Oberlandesgerichtsrat Dr. Alois von Osio

Alois Ritter von Osio was born in Venice as the legitimate son of bank director Wilhelm Ritter von Osio and his wife Henriette Hedwig Fortwängler, née Kann. His mother had converted from Judaism to Catholicism, was a widow and took two sons into marriage with Wilhelm von Osio. After elementary school, Alois von Osio attended the k.k. Staatsgymnasium in Salzburg, where he graduated in 1896. He then enrolled in law at the University of Vienna and was awarded a doctorate in law in 1901.

On May 31, 1901, Alois von Osio joined the Austrian judiciary as a legal trainee. In 1902, he was appointed as a judge in Vienna. He volunteered for the Bad Ischl Children's Welfare Association and subsequently moved to the Regional Court for Criminal Matters, taking over the department for political offenses in 1925. After the founding of the Vaterländische Front, he joins this new united party.

After the National Socialists take power in Germany, the number of National Socialist-motivated crimes increases rapidly and he increasingly judges such offenses. After the National Socialist coup attempt on July 25, 1934, during which Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was murdered, he was one of the judges responsible for sentencing the perpetrators. Death sentences are also handed down. In 1937, Alois von Osio was appointed Vice President of the Regional Court for Criminal Matters.

On March 12, 1938, Alois von Osio witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. With the occupation of Austria, German legislation was adopted and with it the 'Nuremberg Racial Laws', according to which he was classified as a 'Mischling I. Grades' or 'Half Jew'. He was arrested by the Gestapo on March 14, 1938 and deported to the Dachau concentration camp on April 2, 1938 on the so-called 'Prominent Transport'. On May 25, 1938, he was dismissed from the judiciary. He was transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp on September 23, 1938. He was severely mistreated in the concentration camps due to his work as a judge and his rulings against National Socialists.