Dr. Hans Völkl

Hans Völkl attends secondary school in Vienna and joins the secondary school fraternity Bavaria Wien in 1926. After graduating from high school, he studied law at the University of Vienna. In 1929, he also became a member of the student fraternity Rudolfina. After completing his doctorate in 1934, he joined the Post and Telegraph Directorate. He became involved in the "Christian-German Gymnastics Association" [now the Sports Union]. In 1938, he served in the Federal Ministry of Trade and Transport, General Directorate for Postal and Telegraph Administration.

On March 11, 1938, a journal service with reliable civil servants was set up here in the Postal Directorate on the instructions of the Ministry. It is headed by Dr. Karl Dworschak and Hans Völkl is also a member. When Federal Chancellor Schuschnigg bids farewell on the radio with the words "God bless Austria", Dr. Dworschak sends the civil servants present home. Only the two Rudolfins remain, as no corresponding instructions have yet come from the ministry. They want to hand over the official duties to the new rulers in an orderly fashion. For the time being, however, the ovens in Postgasse 8 are still burning to burn incriminating material. At around 10 p.m., a wild mob of 15-year-olds and older with swastika armbands on their arms, waving pistols and revolvers around wildly, stormed into the post office. They immediately take the two of them into protective custody. A bust of Engelbert Dollfuß also fell victim to the vandalism. When they found Hans Völkl's gymnast's pass among his identity cards, which identified him as a member of the "Christian German Gymnastics" military unit, they wanted to "put him up against the wall". Hans Völkl's brother Karl, who has joined them in the meantime with a police officer, tries to get them released, but is arrested himself. They are then taken to the police detention center by cab, which the arrestees are "allowed" to pay for themselves. There they are separated and Hans Völkl has to share a cell with Franz Olah, who later becomes Minister of the Interior, for the next 14 days. After his imprisonment, he reported for duty at the post office again, but was deemed unworthy of working as an academic by the new manager. He was then assigned to various post offices, staying longest at the Westbahnhof post office to sort letters and parcels. In March 1939, however, he was no longer deemed worthy of this job either and was dismissed from the postal service in accordance with the Professional Civil Servants Ordinance.