Dr. Arthur Trattler

Arthur Trattler graduated from the Bundesrealgymnasium in Klagenfurt in 1936, then went to Graz to study law and became active in the student fraternity Carolina Graz in 1936.

In 1939, Arthur Trattler received his doctorate in law. As the authorities of the time did not consider his political views to be impeccable, he was rejected by the Higher Regional Court as a trainee lawyer and was conscripted into the German Wehrmacht. Through his brother-in-law Ernst Ortner, he came into contact with members of the AFÖ (Antifascist Freedom Movement Austria) while on leave from the front in April 1943. After the resistance group was unmasked by a confidant, he was reported to the Chief Reich War Prosecutor by the Klagenfurt police station on September 22, 1943 "for preparation for high treason". As he was serving as a medical sergeant in various theaters of war, he was not arrested until May 20, 1944 in the Monte Cassino area of Italy. After being transferred to various prisons in northern Italy and Klagenfurt, he was transferred to the Wehrmacht remand prison in Vienna-Favoriten.

On October 25, 1944, he was charged with membership of the "Anti-Fascist Freedom Movement of Austria" before the 5th Senate of the People's Court. However, Arthur Trattler was acquitted for lack of evidence and transferred back to the troops. He was most probably one of the authors of the AFÖ leaflet that led to his arrest. Eduard Pumpernig had the leaflet entitled "Austrians, Carinthians, brothers and sisters of the subjugated nations", which was addressed to Carinthians, Austrians and Slovenes, compiled and reproduced from Arthur Trattler's three drafts after the meeting with members of the AFÖ at the end of April 1943.