Karl Werkmann

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Karl Werkmann (born September 14, 1878 in Salzburg ; † December 24, 1951 in Paris; 1918 to 1919 Freiherr Werkmann von Hohensalzburg ) was a journalist and private secretary of the last Austro-Hungarian monarch Karl I.

biography

Origin and family

Karl Martin Werkmann was born as the second son of the Austrian insurance salesman August Werkmann (1848–1909) and Louise Zügner (1846–1892) in Salzburg. His brothers were August Werkmann, professor in Vienna, and Theobald Werkmann. Karl Werkmann was married to Else Rutzen .

First World War

Werkmann's coat of arms on the occasion of his elevation to the baron class in 1918

After completing his doctorate, he embarked on a career as a journalist , during the First World War held the rank of kuk captain of the reserve in the Kaiserschützen Regiment No. I with assignment to the General Adjutantur of the Kaiser, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class and served as director of the imperial press service before the last Austro-Hungarian monarch Charles I appointed him his private secretary .

With a handwritten letter from Emperor Charles I on November 11, 1918, Werkmann was elevated to the status of Austrian baron with the title “von Hohensalzburg ” , and the emperor confirmed the coat of arms presented to him. On the same day, Emperor Charles I renounced his share of government affairs.

Legitimism

After Emperor Charles I resigned from the government, Baron Werkmann von Hohensalzburg accompanied the imperial family on their departure from Austria to Switzerland in March 1919. A small exiled court formed around Emperor Karl and Empress Zita , which consisted of the former court bishop Seydl , the adjutants Wladimir Graf Ledochowski and Zeno von Schonta and the secretary Werkmann. The empress was accompanied by her lady-in-waiting, Countess Gabrielle Bellegarde, and the children's educator, Therese von Korff, known as Schmising-Kerssenbrock . Karl's mother, Archduchess Maria Josepha , followed the imperial couple into exile.

When, after the end of the monarchy in Austria-Hungary , the parliament of German Austria decided to abolish the nobility on April 3, 1919 , Freiherr Werkmann von Hohensalzburg in Austria also lost the right to use his title.

After the emperor's death in exile on Madeira in 1922 , Werkmann returned to Austria. He worked as a writer and, together with his wife, translated political, autobiographical and fiction works from English and French into German. In addition, he was a leader in the legitimist movement that had formed in the winter of 1918/19. Werkmann brought out the magazine “Staatswehr”, and the “Party of All Black and Yellow Legitimists” (SGL) was founded, which took part in the National Council elections in 1923 under the name “Kaisertreue Volkspartei” , but remained without a mandate . Werkmann was a leader in the “Reichsbund der Österreicher” and was a member of the legitimist student association “ Corps of Vikings Vienna ”. Werkmann kept in touch with Empress Zita and campaigned for Otto von Habsburg as a journalist .

Connection in 1938 and end of life

After Austria was annexed to the National Socialist German Reich , Werkmann was arrested by the Gestapo on March 14, 1938 in Vienna (name on the Gestapo list: " Werkmann Freiherr von Karl ") and on April 1, 1938 with the " Prominententransport " to the Brought to Dachau concentration camp , where he was given prisoner number 13795 on April 2, 1938 . Released from the Dachau concentration camp on November 16, 1938, Werkmann died in Paris in December 1951 and was buried in Luxembourg on January 7, 1952.

Works

  • The dead in Madeira . Publishing house for cultural policy, Berlin 1923
  • From the estate of Emperor Charles . Publishing house for cultural policy, Berlin 1925
  • Germany as an ally: Kaiser Karl's struggle for peace . Verlag für Kulturpolitik, Berlin 1931
  • Otto von Habsburg: An Unsolved European Problem . Ralph A. Höger, Vienna / Leipzig 1932
  • The Emperor and the Peasants ( leaflet ). Print: " Vorwärts ", Vienna 1937

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f The first Dachau transport from Vienna in 1938: Karl Werkmann. In: doew.at .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Arno Kerschbaumer: Nobilitations under the reign of Emperor Karl I / IV. Károly király (1916–1921) . Graz 2016, ISBN 978-3-9504153-1-5 , p. 133.
  3. ↑ OV Winter: Schonta von Seedank, Emmerich Zeno. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 11, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-7001-2803-7 , p. 136 f., Online at biographien.ac.at .
  4. ↑ Martin Mutschlechner: Habsburg in Exile I: From Switzerland to Madeira. In: habsburger.net . Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ Georg Markus : Is it all just coincidence? Fateful hours of great Austrians . Amalthea Signum, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-85002-878-3 , p. 28.
  6. ↑ Peter Broucek : A General in the Twilight. The memories of Edmund Glaise von Horstenau. Volume 1. Vienna 1980, ISBN 978-3-2050874-0-3 , p. 373.
personal data
SURNAME Werkmann, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Worker from Hohensalzburg, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist and private secretary to Karl I.
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Salzburg
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1951
Place of death Paris