where it seemed advantageous to secure gratitude and trust. Yet behind this facade hid a different Andergassen: a careerist of the Nazi apparatus who, as Jewish affairs officer in Meran, ordered deportations, personally hanged prisoners in Bolzano, and, together with his superiors, carried out looting sprees. What follows illuminates these dark sides of his biography – from his career in the SD, to the murders in Bolzano, to his flight and eventual execution.

Career in the Nazi Apparatus: The Commander of the Jewish Deportation

Heinrich Andergassen, born in 1908 in Hall in Tyrol, was a trained machinist who pursued a career in the Nazi apparatus after the "Anschluss" in 1938. Following his time with the Gestapo in Innsbruck, he was appointed head of the SD external office in Meran after the occupation of Italy in 1943.
In this role, he bore enormous responsibility: he ordered the deportation of the Jewish population of Meran. As early as September 12, 1943, just days after the German invasion, the SS's "Jewish Affairs Office" launched a first wave of arrests targeting the Jewish community. On September 16, 1943, 25 Jewish citizens of Meran were arrested and deported to Auschwitz via the Reichenau transit camp near Innsbruck. Only one of them survived the Holocaust. It was Andergassen who ordered and carried out these deportations.
Through further deportation operations, which brought victims to the Bolzano-Gries transit camp and then to the German extermination camps, the Jewish community of Meran was eradicated. Only eight of its members survived the period of persecution.
Heinz Andergassen's career exemplifies the rise of Nazi functionaries who, after the "Anschluss" of Austria, quickly assumed positions of responsibility within the apparatus of the Security Police and the SD. Contrary to what the exculpatory testimonies hastily procured after the end of the war suggest, Andergassen was not an ambivalent isolated case, but a determined perpetrator of Nazi terror.
The deportation of the Jewish population of Meran in September 1943 marks a particularly grave turning point. The fact that the arrests took place just days after the German occupation of Italy testifies to systematic preparation and decisive execution. Within a few days, 25 people were taken from their homes, deported to Auschwitz via the Reichenau transit camp – only one of them survived. These numbers reveal the scale of the injustice for which Andergassen was responsible: it was not a matter of "accommodating" behavior toward individuals, but the systematic eradication of an entire community.
The subsequent deportation operations completed what had begun with the first wave of arrests. That only eight people from the once-established Jewish community of Meran survived the persecution is no coincidence, but rather the result of a systematic will to destroy, in which Andergassen, as the local SD leader, was directly complicit. His responsibility was not limited to bureaucratic orders – as the local commander, he bore operational responsibility for the implementation of the deportations.
Andergassen's later defense strategy, which relied on claims of duress and isolated testimonies of alleged benevolence, is revealed as a mere protective claim in light of these facts. Anyone who ordered and carried out the deportation of 25 Jewish citizens to Auschwitz could not simultaneously portray themselves as an "accommodating" Gestapo officer. The testimonies from May 1945, however personally intended, cannot outweigh the systematic responsibility for these crimes.

“In the Name of the State: Heinrich Andergassen and the Deportation of Meran’s Jewish Residents”

In September 1943, Heinrich Andergassen took over the coordination of the deportation of all remaining Jewish residents of Meran to concentration camps—a task he carried out on behalf of the Nazi persecution authorities. Among those affected was Valeska (Valery, called “Walli”) Freifrau von Hoffmann, born November 26, 1874, in Rome. Although she held citizenship of Liechtenstein and the Swiss Legation in Germany repeatedly lodged protests on her behalf, these efforts to protect her proved unsuccessful.
It is presumed that Andergassen was also involved in the arrest of Elisabeth Charlotte Franke—another example of the systematic policy of annihilation he served. Valeska von Hoffmann was first taken to the Gestapo camp Reichenau near Innsbruck, where she remained imprisoned until April 12, 1944, before being deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp on July 22, 1944.
His role in this machinery of inhumanity makes clear: Andergassen was not merely an executor, but an active part of the Nazi persecution apparatus in South Tyrol. (see blog post Charlotte Franke)

