Franz-Josef-Messner Memorial Plaque

In June 2019, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the fence leading to the house at 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 the Tyrolean Imperial Rifles, and studied for several semesters at the Export Academy in Vienna. In 1925, Messner emigrated to Brazil and became active in coffee exports. He founded the "Brasil-Kaffee-Gesellschaft" with headquarters in Vienna and served as a Brazilian consul and commercial attaché from 1928 onwards. In 1937, he became general director of the Semperit AG Vienna. From 1942 onwards, Messner cooperated with the priest Heinrich Maier, the forester Walter Caldonazzi, and other resistance organizations against National Socialism. Messner passed on information about military equipment to the US War Intelligence Service OSS. In the spring of 1944, the group was uncovered. In October 1944, Messner was sentenced to death and subsequently sent to Mauthausen. He was murdered on April 23, 1945, using Zyklon B.