Hauptmann Lothar Haas

Lothar Haas was born in Zell near Kufstein in Tyrol as the legitimate son of municipal official Josef Haas and his wife Anna, née Haslinger. After elementary school, he attended the Kalksburg College and the St. Paul Abbey High School, where he graduated in 1912.

Lothar Haas then transferred to the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt on September 21, 1912, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on October 15, 1914, and assigned to the Imperial and Royal Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 20 “Stanislau.” He took part in battles on the Eastern Front and on the Isonzo Front. On July 1, 1915, he was promoted to first lieutenant. On March 10, 1917, he was transferred to Rifle Regiment No. 21. There, he participated in the advance into Veneto, on the Piave Front, and in the fighting at Asiago.

As a civilian, Lothar Haas witnessed the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the collapse of the Dual Monarchy, and the expulsion of the Habsburgs. He retired from the Austrian Armed Forces with the rank of captain on January 25, 1921. A staunch Austrian who remained loyal to Otto von Habsburg—that is, a legitimist—he worked in banking in Innsbruck from 1922 to 1924, as a representative of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw, Poland, from 1925 to 1926, and for the Vienna Leather Industry Association between 1927 and 1930.

Lothar Haas was involved with the Lower Austrian Home Guard and, on February 12, 1934, assumed command of the 2nd Lower Austrian Border Guard Company in Marchegg.

In 1937, Lothar Haas became active in the Front Militia under Group Commander Richard Gredler-Oxenbauer. There, he served as district military commander in the Hollabrunn district. The Front Militia was an alliance of several defense associations that, after initially being incorporated into the Patriotic Front, was later placed under the authority of the Federal Ministry of National Defense. In 1938, he became district military commander in the Mistelbach district.