The Murders of Bolzano: Manlio Longon and Roderick Hall

In Bolzano, where Andergassen later served as commander of the Security Police, his propensity for violence escalated to cold-blooded murder. On the orders of his superior, August Schiffer, Andergassen murdered the Italian resistance fighter Manlio Longon. Longon, the head of the Bolzano Liberation Committee (CLN), had been captured and tortured for days before Andergassen personally hanged him on January 1, 1945.
Just a few weeks later, on February 19, 1945, he committed another crime together with Albert Storz, again on Schiffer's orders. The victim was the American OSS agent Captain Roderick Hall. Andergassen, Schiffer, and Storz hanged the bound prisoner in an engine room and staged the act to appear as a suicide.
The discrepancy between the hastily procured "exculpatory certificates" obtained after the end of the war and the crimes committed in Bolzano could hardly be greater. While contemporary witnesses such as Fischer and Blaas, in their statements of May 11, 1945, sought to portray Andergassen as a well-disposed and considerate Gestapo officer, the incidents in Bolzano reveal a different reality: personally carried out hangings of resistance fighters, including Manlio Longon and Captain Roderick Hall – both acts that go far beyond mere official duties and must be classified as cold-blooded murders.
In his subsequent trial, Andergassen attempted to evade this responsibility. His defense strategy followed the typical pattern of many Nazi perpetrators: he claimed to have merely followed orders and attempted to legitimize the killings as executions carried out by summary courts. At the same time, he invoked the exculpatory certificates issued just days after the end of the war to portray himself overall as a "decent National Socialist." This dual argumentative strategy – on the one hand, duress of orders; on the other, character testimony – ultimately failed in court. The evidence, particularly the staged suicide legend created specifically for the killing of Hall and his involvement in the prior torture of Longon, could no longer be obscured by any claims of benevolence.
The Bolzano murders mark the point at which the strategy of retrospective exoneration through exculpatory certificates reached its limits: anyone who personally hangs resistance fighters cannot simultaneously be the same person distinguished by "goodwill" and "consideration." Andergassen's attempts to merge these two images ultimately failed, not least because of the brutality of the acts themselves.

Corruption and Plundering: The Looting Expeditions into the Passeier Valley

But Andergassen and his superior, August Schiffer, did not limit themselves to murder and deportation – they were also common plunderers and thieves. A revealing document, written by a witness who apparently had insight into the events, exposes the corrupt machinations of the two:
"3) Unauthorized confiscations:
SS-Sturmbannführer Schiffer used every opportunity that presented itself to provide for his own well-being. To this end, he undertook trips into the Passeier Valley, mainly with SS-Untersturmführer Heinz Andergassen and SS-Oberscharführer Albert Störz as driver, where he confiscated bacon, etc., from farmhouses and kept it mainly for himself. In the Passeier Valley, those persons who had been arrested as hostages for their relatives who had deserted were plundered. Schiffer also drove several times to Kastelruth and to Cavalese, where he obtained foodstuffs on a larger scale from a monastery."
This report paints a picture of unprecedented ruthlessness: while farmers in the Passeier Valley were being held as hostages for their deserting relatives, Schiffer and Andergassen plundered their farms. They "confiscated" bacon and other foodstuffs – not for the troops, but "mainly for themselves." They went to the monastery in Kastelruth and to Cavalese to requisition foodstuffs "on a larger scale" there.
The insidious choice of words ("confiscated") masked simple theft under the guise of legality. The victims were doubly harmed: they were imprisoned as hostages, and their property was stolen from them.
The witness continues:
"4) Corruption within the SD
I am aware that on one occasion a sack containing dark mantle leather – it may have been goat leather – arrived in Bolzano from the Belluno external office. For whom this leather was intended, I do not know.
Regarding the disposal of goods that were continuously confiscated by the Criminal Police, I have no knowledge, except when it concerned automotive parts or automotive equipment, as well as tools, which were assigned to me as garage master.
What happened to the confiscated goods that were seized by the Gestapo and stored separately, I do not know. Regarding this, Andergassen alone would be able to provide information."
This passage points to an opaque system of corruption and self-enrichment. A sack of valuable leather from Belluno, confiscated car parts and tools – all of this disappeared into dark channels. The question of where the "separately stored" goods of the Gestapo ended up could only be answered by one person: Andergassen himself.

