Herbert Steinkasserer

Herbert Steinkasserer from Innsbruck graduated from the Bundesgymnasium in his home town in 1936 and enrolled at the university to study law. He joined the student fraternity Austria Innsbruck in 1936.

At the time of the Anschluss, he was secretary of the fraternity. Together with other active members, he tried to rescue valuable fraternity property from the Austrier-Haus [the fraternity house of the Austria Innsbruck student fraternity], which had been occupied in the meantime. In 1939, he was detained by the Gestapo for weeks due to his open and manly world view. After his release, he remained under Gestapo surveillance. Shortly before completing his studies, he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht; a deferment until he finished his studies was refused due to "political unreliability". He had to enlist in September 1940 and was taken prisoner of war in Russia near Nikopol in November 1943.