Wolfgang Pogner

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Wolfgang Pogner (born December 25, 1923 in Vienna ; died December 5, 1944 there ) was an Austrian laboratory assistant who was sentenced to death as a resistance fighter against National Socialism and beheaded in the Vienna Regional Court .

Life

The laboratory assistant from Vienna-Landstrasse had to join the Hitler Youth at the age of 15 , two years later he was expelled as a so-called non - Aryan . According to the racist Nuremberg Laws, he was classified as a “first degree mongrel” because his father, who fled to Czechoslovakia in 1938 after Austria was annexed , was of Jewish origin.

Pogner ended up working in a lacquer factory in Vienna. He did not belong to any resistance group, but from the summer of 1943 he listened to banned foreign radio stations, including the Moscow station . In April 1944 Pogner wrote a leaflet about the war situation and the impending overthrow of the National Socialist regime "by the Viennese proletariat". The slogans "Down with the Nazi blood-drinkers!" And "Viennese, slay the brown bloodhounds!" He kept the notes in his wallet without distributing them. He lost his wallet in a bakery. He was denounced by the baker and a little later, on June 6, 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo.

From pre-trial detention he wrote letters to his sister, who also visited him regularly: “The days go by one after the other, nothing changes, you just sit and wait. It is a test time for all of us and we must endure it. Over time you get used to everything, even at the ports [Viennese for: prison ] ”, Pogner wrote on August 12, 1944. After receiving the indictment, on September 23, 1944:“ Unfortunately, I cannot hide from you that my situation is very serious and that you have to be prepared for the worst; Of course, we must never lose hope. ”On October 27, 1944, Pogner was sentenced to death by the People's Court for“ preparation for high treason ”and“ broadcasting crime ”.

Judgment of the People's Court and appeal for clemency

“Since the accused, being a loner, had no political connections, he kept the appeal and the 2 sheets of paper with the slogans in his wallet. The aforementioned documents came to the attention of the authorities because one day the defendant lost his wallet with its contents on the street. [...] Since the accused committed his treasonous activity after the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union, he was to be punished with death; because there was less reason to assume a less serious case, as the accused showed no trace of remorse. "

- Judgment of the People's Court : October 27, 1944

On November 1, 1944, Pogner asked for the death penalty to be converted into a prison sentence:

“Back then, as so often, I found myself in a mood of depression. [...] My classmates in high school always mocked me because of my parentage, so that I had no intercourse with comrades. So I often had to think about my fate. It was the same on the night I wrote the flyer. I no longer know whether I really ever intended to reproduce or throw away this note so that it should get into the hands of other people. "

- Wolfgang Pogner : Plea for clemency

The request for clemency was rejected Pogner was twenty days before his 21st birthday in Vienna Court by the guillotine executed .

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personal data
SURNAME Pogner, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian laboratory assistant and victim of Nazi military justice
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 1944
Place of death Vienna