Vera von Schuschnigg

Vera Countess Czernin von und zu Chudenitz was born in Munich and her first marriage was to Leopold Count Fugger. She had 4 children with him. However, the marriage broke up, was divorced in 1936 and annulled by the church in 1937. During this time, she met the Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg.

After the tumultuous events of the night of March 11, 1938 to March 12, 1938, the authoritarian Chancellor, who had resigned under pressure from Adolf Hitler, returned to his apartment in the grounds of Belvedere Palace, exhausted and resigned. Against the urging of his family and his employee, Lieutenant Colonel Georg Bartl, he decides against fleeing.

On the morning of March 12, 1938, he is arrested in his apartment together with Vera, his father Field Marshal Lieutenant Arthur von Schuschnigg, his employee Lieutenant Colonel Georg Bartl and two domestic servants and cut off from the outside world. On May 28, 1938, Kurt von Schuschnigg is placed under arrest and locked up in the Gestapo headquarters in the Hotel Metropole on Morzinplatz.

Vera Countess Czernin von und zu Chudenitz marries Kurt von Schuschnigg per procurationem during this time. Per procurationem means marriage by proxy. As her bridegroom Kurt was imprisoned and she was unable to visit him, Catholic law permitted a long-distance wedding to be performed by proxy. In the case of the Schuschniggs, Kurt is represented by his brother Arthur von Schuschnigg. Kurt von Schuschnigg's father, Field Marshal Lieutenant Arthur von Schuschnigg and a sacristan act as witnesses to this emergency wedding. The marriage took place on July 1, 1938 in the Dominican Church in Vienna.

As a result of the marriage, Vera von Schuschnigg was allowed to visit her husband once a week. This is his only contact with the outside world during this time. Kurt von Schuschnigg becomes very thin and is suicidal. On October 29, 1939, he is transferred to Munich without prior notice. His wife Vera moves there immediately to be with him. The Gestapo now allowed longer meetings without surveillance. Vera and Kurt's daughter, Maria Dolores Elisabeth, was born in 1941.

On December 9, 1941, Kurt von Schuschnigg was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was assigned a small wooden house there. In order to be with him, his wife Vera and their daughter also moved into this wooden house. Unlike her husband, Vera is less strictly monitored.

During this time, the resistance group Antifascist Freedom Movement of Austria (AFÖ) establishes contact with former Federal Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg. Vera and Schuschnigg's son from his first marriage, Kurt, served as intermediaries. They report on activities and bring food pacts to the former chancellor.

Finally, the planning of the German resistance movement also shows that Schuschnigg was still remembered as a potential force within a Greater German resistance. (Dieter A. Binder/Heinrich Schuschnigg)

Shortly before the end of the war, Kurt von Schuschnigg, his wife Vera and his daughter were imprisoned in the Flossenbürg concentration camp and Dachau concentration camp before he was liberated by the Americans on May 4, 1945. Under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller and SS-Untersturmführer Bader, who were ordered to liquidate the prisoners in case of doubt, they set off for the Dolomites in three groups on April 17, 24 and 26, 1945, using buses and trucks. On April 30th, in Niederdorf in South Tyrol, Wehrmacht Captain Wichard von Alvensleben and his company forced the SS to surrender and withdraw on the orders of his superior Heinrich von Vietinghoff. On May 4, 1945, Vera von Schuschnigg and her family, like the other hostages, were taken over by the Americans.

Vera von Schuschnigg and her family arrived in the USA via Italy, where they became American citizens. She died there in 1959.

Heinrich Schuschnigg from a speech at the presentation of "Sofort Vernichten. Die vertraulichen Briefe Kurt und Vera von Schuschniggs 1938-1945" Vienna-Munich 1997: