Dr. Hanns Sassmann

Hanns Sassmann was born the son of a restaurant owner in Vienna-Favoriten and former dragoon officer ("Windischgrätz Dragoon"). His father instilled in him a Catholic-Austrian attitude and - probably due to his profession - an open attitude of hospitality. Hanns Sassmann attended the Schulbrüder elementary school and then the grammar school in Rainergasse (5th district). He was socialized and influenced by the Catholic youth of his home parish "Maria Königin des Friedens".

His ideological foundation led him to join the resistance after the Anschluss. Hanns Sassmann was one of the youngest participants in the rally at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on the Feast of the Rosary, October 7, 1938. After a military training camp and the so-called "Kriegsmatura", he was drafted into the German army on February 4, 1943 and sent to the Eastern Front at the beginning of 1944. After just a few weeks, he was so badly injured in both knees and his thigh that he was discharged from the Wehrmacht on November 17, 1944 after spending several months in a military hospital. He had to walk on crutches for a long time after the end of the war.

Until the end of the war, Hanns Sassmann attended the pre-semester course at Vienna University and resumed his involvement with the Catholic Youth. After the end of the war, he began studying history and German studies at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Vienna (Dr. phil. 1949). His doctoral supervisor was Hugo Hantsch. In addition to his studies, Hanns Sassmann is involved in building up the Catholic Youth. At Christmas 1945, he was appointed diocesan leader of the Catholic Youth of Vienna by Theodor Cardinal Innitzer. He later became federal secretary and finally deputy federal leader of the Catholic Youth of Austria until 1951.