Memorial plaque Hans Karl Zessner-Spitzenberg, Emmerich Zederbauer

The memorial plaque for Hans Karl Zeßner-Spitzenberg and Emmerich Zederbauer was installed in 1984 in the main building of the University of Agriculture at 33 Gregor-Mendel-Straße. The plaque was donated by the university's academic senate. The plaque is made of metal. Hans Karl Zeßner-Spitzenberg was a functionary of the Christian Social Patriotic Front and the Austrofascist regime. Because of his anti-Nazi stance, he was among the first to be arrested by the Nazi regime after the "Anschluss". He was taken away during a church service at the Kaasgrabenkirche on 18 March 1938 and taken into Gestapo custody. On 15 July he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp. During the transport, he was subjected to severe mistreatment. He could not recover from the serious internal injuries and died from them on 1 August 1938. Hans Karl Zeßner-Spitzenberg was one of the first Austrian victims of the concentration camps. Emmerich Zederbauer was promoted to rector of the University of Agriculture in 1937 and was already arrested by the National Socialists on 12 March 1938 and imprisoned in the Roßauer Lände police prison. In addition, he was forced into early retirement. He was part of the so-called Prominenten transport to the Dachau concentration camp, from which he was released in September 1938 following intervention by his students. He survived the Nazi regime. After the liberation of Vienna, the botanist was rehabilitated as a university professor. He died in 1950.