Dr. Gustav Werner

Gustav Werner graduated from grammar school in Ödenburg (now Sopron) and, following the annexation of Burgenland to Austria, began studying at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Vienna (Dr. iur.), where he joined the student fraternity Babenberg Wien in 1924.

After completing his studies in 1928, he joined the Burgenland provincial government and became a civil servant in 1930. His last position was in the Department for Provincial Cultural Affairs. This does not refer to culture in the traditional sense, but to agriculture. There, as a lawyer, he is involved in land reform.

On February 27, 1935, he marries Anna Sandhofer. His faithful witness is the governor of Burgenland, Hans Sylvester, who is also a member of the Babenberg student fraternity in Vienna. Hans Sylvester was murdered by the National Socialists in 1939. Gustav Werner's opposition to National Socialism is well known.

On the day of the occupation of Austria by the Third Reich on March 12, 1938, Gustav Werner is relieved of his duties and taken into custody in Eisenstadt. On May 24, 1938, he was sent to Dachau concentration camp, from which he was released on August 29, 1938. At the beginning of the war, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht.