Dr. Rudolf Klar

After graduating from the St. Pölten grammar school in 1922, Rudolf Klar began studying law at the University of Vienna, graduating with a doctorate (Dr. iuris). He was admitted to the Norica student fraternity in 1922.

After practising in court and working as a trainee lawyer, Rudolf Klar was entered on the list of lawyers in 1932 and opened his own law firm in Herzogenburg (Lower Austria) in December 1933. He is a state functionary of the Christian-German Gymnastics Association and also becomes a district functionary of the Fatherland Front.

On March 12, 1938, two uniformed and armed men arrest him in Herzogenburg and deliver him to the prison of the local district court. [The date of the arrest is given as "14.3.1938" in the Gauakt.] At a time that can no longer be determined today [the Gauakt speaks of protective custody until May 15, 1938], Rudolf Klar is transferred to the prison in Vienna 7, Hermanngasse 38. There he is mistreated. A preliminary investigation for high treason ends (presumably in the fall of 1938) with the case being dropped. In December 1938, Rudolf Klar is removed from the list of lawyers pursuant to §§ 2 and 4 of the Third Ordinance on the Affairs of Lawyers, Trainee Lawyers and Defense Lawyers in Criminal Matters in Austria of 27 September 1938 (RGBI. I, p. 1405) and expelled from the district. He then moved to Vienna with his family in May 1939. Here he trained as a "helper in tax matters" and later as a tax consultant. In January 1941, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. After basic training in Deutsch-Altenburg and Hainburg, he initially worked in a paymaster's office, but was then transferred to the administration of the foreign letter verification office in Vienna. When this inspection office was placed under the Gestapo in 1944, he was transferred to Brno [marching company Gren. Ers. Batl. I/134 (11b)].