Hofrat Dr. Eduard Pesendorfer

Eduard Pesendorfer attended the Petrinum College in Linz. After graduating from high school in 1925, he went to Vienna to study law, which he completed in 1929 with a doctorate in law. In 1925, the Upper Austrian became a member of the Kürnberg student fraternity. After completing his year in court, he worked as an administrative lawyer for the state of Upper Austria from 1930. He was transferred from the Rohrbach district authority to the Braunau district authority and from there to the Gmunden district authority, where he worked as a security officer. Here he was also involved with the illegal National Socialists.

In the night of March 11-12, 1938, he was arrested and taken to the police prison in Gmunden, where he was severely ill-treated. On June 17, 1938, he was transferred to a concentration camp in Dachau, where he was employed as a nurse, among other things, and gained a high reputation among his fellow prisoners. In the concentration camp, the Reich Governor sent a letter to his home address in Traunkirchen informing him of his dismissal from the civil service. In the concentration camp he also met Fr. Joseph Kentenich (1885-1968), the founder of the Schoenstatt Movement. He founded the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary with him on July 16, 1942 "in a dormitory, disguised and protected with straw sacks".

On September 27, 1939, he was transferred from Dachau to Flossenbürg concentration camp. On March 2, 1940, he was transferred back to Dachau concentration camp, where he had to remain until December 29, 1942. The adjutant of the Reichsführer SS responds to his brother Alois' petition for his release as follows:

"After reviewing the matter of your brother Eduard Pesendorfer's imprisonment once again, I regret to inform you on behalf of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police that despite a thorough assessment of your family circumstances, it is not yet possible to come any closer to releasing your brother from prison. As you know, your brother was a fanatical opponent of National Socialism. Through his previous behavior in the camp, he has shown that he does not yet have the political understanding for the new Germany that must be expected of every German today in these difficult times.

Hail Hitler!"

The release at the turn of the year 1942/43 is thanks to a confederate brother, Eduard Pesendorfer, who achieved this release through a friend who was Heinrich Himmler's personal physician. After Eduard Pesendorfer returned home, the Nazis tried to defame him again and take him back to the concentration camp. However, Eduard Pesendorfer evaded these attempts by enlisting in the Wehrmacht. He was deployed to the Eastern Front, where he was taken prisoner of war by the Russians.