The Key Witness Who Was Deceived: Dr. Ernst Fischer

„During the period from May 1939 to 1941, I was held in pre-trial detention in the police prison of the Gestapo in Innsbruck for monarchist activities. During this time, I was subjected to very frequent interrogations by the Gestapo.
I can attest that during the course of these interrogations, Mr. Heinz Andergassen, in contrast to other Gestapo officials, always showed himself to be accommodating and benevolent. I find it particularly worthy of gratitude that, contrary to existing regulations, he secretly issued visitation permits to my daughter on multiple occasions, which was a great comfort to me.
The conduct of Andergassen was also described by other prisoners as decent and accommodating.
Innsbruck, May 11, 1945.
(signed) Dr. Ernst Fischer
former Vice President of the State Council
in Vienna“
​(Source: Historical Archive of the Tyrolean State Police Directorate; Executive History Study Group: Presidential File III 1233/46 – Heinrich Andergassen)

The most astonishing deception by Andergassen is revealed in a document written just days after the end of the war, on May 11, 1945. It comes from a prominent figure: Dr. Ernst Fischer, former Vice President of the State Council in Vienna. Fischer, who had been held in pre-trial detention from May 1939 to 1941 for "monarchist activities" in the police prison of the Gestapo in Innsbruck, issued a written statement:
"I can attest that during these interrogations, Mr. Heinz Andergassen, in contrast to other Gestapo officials, always showed himself to be accommodating and benevolent. I found it particularly worthy of gratitude that, contrary to existing regulations, he secretly issued visitation permits to my daughter on multiple occasions, which was a great comfort to me.
The conduct of Andergassen was also described by other prisoners as decent and accommodating."
This document from May 11, 1945 – written just days after the end of the war – sheds revealing light on the perception of Heinz Andergassen. The statement comes from none other than Dr. Ernst Fischer, a prominent Nazi opportunist who quickly switched sides after 1945 and became an influential voice in the communist cultural life of Austria. Fischer's assertion that Andergassen had shown himself to be "accommodating and benevolent" must be read against the backdrop of the circumstances: Fischer was in Gestapo custody, and his survival depended not least on the goodwill of his captors. The statement is therefore less a testament to humane behavior than an example of the efforts made by individuals after the end of the war to exonerate compromised persons through exculpatory certificates. It reveals less the alleged "decency" of a Gestapo official than the mechanisms of complicity and subsequent justification.

The Rescued Man Who Suspected Nothing: Dr. Heine Blaas

On May 11, 1945, another man wrote an equally remarkable testimonial for Andergassen. Dr. Heine Blaas from Innsbruck (Reichenauerstraße 33) described his experiences with the Gestapo and particularly with Andergassen:
"Since the occupation of Austria by the Nazis, I have been reported and summoned to the Secret State Police nine times. Of these, cases 3 and 4 were handled by Mr. Heinz Andergassen. Since these two reports were based on facts that demonstrated my sharp truth-telling directed against the entire Third Reich, and the reports were accurate in content, they could have become very dangerous for me. Andergassen showed consideration for me as a seriously ill person and already during the recording of my statement regarding the reports, he mitigated the worst; he ultimately treated the denunciations as inaccurate and unfounded, so that based on his report, to my surprise, I was not arrested by his superiors but released. Without Mr. Andergassen's friendly official demeanor and without his attitude, I would have been lost in the case of reports No. 3 and 4.
I also heard from other members of the resistance that Andergassen often helped his Tyrolean compatriots whenever possible."
This testimonial, also dated May 11, 1945, must be seen in the immediate temporal context of the collapse of the Nazi regime. Dr. Heine Blaas, a jurist and later Mayor of Innsbruck (1956–1962), was indeed an opponent of the Nazi regime on multiple occasions – his expression of gratitude toward Andergassen is therefore to be taken more seriously than some other exculpatory statements. Nevertheless, this document remains problematic: it was created in a situation in which former Gestapo employees like Andergassen were urgently dependent on so-called exculpatory certificates to avoid punishment. Blaas's phrasing that Andergassen had "mitigated the worst" and treated the denunciations "as inaccurate" essentially describes the arbitrary exercise of power by the Gestapo – not its overcoming. The fact that a Gestapo officer could decide on people's lives and freedom at his own discretion was an expression of the terrorist system, not of humanitarian exceptional behavior. The statement therefore documents less the "friendliness" of a perpetrator than the structure of an unjust state in which even "milder" actions within a criminal organization do not negate the fundamental complicity.

