Dr. Heinrich Franz Wille

Heinrich Franz Wille was born the son of a brickworks owner, attended elementary school in Dürnkrut and, from 1923, boarded at the Stiftsgymnasium in Melk an der Donau, where he graduated with distinction in 1931. There he joined the Nibelungia Melk secondary school fraternity in 1927. As a child, he learned to play the piano, was very talented at it and also performed as a piano accompanist for silent films in cinemas during this time.

After graduating from high school, Heinrich Franz Wille began studying at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Vienna (Dr. iur. 1936), where he joined the Austria Wien student fraternity. In 1933/34 he is in Paris for language studies. After completing his studies and a year in court, Heinrich Franz Wille embarks on a career as a lawyer.

He and his wife are one of the very few Austrians to vote against the Anschluss in the referendum on April 10, 1938.

As a result, Heinrich Franz Wille is only admitted to the state law examination, which is a prerequisite for becoming a trainee lawyer, once he has "volunteered" for military service. As he was unfit for military service due to a hip joint operation in 1917, he served in the German Wehrmacht from October 1940 to March 1941 as a French interpreter (non-commissioned officer; Sonderführer G) in the Kaisersteinbruch prisoner of war camp (near Bruck/Leitha) and in La Rochelle (France).

Although Heinrich Franz Wille already had the necessary qualifications to become an independent lawyer in 1942, he was only able to open a law firm in Vienna after the war, which he ran until his retirement in 1973, after which he became a licensed tourist guide in Vienna. He is a successful commercial lawyer and criminal defense attorney. After the end of the Soviet occupation, he is temporarily public administrator of USIA companies, namely the large construction companies Philipp Holzmann AG and Vianova AG. He is also a member of the supervisory board of Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG, at that time a nationalized company. After the end of the war, he was also a member of the ÖVP municipal council in Gaweinstal (Mistelbach district, Lower Austria) for some time.