Group Hebra Gruppe Hebra

The writer Wilhelm Hebra (born October 11, 1885) set up a large legitimist group in the summer of 1938. He was arrested at the end of March 1938, sentenced to death by the VGH in 1943 for "preparation for high treason and favoring the enemy" and executed in Munich-Stadelheim on February 18, 1944.

In a leaflet written by Hebra and signed "Östfrei" (Austria free), the Austrian-patriotic aims of the Hebra group were clearly expressed: Austria is not a part of the German Reich, but a country conquered by lies and violence, held by tyranny, deprived of all rights, tormented and tortured. We Austrians are distinguished from the other Germans by our history and culture, in spirit and attitude, in character and way of life, and are opposed to the Prussians. We are a nation of our own: the Austrian nation.

John Robert Lennox (born 12.6.1896), a British citizen, a master builder and property dealer who was also arrested at the end of March 1939, was suspected by the Gestapo of belonging to the Secret Service and working as a foreign courier for the Hebra group. There were indeed contacts to French and British secret service agencies via the former Austrian press attaché in Paris, Martin Fuchs, and the former ambassador in London. Lennox was sentenced to death together with Wilhelm Hebra in 1943, but the sentence was not carried out.

A number of other members of the resistance group were sentenced by the VGH in two trials in November 1943, including Josef Pinzenöhler (born 8.12.1909), a member of the Order of Friars Minor, member of the secondary school fraternity Greifenstein Vienna and the student fraternity Starhemberg as well as the insurance agent Josef Eder (born 28.4.1906), who were sentenced to four and six years in prison respectively. The court proceedings against the lithographer Josef Jeschek (born 1.3.1887), who was arrested on 23.3.1939 for "illegal legitimist activity", were discontinued in December 1939; however, he was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he died on 18.7.1940. The Miorite priest Peter August Blandenier (born 19.11.1905), who was arrested on 31.5.1939 and again on 4.3.1940, was also transferred without trial to the Dachau concentration camp and died there on 20.4.1941.

Members of the Hebra group included:

• Peter August Blandenier
• Josef Eder
• Franz Hierzer
• Josef Jeschek
• Beda Land
• John Robert Lennox
• Josef Pinzenöhler, member of the middle school fraternity Greifenstein Wien and the student fraternity Starhemberg
• Fritz Polcar
• Karl Alfons von Portele, member of the middle school fraternity Tegetthoff and many student fraternities, such as the academic corps Ottonia, the resistance fighter Karl Burian