The Grateful Secretary: Maria Hofer

„accused of membership in a state conspiracy [Landesverrat] as well as the dissemination of atrocity propaganda.
With the help of the interrogating Gestapo officer, Heinrich Andergassen, I managed to resolve the matter within 3 days. I have Mr. Andergassen to thank for the fact that the matter was settled in my favor in such a short time.
From June 24 to June 28, 1042 [sic], I was again arrested by the Gestapo for refusal to work. I had never refused to work, but only objected to work that was intended for me by the Nazi Women's League. During my interrogation, Mr. Andergassen was not present, but I had already discussed the matter with him beforehand and I am convinced that this matter was also resolved through his indirect work.
For the accuracy of the signature
Abdon Marsoner                                                                              Maria Hofer
Secretary of the Chancellery of the Austrian National Socialist Party“
Source: Historical Archive of the Tyrolean State Police Directorate; Executive History Study Group: Presidential File III 1233/46 – Heinrich Andergassen

Another remarkable testimonial comes from Maria Hofer, who wrote a statement on May 12, 1945. Abdon Marsoner, secretary of the Anton Haller resistance movement in Hall in Tyrol, confirmed her account with his signature.
In her statement, Hofer described how Andergassen helped her:
"With the help of the interrogating Gestapo officer, Andergassen Heinrich, I managed to resolve the matter within three days. I have Mr. Andergassen to thank for the fact that the matter was settled in my favor in such a short time.
From June 24 to June 28, 1942, I was again arrested by the Gestapo for refusal to work. I had never refused to work, but only objected to work that was intended for me by the Nazi Women's League. During my interrogation, Mr. Andergassen was not present, but I had already discussed the matter with him beforehand and I am convinced that this matter was also resolved through his indirect work."
(Notable is a typographical error in the original document, where the year is mistakenly written as "1042" – a clerical error that can be explained by the emotionally exceptional situation after the end of the war.)
Here, too, the same pattern emerges: Andergassen helped selectively, secured gratitude, and was still praised years later for his "indirect influence" – while elsewhere he tortured, deported, and murdered.

The Secretary Acting on Behalf: Abdon Marsoner

The statement by Maria Hofer dated May 12, 1945, was countersigned by Abdon Marsoner, who was then working as a secretary in the office of Anton Haller in Hall in Tyrol. Marsoner had only returned from Munich to Hall in April 1945 and had obtained employment there after the end of the war. He had not previously been connected to the resistance circle around Anton Haller; rather, he owed his position as secretary to his personal acquaintance with the master shoemaker Anton Haller.
On behalf of Haller, Marsoner signed the confirmation. His signature gave Hofer's statement the appearance of institutional backing from a man who, in May 1945, was already establishing a foothold in the newly emerging postwar order. Marsoner would later manage the branch of the Tyrolean State Travel Agency in Hall – evidence that he quickly knew how to establish himself in bourgeois social circles in postwar Tyrol.
That precisely he confirmed the exculpatory certificate for Andergassen shows how skillfully the former Gestapo officer wove his network, even through individuals who possessed the necessary social status but had little connection to the actual resistance activities before 1945.

The Organizational Development After the End of the War

The resistance movement in Hall in Tyrol, which reorganized after the war as the "Austrian Democratic Freedom Movement," did not exist before May 1945 as a fixed organization with full-time structures. Only with the collapse of the Nazi regime did a bureaucratic apparatus emerge that quickly established itself as a political force. The movement had a state leadership, issued circulars, maintained membership lists, and claimed for itself the right to have a say in the filling of leading positions in administration and the economy – a demand that the municipality of Hall explicitly complied with in the summer of 1945. In addition, so-called "supporting members" were accepted, who, although they were not allowed to have been National Socialists, had also never been active in the resistance. This rapid institutionalization after May 8, 1945, first created the prerequisite for the creation of paid positions – and thus also for the possibility that someone like Abdon Marsoner, who had no connection to the actual resistance activities before 1945, could sign confirmations such as that for Maria Hofer on behalf of Haller.

The Most Insidious Deception: How Andergassen Infiltrated the Resistance

Source: Historical Archive of the Tyrolean State Police Directorate; Executive History Study Group: Presidential File III 1233/46 – Heinrich Andergassen.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation about Heinrich Andergassen's double game concerns his relationship with master shoemaker Anton Haller, the leader of the resistance group in Hall in Tyrol. In a document that surfaced after the war, there is a handwritten note that Haller apparently wrote about Andergassen:

