Otto Planetta (2 August 1899 – 31 July 1934) was an Austrian National Socialist who assassinated the

Chancellor of Austria The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies. Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...

Engelbert Dollfuß Engelbert Dollfuß (alternatively: ''Dolfuss'', ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian clerical fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ...

, in 1934.

Biography

Planetta was born into a Catholic family in Wischau,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now Vyskov,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) in 1899. In 1916 he volunteered for military service in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918 at the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he joined the Volkswehr, then the Gendarmerie as well as the

Bundesheer The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria. The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of natio ...

, the successor of the Volkswehr after 1920. His last military rank was that of staff sergeant. By trade he was a retail salesman. At the time of his death he was married but had no children and lived on Laxenburger Street in Favoriten, the 10th district of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1930 he joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(member number 300,772) and, together with

Fridolin Glass Fridolin Glass, also Glaß (14 December 1910, in Lemberg – 21 February 1943, in the Soviet Union) was an Austrian Nazi activist and Schutzstaffel (SS) officer. Glass came to prominence in 1934 when he became the effective leader of the July Putsc ...

and Franz Holzweber founded the "German Soldiers' Association for the Registration of National Socialists in the Austrian Armed Forces". In 1933, while he was unemployed, he played a leading role in the formation of SS Standarte 89 (later SS-Standarte 89 "Holzweber"), which was created under the direct orders of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

to be a group of shock troops designed to create chaos on the streets of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. On July 25, 1934, at the beginning of the

July Putsch The July Putsch was a failed coup attempt against the Austrofascist regime by Austrian Nazis from 25 to 30 July 1934. Just a few months after the Austrian Civil War, Austrian Nazis and German SS soldiers attacked the Chancellery in Vienna in an ...

, a failed coup attempt by Austrian Nazis, Planetta fired one of two fatal shots at Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß. Shortly after his arrest, a military tribunal sentenced him and his accomplice Franz Holzweber to "death by cord", and he was executed on the strangulation gallows by executioner Johann Lang in the Vienna Regional Court on July 31. On the court's instructions, Planetta was the second to be hanged. The bodies were not handed over to the relatives but instead cremated in the

Simmering Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...

crematorium. Planetta's ashes were later buried in the Dornbach Cemetery (Group 13, Row 3, No. 33).

Glorification in the Nazi State

After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

of Austria on March 12, 1938, Planetta was elevated to the status of a "Hero of Austrian Freedom". Numerous streets in "

Greater Germany Pan-Germanism (german: Pangermanismus or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all the German-speaking people – and possibly also Germanic-speaking ...

" were named after him, such as Gemmrigheimer Street in

Zuffenhausen Zuffenhausen is one of three northernmost boroughs of the city of Stuttgart, capital of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The borough is primarily an incorporation of the formerly independent townships Zuffenhausen, Zazenhausen, Neuwirtshau ...

, Pfarrgasse in Baden bei Wien and Habsburger Street in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. Today's Maria- and Rudolf-Fischer-Hof in Vienna-Favoriten as well as student fraternities, e.g. the fraternity Bruna Sudetia in Vienna, were also named after him. None of these still bear his name.

Literature (selection)

* Walter Kleindel with the collaboration of Hans Veigl: ''Das große Buch der Österreicher. 4500 Personendarstellungen in Wort und Bild. Namen, Daten, Fakten.'' Kremayr & Scheriau, Wien 1987, . * Robert Berger (Ed.), Peter Krause, Gottfried Stangler: ''Gaudeamus igitur. Studentisches Leben einst und jetzt. Schallaburg, 28. Mai bis 18. Oktober 1992. Ausstellungskatalog''. Katalog des Niederösterreichischen Landesmuseums, Band N.F. 296, . Amt der Niederösterreichischen Landesregierung, Abt. III/2, Kulturabteilung, Wien 1992, . * ''Assassination in Vienna'', by Walter B. Maass, published by Charles Scribners's Sons, New York * ''The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS'', by Heinz Zollin Höhne and Richard Barry * ''První zemřel kancléř'', by Vladimír Bauman a Miroslav Hladký, Praha 1968 * ''Na dně byla smrt'', by Otakar Brožek a Jiří Horský, Praha 1968

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Planetta, Otto 1899 births 1934 deaths People from Vyškov Austrian soldiers SS personnel Austrian assassins Assassins of heads of state Executed Austrian Nazis People executed by Austria by hanging People from the Margraviate of Moravia Executed assassins Moravian-German people Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Austrian Roman Catholics Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I

Biography

Glorification in the Nazi State

See also

Literature (selection)

References