Joseph von Franckenstein (1910-1963): From Teacher to Secret Agent

Joseph Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein was born on September 30, 1910, at Traunegg Castle near Wels. As the son of former state parliament member Konrad Freiherr zu Franckenstein and his wife Anna, née Countess Esterhazy, he came from a prominent noble family. His rejection of National Socialism emerged early: while teaching at a private grammar school in Mégéve, France, he was threatened by a Nazi ski instructor, and in September 1938, he didn't even dare return to Austria for his father's funeral.

Escape and Return in the Service of Liberation

As the Wehrmacht advanced into France, Franckenstein managed to escape to America. There he enlisted in the US Army and trained as a parachute officer. In July 1944, his dangerous mission, codenamed "Operation Deadwood," began: parachuting over Southern Italy in the uniform of a German sergeant under the alias "Lieutenant Horneck."
In early April 1945, together with the brothers Otto and Fritz Molden and radio operator Ludwig Totzenberger, he crossed the Italian border into Tyrol to support the Austrian resistance movement O5 under Dr. Karl Gruber in Innsbruck.

Betrayal, Arrest, and Spectacular Escape

Franckenstein initially joined the resistance movement around Mayor Josef Kaltenhauser in Ampass. When arrest became imminent there, he withdrew to the Axamer Lizum, where he operated a transmission station with others. However, SS units discovered the transmitter and arrested Franckenstein and all present. During this arrest, the young radio operator Ludwig Totzenberger, father of four small children, was shot dead by the SS units.
The French SS soldiers bound Franckenstein and led him along dangerous paths past precipices. In a dramatic scene, one of the soldiers called out: "If he moves, can I shoot him immediately and throw him into the abyss?" The soldiers didn't realize that Franckenstein understood them. Their astonishment was all the greater when he turned around and called out to them in French: "Well then, Andreas Hofer, did you not treat him the same as me?"

The Liberation and Late Recognition

Franckenstein was taken to Innsbruck and held in the Gestapo camp Reichenau, where he was mistreated and tortured. Yet he refused to betray his comrades. Using a small iron file that a girl from the Ampass resistance movement had slipped to him on Maria-Theresien-Straße, he managed to escape through a toilet window. He reached the forest of Ampass and the house of Mayor Kaltenhauser.
In early May 1945, the advancing Americans liberated Tyrol from the Nazis. The American military authority appointed Joseph Franckenstein as the chief "Judge" at the military court in Innsbruck. His superior, Colonel Hudson, told his mother: "His mother can be proud to have such a son."
After the war, Franckenstein lived for a few weeks with his parents in Heiligkreuz/Hall in Tirol before resuming his teaching career in the USA. He died on October 7, 1963, in San Francisco.
His courageous work remains an impressive example of Austrian resistance against the Nazi regime and an unwavering commitment to freedom and democracy.