"Heinrich Andergassen is known to me as a good and loyal Ostmärker [Austrian]. He appeared very dejected during the year of the Anschluss, 1938. Andergassen therefore seemed to me to be the man who could be very valuable to me in my efforts to build the resistance movement, and so I maintained the connection with him continuously. During the period of National Socialist rule, he proved to be consistently helpful to all those who were recommended to him by me. He handled all matters in the interest of our [...]"
​
Anton Haller, the courageous leader of the Hall resistance, was firmly convinced that he had found an important ally in Andergassen. He saw in him a "good and loyal Ostmärker" who had allegedly appeared "very dejected" about the Anschluss – a completely fabricated facade that Andergassen built up in order to infiltrate the resistance movement.
Until the end of the war, Anton Haller had no idea that the man he considered an ally was in reality a Gestapo officer who elsewhere tortured and murdered.
Particularly noteworthy in this context is a wave of arrests in the autumn of 1944. After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler, Dr. Viktor Schumacher, Anton Haller, and Dr. Erich Kneussl were among those arrested. While Kneussl remained in custody for four weeks, Haller and Schumacher were released after just one week – following the intervention of the Nazi mayor of Hall, Ing. Jud. It is likely that Andergassen also had a hand in this. By portraying himself to Haller as a helpful ally while simultaneously leveraging his position as a Gestapo officer at a higher level, he was able to further expand his position of trust and secure the gratitude of the influential resistance circle in the long term.

A Dark Secret in the Hall Valley

This fraudulently obtained position of trust sheds new light on a mysterious event from the final days of the war, documented in a local historical study. In the investigation by Dr. Agnes Larcher, entitled "Studies on the Hall Resistance Movement Between 1938–1945" (Hall in Tyrol, 1978), the following account appears on page 17:
"In St. Magdalena in the Hall Valley, in the last days of the war, two Gestapo men who had appeared at Mr. Haller's with their machine guns were hidden. We were unable to ascertain the motive for why Mr. Haller advocated for them."
These two Gestapo men may have been Heinrich Andergassen and August Schiffer. Against the backdrop that Haller was firmly convinced until the end of the war that he had a valuable resistance helper in Andergassen, a possible motive emerges: Haller likely believed he was protecting his long-time "ally" Andergassen and his colleague from persecution by the victorious powers. He did not take them for fleeing Gestapo criminals, but for persecuted resistance fighters.

The Escape: Final Days in Uniform and the Reference to the Falkenhütte

The document also describes the flight of the criminals in the final days of the war:
*"5) Flight of SS-Sturmbannführer August Schiffer and SS-Untersturmführer Heinz Andergassen:*
Shortly before April 30, 1945, Schiffer traveled alone or with Andergassen to Innsbruck a total of 2–3 times. On these occasions, the two always transported luggage and finally also 2 pairs of skis there.
On Monday, April 30, 1945, Schiffer and Andergassen, escorted by criminal police employee Albert Storz, left Bolzano in uniform at around 10 a.m. I myself rode in the same car as far as Starzing. Along the way, we had difficulties because the fuel we had taken on did not work properly. We took 4 hours to get from Bolzano to Starzing. In Starzing, I left the car and went home. The next day at noon, Storz came back with the car to Starzing and drove with me to Bolzano."
This eyewitness account is of great historical significance. It shows that as late as April 30, 1945, when the war was long since lost and Hitler had taken his own life in Berlin, Schiffer and Andergassen fled Bolzano in uniform. In the days prior, they had already transported luggage – and even skis – to Innsbruck on multiple occasions, apparently to prepare for a final battle or escape into the mountains.
​
In a supplementary statement, the same witness reported further details:
"He told me that he brought Schiffer and Andergassen to Innsbruck, that the two changed into civilian clothes on the other side of the Brenner Pass and were very nervous. Where Schiffer and Andergassen went from Innsbruck, I did not learn from Storz, nor is it known to me.
I cannot provide any specific information about the whereabouts of Schiffer and Andergassen. However, it is possible that they are staying in the Falkenhütte in the Karwendel Mountains, since Andergassen often spoke of this hut and certainly must have been there repeatedly. Undoubtedly, the transport of 2 pairs of skis to Innsbruck must have had a reason, as they would have needed these skis for their mountain escape."

This passage is of particular value: it not only reveals that the two changed into civilian clothes "on the other side of the Brenner Pass" – clear evidence of their intention to disguise themselves – but also provides a concrete indication of a possible escape destination: the "Falkenhütte in the Karwendel Mountains." Andergassen had "often spoken of this hut" and had "certainly been there repeatedly." The skis they brought with them thus acquired a concrete purpose: they were intended for an escape into the mountains.
The witness also reported on further escape movements by other SS leaders in the same days, documenting the complete collapse of the German occupation structure in South Tyrol.
On May 3, 1945, Albert Storz sought out the witness again and left behind a suitcase with civilian clothing – further evidence of the plans to go into hiding in civilian clothes. Ultimately, however, the escape failed: Andergassen was captured as early as May 8, 1945, near Innsbruck.

