Dr. Karl Völkl

In 1934, Karl Völkl was a concept officer for the City of Vienna and from 1936, he was in charge of organizing the company militia at City Hall, whose deployment he organized as instructed on the evening of 11 March 1938 and sent home around 8 p.m. after the speech by Federal Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg. He tries to get in touch with his brother Hans at the General Post Office. As this is unsuccessful, he goes there himself. He finds his brother there together with Dr. Karl Dworschak, already guarded by Hitler Youth. As all attempts to get them released failed, he accompanied them to the police station, where he - like the other two - was arrested and held for 14 days in the Elisabeth-Promenade police prison.

After his release, he was dismissed by the City of Vienna as a concept officer. He then turns to training as a lawyer and joins a law firm as a trainee lawyer. After completing the prescribed two-year trainee lawyer course at the Palace of Justice, he was one of the first to pass the so-called "Assessor Examination" (according to the new guidelines of the German Reich) at the beginning of 1941. He then receives the surprising offer to become a judge. He was asked by a regional court judge what he would choose if there was a difference between National Socialism and Catholicism. He replies that he considers this to be impossible, as Adolf Hitler states in his book "Mein Kampf" that religion is important for the people and that a faith without dogma has no value for the people. The Provincial Court Judge then explained that these statements by Adolf Hitler were common knowledge and that Karl Völkl should therefore answer the question put to him. Karl Völkl explained that in such a case he would choose Catholicism. The regional court judge is visibly disappointed by this answer, and Karl Völkl's career as a judge ends before it has begun.