Friedrich Wiesner (diplomat)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Wiesner , also Friedrich Ritter von Wiesner (born October 27, 1871 in Mariabrunn , † November 5, 1951 in Vienna ) was an Austrian lawyer and diplomat .

Youth and education

Friedrich Wiesner was born as the son of Agnes and Julius Wiesner in the Viennese suburb of Mariabrunn in what was then Lower Austria . After attending grammar school in Vienna and Kremsmünster , he served as a one-year volunteer . He learned French , English , Italian and Czech and studied law and political science at the University of Vienna . In 1896 he received his doctorate and became a judge in Baden near Vienna and Vienna.

Since his father, a respected botanist , was raised to hereditary knighthood in 1909, Friedrich's name from then until 1919 was Friedrich Ritter von Wiesner .

Civil service career

In 1911 Friedrich Ritter von Wiesner joined the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Secretary of State . At the end of 1912 he became a lieutenant colonel in the records of the kk Landwehr . In 1913 he became a section councilor in the Foreign Ministry.

During the July crisis in 1914, Wiesner headed the special commission to investigate the murder of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand .

To investigate the Sarajevo attack

After conferences at the ministry and studying the files already available in Vienna, Friedrich von Wiesner went to Sarajevo on July 11, 1914 , where he immediately discussed with General Oskar Potiorek and other personalities. He collected material with which anti-monarchy activities of Serbia , and thus an indirect complicity of the Serbian government in the attack should be proven. He proceeded objectively and conscientiously. On July 13, 1914, to conclude his work, he sent a telegram in two parts to the Foreign Office in Vienna:

First part:

“That this Greater Serbian propaganda from Serbia - apart from the press - is also carried out by associations and other organizations, and that this is done with the support, knowledge and approval of the Serbian government, is the conviction of all relevant circles.

The material presented to me by civil and military authorities as the basis of these convictions qualifies as follows: Material from the time before the attack offers no evidence of the promotion of propaganda by the Serbian government. For this movement from Serbia, with the tolerance of the Serbian government, to be nourished by associations, there is material, if scant, but sufficient.

Investigation into assassination attempt.

Co-science of the Serbian government in the conduct of the assassination attempt or its preparation and provision of the weapons has not been proven or even suspected. Rather, there are indications to consider this to be excluded. "

Second part:

“By testimony of the accused it was established that the assassination attempt in Belgrade was decided and prepared with the help of Serbian state officials Ciganović 'and Major Tankošic' , both of whom supplied bombs, Brownings, ammunition and cyanide. Pribićević's involvement has not been established, and the first reports on this are based on unfortunate misunderstandings by police authorities.

Origin bombs from Serb Army Magazine Kragujevac proved objectively properly, but no evidence that only now ad hoc magazines removed because bombs of inventories Komitadschis can come from war.

On the basis of statements by the accused, it is hardly doubtful that Princip , Čabrinović, Grabez secretly smuggled bombs and weapons from Serbian authorities across the border into Bosnia at Ciganović's instigation. These organized transports were led by border captains Schabatz and Ložnica and carried out by financial guards . Even if it was not established whether they knew the purpose of the trip, they had to accept a mysterious mission.

Other surveys after the attack provide insight into the organization of the “ Narodna odbrana ” propaganda . Contains valuable recyclable material that has not yet been verified; fastest surveys in the train.

If there were still intentions when I left, requirements could be extended:

A) Suppression The involvement of Serbian government organs in smuggling people and objects across the border.

B) Dismissal of Serbian border captains Schabatz and Ložnica as well as involved financial guard organs.

C) Criminal proceedings against Ciganvić and Tankošić.

Departure this evening, arrive in Vienna Tuesday evening and go straight to the Ministry.

Oral addition to the report is necessary. "

The government had hoped Wiesner's investigation would provide clear evidence of Serbia's complicity. This could easily justify military intervention internationally, and the risk that other great powers would intervene in the conflict would be reduced. But the telegram did not provide any such evidence. However, it showed that certain circles in the Serbian state were entangled, which is why Wiesner suggested expanding the previously decided demands on Serbia by adding the points listed in the telegram. The outbreak of the First World War did not depend on Wiesner's report.

