Karl Burian

Burian attended primary and secondary school in Vienna and then the cavalry cadet school in Moravian-White Churches. During the First World War, he fought as the youngest lieutenant in the Imperial and Royal Monarchy in the Imperial and Royal Dragoon Regiment. Dragoon Regiment 8 on the Russian front in Galicia. After being shot in the head, Karl Burian was taken prisoner of war in Russia. In 1917, he managed to escape from Siberia with the help of a German officer and ended up in the German command area near Odessa.

After the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy, he was forcibly discharged, like many other young officers. He then worked as an employee in the agricultural sickness fund and as a sculptor. In 1936, Karl Burian was accepted into the Austrian army as a reactivated first lieutenant. Despite refusing to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler, he was transferred to the German Wehrmacht after the Anschluss in 1938.

After the Anschluss, the Ottonian Corps disbanded; however, many Ottonians founded the Burian resistance group under the leadership of Karl Burian. Otto von Habsburg himself commissioned Karl Burian to set up a resistance group in Vienna. Using plans organized by Karl Friediger, Karl Burian plans an explosives attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Vienna, which is housed in the former Hotel Métropole at the time. Karl Burian also established contact with high-ranking political and military circles in Poland.

On October 13, 1938, the Burian resistance group was betrayed by the informer Josef Materna, and Burian and six other resistance fighters, including four Ottonians, were remanded in custody for five years. He was accused of setting up a legitimist organization in 1938 and working to overthrow the National Socialist regime. He was also accused of having established contact with foreign legitimists and other resistance groups. On December 9, 1943, Karl Burian was finally sentenced to death by beheading by the People's Court. The sentence was carried out on March 13, 1944 - the 6th anniversary of the German invasion of Austria - in the Vienna Provincial Court. The remaining defendants were sentenced to several years in prison.

According to stories told by Burian's surviving fellow prisoners, Burian remained true to his views until his death. He was described as cheerful and humorous during his imprisonment.