Franz-Josef-Messner-Memorial_plate

In June 2019, a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the fence of Hasenauerstraße 61. It commemorates the Catholic resistance fighter Franz Josef Messner, who lived in this house. The native Tyrolean came from a merchant family, volunteered in 1915 for the 1st Regiment of Tyrolean Kaiserjäger and studied several semesters at the Export Academy in Vienna. In 1925, Messner emigrated to Brazil and worked in coffee export. He founded the "Brasil-Kaffee-Gesellschaft" with its headquarters in Vienna and served as Brazilian consul and trade attaché from 1928. In 1937, he became General Director of Semperit AG Wien. From 1942, Messner cooperated with Father Heinrich Maier, forester Walter Caldonazzi, and other resistance organizations against National Socialism. Messner provided information about armament facilities to the US wartime intelligence service OSS, among other things. In early 1944, the group was uncovered. In October 1944, Messner was sentenced to death and subsequently transported to Mauthausen. He was murdered on April 23, 1945, via Zyklon B.