Senatspräsident Dr. Heinrich Rudolf Lieberich

Heinrich Rudolf Lieberich was born in Vienna, the son of Hermann Lieberich, an engineer and member of the executive board, and his wife Charlotte Therese, née Kaiser. His father worked for the Vienna Municipal Gas Works. Heinrich Lieberich grew up in a Protestant family.

After elementary school, he attended a humanities-focused high school and subsequently studied law at the University of Vienna. On March 15, 1933, he earned his doctorate in law. On March 21, 1933, he began his legal practice. This took him, among other places, to the Innere Stadt District Court, the Vienna Criminal and Civil Courts, the Purkersdorf District Court, the Steyr Regional Court, and the Vienna I and II District Attorney’s Offices. In 1936, he became a judicial clerk; in June 1937, he passed the judicial examination with excellent results and subsequently served as an assistant judge.

In 1931, Heinrich Lieberich married Ilse Schuster. On October 11, 1932, a son was born. Ilse Lieberich died on May 14, 1934. On November 28, 1936, Lieberich married Helene Rumpler. They had two daughters.

During the interwar period, Heinrich Lieberich joined the Heimatschutz and, in 1929, the Studentenfreikorps. On May 7, 1934, he joined the Fatherland Front. He was staunchly opposed to National Socialism.

On March 12, 1938, Heinrich Lieberich witnessed the downfall of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Out of fear for his professional future and concerns regarding his Jewish ancestry, he applied for membership in the NSDAP.

On November 29, 1938, Heinrich Lieberich was appointed as a district court judge; he assumed the position effective January 1, 1939. On July 1, 1939, he was assigned to the Vienna District Court but remained employed by the public prosecutor’s office. On September 1, 1939, he became a prosecutor at the Vienna Regional Court.

As a prosecutor, he advocated for people facing the threat of political persecution. His colleague at the time, Josef Zarl, confirmed after the war that Heinrich Lieberich issued him a politically unobjectionable assessment despite knowing of his opposition to National Socialism. Josef Zarl also describes how Heinrich Lieberich prevented criminal proceedings against members of the Order of St. Gabriel and also stopped the planned report to the Gestapo.

Critical remarks about the regime led to investigations against Heinrich Lieberich in 1941–42. On January 12, 1942, he withdrew his application for membership from the NSDAP district leadership. On January 17, 1942, he was forced to enlist in the Wehrmacht, despite health limitations, a decision linked to the political conflicts within the judiciary.

Through Josef Zarl, Heinrich Lieberich eventually joined the resistance group led by Rudolf Fischer and Rudolf Malina—the Fischer-Malina group—at the Breitenseer Barracks. Rudolf Fischer kept him at the barracks in the interest of the resistance movement, despite the difficulties there. Heinrich Lieberich served as a legal advisor and counsel for comrades who were members of the resistance. Karl Heger confirms that he intervened on behalf of affected soldiers both at the Regional Court and at the Wehrmacht court. During his military service, Heinrich Lieberich was repeatedly subjected to political hostility and punitive transfers.

In the fall of 1944, his military service takes Heinrich Lieberich to Hungary. After his unit is attached to Command Signal Regiment 40, he organizes a resistance cell with Austrian comrades. He deliberately damages communications equipment and, during nightly guard patrols, cuts the Wehrmacht’s telephone lines. When he faces the threat of arrest toward the end of the war, he goes AWOL and deserts on March 30, 1945.

Following the liberation of Austria and the restoration of the Republic in April and May 1945, respectively, Heinrich Lieberich’s former membership in the NSDAP was investigated. On March 26, 1946, he was initially dismissed from public service because the authorities classified him as an illegal Nazi. The Appeals Commission overturned this classification on July 19, 1946. In October 1946, the dismissal order was rescinded. The related proceedings before the Administrative Court were dismissed as moot on November 25, 1946. He was subsequently officially recognized as a member of the resistance.

In the judicial service of the Republic of Austria, Heinrich Lieberich eventually rose to the position of President of the Senate of the Vienna Higher Regional Court, where he retired.

Heinrich Lieberich died in Vienna at the age of 70.