Viktor Seiller

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Viktor Seiller (born August 18, 1880 in Vienna or Albano Laziale near Rome , † November 29, 1969 in Vienna; until 1919 Freiherr von Seiller ) was a lieutenant colonel in the general staff of the Austro-Hungarian army and co-signer of the armistice of Villa Giusti , which marked the end of Austria. Hungary's marked, and then military attaché . From 1901 to 1920 he was a career officer. After working in the private sector and as a civil employee of the German military administration, Seiller was a civil servant in the Federal Chancellery until after his retirement .

Viktor Seiller (1918)

Life

Viktor was the son of the diplomat Aloys Freiherr von Seiller (1833-1918) from the noble Seiller family and wanted to become a diplomat himself. However, he could not prove the personal income of 12,000 kroner required for foreign service because of his five siblings. Therefore, on the advice of his father, he embarked on a military career and studied at the technical military academy and in the k. k. War school.

Seiller was married to Clementine, née Feldmann. With her he had the daughter Renata (1904–1990 / 91). She was the friend of William Somerset Maugham and the translator of some of his works into German.

As a general staff officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, Seiller subsequently worked as a military attaché in diplomacy. Supported by Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , he initially worked in the Italy group of the Evidenzbüro , and in autumn 1911 he was entrusted with a secret mission and was Austrian military attaché in Rome in 1914 until Italy entered the war in May 1915.

He then worked as the chief of the intelligence department of the Southwest Front . From January 1918 until the end of the First World War , he served as Chief of Staff of the 94th Infantry Division and the Kaiserjäger Division on the Dolomite Front.

In 1918, at the end of the World War, Lieutenant Colonel Seiller was a participant and interpreter of the Austro-Hungarian Armistice Commission, which agreed the armistice of November 3, 1918 with the Entente and Italy, and was a signatory of the Villa Giusti armistice during the peace negotiations with Italy for the Austro-Hungarian Army Command , on November 3, 1918 with General Viktor Weber von Webenau, among others .

In 1920 Seiller ended his career as an officer and switched to the private sector. 1920/21 he was General Secretary of Julius Meinl and then until 1939 for the Vienna registry office of the London-based Trans-European Company Ltd. active. Until 1941 he worked in the Alpine Montangesellschaft . He spent the further years of World War II as a civilian employee of the German military administration in Belgrade .

After the liberation of Austria , Seiller first worked in the Army Office of the State Chancellery and from 1946 to 1949 as an official in the Federal Chancellery (BKA). In 1949 he retired and immediately afterwards, from 1950 to 1956, worked as a re-used civil servant in the function of chief interpreter of the BKA's liaison office to the Allied Council . In 1958 he published a series of articles on the armistice of Villa Giusti in the weekly newspaper Die Furche .

In 1960 Seiller bequeathed his manuscripts to the Austrian State Archives . The grave of the Seiller family is in the Hernalser Friedhof .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e estate of Viktor Seiller, 1914-1955. In: Austrian State Archives , AT-OeStA / HHStA SB Nl.
  2. ↑ a b c Peter Broucek (Ed.): A General in the Twilight. The memories of Edmund Glaise von Horstenau. Volume 1: Kuk General Staff Officer and Historian. Böhlau, Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-205-08740-2 , p. 514.
  3. ↑ a b See Nobility Repeal Act 1919 .
  4. ^ A b Günther Kronenbitter: War in Peace. The leadership of the Austro-Hungarian army and the great power politics of Austria-Hungary 1906–1914. Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56700-4 , p. 272.
  5. ^ Edmund Glaise von Horstenau : The Armistice of Villa Giusti 1918. (Translation into English.) In: Edmund Glaise von Horstenau: The Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. JM Dent and Sons Ltd., London and Toronto and EP Dutton and Co. Inc., New York 1930.
  6. ^ Max Löwenthal: Double-headed eagle and swastika. Experiences of an Austrian diplomat. Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1985, ISBN 3-85373-089-2 , p. 54.
personal data
SURNAME Seiller, Viktor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seiller, Viktor Freiherr von; Seiller, Victor Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General Staff Officer in Austria-Hungary; Military attaché; Official in the Federal Chancellery (1945–1956)
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Albano Laziale
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1969
Place of death Vienna