Capture and Execution

The escape failed: Andergassen was captured on May 8, 1945, near Innsbruck. On June 29, 1945, he was transferred to South Tyrol. Before an American military court in Naples, he was indicted, sentenced to death on January 15, 1946, and executed on July 26, 1946, in a prisoner of war camp near Pisa.
The post-war assessment by Arthur Schuster, head of the Bolzano criminal investigation department, aptly summarized his character: he was "the incarnation of sadism and brutality," "incredibly bloodthirsty," and was encouraged in his excesses by his superior.

The Newspaper Articles of 1966: The Verdict Becomes Public

Only years later, on January 1, 1966, an article appeared on page 2 of the "Tiroler Nachrichtenblatt der Österreichischen Volkspartei" summarizing the fate of Andergassen and his accomplices. The document available to us contains two slightly different versions of the same article:

"German war criminals: three Germans, Major August Schiffer and the soldiers Heinrich Andergassen and Albert Storz were sentenced to death by an American military court in Cerol. In March 1945, they hanged four American officers and one non-commissioned officer in Bolzano. An accomplice, Hans Butsch, the former chief of the German police in Bolzano, was sentenced to life imprisonment."

And in a second, slightly different version:
"Three devils, Major August Schiffer and the soldiers Heinrich Andergassen and Albert Storz were sentenced to death by the American military court in Naples. In March 1945, they hanged four American officers and one non-commissioned officer in Bolzano. An accomplice, Hans Butsch, the former chief of the German police in Bolzano, was sentenced to life imprisonment."

The choice of words in the articles is shockingly clear: "German war criminals," "three devils" – the post-war press did not shy away from drastic language to name the atrocities.

A Master of Deception

The biography of Heinrich Andergassen is the story of a man who mastered the art of deception to perfection. Toward his superiors, he played the reliable Gestapo man. Toward prisoners like Maria Müller, he played the friendly helper who accompanied her to her grandmother's funeral – and reaped the gratitude of her entire family. Toward prisoners like Dr. Ernst Fischer, he played the generous official who secretly procured visitation permits. Toward Dr. Heine Blaas, he played the lenient interrogator who made serious denunciations disappear. Toward Secretary Gutter, a leading member of the resistance movement, he played the "distinguished" official who saved his life in two instances. Toward neighbors like Mrs. Verdross, he played the helpful one while driving her husband into interrogations. And toward resistance fighter Anton Haller, he played the role of the silent ally for years – so convincingly that Haller still tried to protect him from persecution in the final days of the war.
Yet on the same street, just two houses away, lived Karl Killinger – a quiet neighbor who refused the Hitler salute on religious grounds and paid for it with his life. Whether Andergassen was directly involved in his arrest can no longer be determined with certainty. But the spatial proximity, the temporal connection, and Andergassen's position in the Gestapo suggest a possible responsibility.
While Andergassen was remembered by some as a "distinguished official," Karl Killinger died alone in Gusen concentration camp – a victim of the same system that Andergassen served. The Ritter-Waldauf-Straße in Hall thus became a place of extremes: here lived the perpetrator who pretended to be a decent official, and here lived the victim who died for his faith.
The perfidy of this system lay in its incomprehensibility. Those who experienced Andergassen as a friendly helper – and there were not a few – could not possibly believe that the same man elsewhere tortured prisoners, deported Jews, plundered hostages, and personally hanged detainees. That the same man who accompanied Maria Müller to her grandmother's funeral was possibly also responsible for the arrest of his neighbor Karl Killinger.
​
The grateful prisoners saw only the mask. The dead – whether in Auschwitz, Gusen, or Bolzano – saw the true face. And they could no longer speak.

Sources: Remembering „OSS“ Heroes: Roderick Steven Hall and the Brenner Pass Assignment. Online, https://web.archive.org/web/20131124192022/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2010-featured-story-archive/oss-heroes-stephen-hall.html, (Access: March 17, 2026; Historical Document
Posted: Sep 30, 2010 10:56 AM
Last Updated: Apr 30, 2013 12:41 PM)