After the war, only the first part of the telegram, exonerating Serbia, was often quoted when it was argued that Austria-Hungary's measures against Serbia were completely excessive and that Austria-Hungary was therefore solely to blame for the war.

Further activities in the civil service

From August 1914 to 1917 Friedrich von Wiesner was a representative of the Foreign Ministry at the Army High Command in Neu Sandez and later in Teschen . Wiesner considered the commander in chief of the troops, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , unsuitable; he would have preferred the emperor Franz Joseph himself as the commander.

On February 18, 1917 he became press chief in the Foreign Ministry and held this office until the end of the monarchy. He represented the Foreign Ministry from December 1917 to May 1918 at the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk . In 1918 he also became Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary .

He had insight into details of the Sixtus affair , in the course of which his superior, Foreign Minister Count Ottokar Czernin , was dismissed from his office. The friendly relationship between the two men later suffered from different portrayals of the events.

At the end of the World War and after the proclamation of the Republic of German Austria , Friedrich von Wiesner became deputy head of the foreign ministry to be liquidated under the last foreign minister of the dual monarchy, Ludwig Freiherr von Flotow .

In 1919 he retired.

Activities in the First Republic

At the beginning of September 1919, Wiesner held talks with State Chancellor Karl Renner about a function as head of foreign policy in the new republic. Various reasons were later given for the failure of these negotiations: according to Renner, there was resistance in the radical wing of the Social Democratic Workers' Party , Wiesner's wife Julia (actually Juliana , née Kober) stated that Wiesner felt obliged to take the oath to the emperor and therefore refused to work with the new rulers.

Wiesner stayed in contact with Renner. In October 1919 Wiesner traveled to German West Hungary and reported to Renner about the mood among the population there. Later correspondence also suggests a good relationship between the two.

After his retirement, Wiesner worked as a journalist, and his essays on topics such as Habsburg , World War I, the war guilt question and the successor states of the dual monarchy appeared in various magazines in Austria and abroad. He was also involved in a book project about the First World War.

Activity in the legitimist movement

Wiesner was active in the legitimist organization Reichsbund der Österreicher and became its vice-president in 1924 and executive vice-president in 1928. For “Der Österreicher”, the organ of the Reichsbund, he wrote many articles in the 1930s. From around 1928 personal or letter correspondence with the exiled imperial family was only possible through Wiesner's mediation, thus he practiced de facto censorship over who was allowed to drive to Steenokkerzeel . He himself also visited the Habsburg family frequently.

Wiesner played a leading role in founding the legitimist umbrella organization Eiserner Ring in 1932 , where he assumed the executive chairmanship. In the press he was referred to as the leader of the Austrian Legitimists. He appeared several times as a keynote speaker at legitimist events. Wiesner supported the authoritarian regime of Engelbert Dollfuss and the increasing number of appointments of Otto von Habsburg as an honorary citizen by various communities during this time .

On February 19, 1938, it was he who brought Kurt Schuschnigg 's letter from Otto Habsburg, in which Habsburg asked Schuschnigg to hand over the chancellorship to him.

Time of National Socialism and old age

After Austria's "annexation" to Hitler's Germany , Wiesner was arrested by the Gestapo in 1938, like many other legitimists , and taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp . His wife appealed to the Attorney General Welsch for his release. On January 21, 1939, Wiesner was released from “ protective custody ”, but had to settle in Würzburg by order of the police . Wiesner was allowed to return to Vienna at the end of 1939.

Friedrich Wiesner died in 1951 at the age of 80 and was buried in the family's grave at the Grinzinger Friedhof . He was married (⚭ April 10, 1917) and had no children.

Honors

literature

  • Brigitte Schagerl: In the service of a state that should no longer exist, no longer existed, was no longer allowed to exist. Friedrich Ritter von Wiesner. Diplomat, legitimist, victim of Nazi persecution . Vienna 2012 ( online on the website of the University of Vienna [PDF; 8.8 MB ] dissertation).