Obstlt. a.D. Rudolf Schimeck-Russwurm

Rudolf Schimek-Russwurm was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of the Imperial and Royal Regimental doctor Theodor Schimek-Russwurm was born. The family are Protestant H.B. believers. He graduated from high school in 1890 and then attended the Technical Military Academy in Vienna. In 1893, he enlisted as a lieutenant and joined the Austro-Hungarian army as a professional officer. Military. After serving in the troops, he became a general staff officer, passed language examinations in English and French and was posted to Paris in 1907 and London in 1908. He then served in the k.u.k. Infantry Regiment No. 52 'Erzherzog Friedrich'. He marries Ellen Joan Thompson, an Englishwoman of Buddhist faith.

Between 1911 and 1914, he leaves the military and works for the Telephonfabriks A.G. and the Anglobank. With the outbreak of the First World War, he rejoins the military and becomes head of military-political press censorship in the War Monitoring Office. In 1916, he enrolled in law at the University of Vienna, passed the first state examination, but did not complete his studies. After the defeat and destruction of Austria-Hungary in 1918, he disarmed as a lieutenant colonel and from then on became involved in legitimist movements.

Between 1918 and 1923, Rudolf Schimeck-Russurm worked in Vienna as an employee in commercial and industrial companies before moving to Munich and then to Berlin in 1924. There he worked for the Austrian legation and set up the intelligence service. He also worked for companies based there.

Thanks to his work in Berlin, he was very familiar with the rise of National Socialism and was deeply opposed to it. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he increasingly came into conflict with the regime, which led to him being expelled on April 5, 1934 and forced to leave Germany.

On March 12, 1938, Rudolf Schimeck-Russwurm witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. He was arrested by the Gestapo on March 17, 1938 and deported on April 2, 1938 on the so-called 'Prominent Transport' to the Dachau concentration camp. On September 10, 1938, he was released from prison and on October 27, 1938, he was dismissed without notice as a public servant.

After his release from prison, he hardly found any work. Between July and September 1940, he was only briefly employed as an interpreter and technical interpreter for French prisoners of war at Gußwerker Säge- und Holzindustrie GmbH. He was unemployed for the rest of the occupation of Austria.