Franz Strasser

Franz Xaver Strasser (1899 – 10 December 1945) was an Austrian-German former NSDAP Kreisleiter and convicted murderer.

Franz Strasser
Born1899
Austria-Hungary
Died10 December 1945 (aged 46)
Landsberg Prison, Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany
OccupationFormer NSDAP Kreisleiter and convict
Criminal statusExecuted by hanging
Spouse(s)Unknown wife
Children3
Conviction(s)Murder
Criminal penaltyDeath

Action

In December 1944, in Kaplitz in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic), Franz Strasser killed two American airmen of the USAAF by shooting them with a Thompson submachine gun. They were members of a group of five airmen of the 20th Bomb Squadron who stayed with pilot Warren Woodruff [1]:299 when he landed their plane in a field. They had voluntarily surrendered and were taken away in a truck, accompanied by Strasser, and by Captain Karl Lindemeyer, the chief of police of the city. During Strasser's trial evidence was presented that it was Lindemeyer who killed the other three, and the court verdict suggests that the killings were originally Lindemeyer's idea. Lindemeyer committed suicide while in custody.[2][1]

Trial and execution

On 24 August 1945, Strasser was tried in an Allied military court, which had provided a translator for him during the trial.[3] He was found guilty and was sentenced to death by hanging at Landsberg Prison. On 10 December 1945, he was hanged and died as German Catholic priest and long-time hospital chaplain Karl Morgenschweis prayed for him.

References
  1. Myers, Jack R. (1 February 2005). "Shot at and Missed: Recollections of a World War II Bombardier". University of Oklahoma Press. p. 299 – via Google Books. In the rear with the five captured Americans were Franz Strasser, a local Nazi official, and Capt. Karl Lindemeyer, the chief of police of Kaplice. The group was driving toward Kaplice and was ten miles down the road when Strasser ordered the truck stopped ...
  2. United States v. Franz Strasser, an Austrian national, Case No. 8-27, 14 October 1945 at Jewish Virtual Library (pdf)
  3. "MILITARY TRIBUNAL: STRASSER". Archived from the original on 2014-03-16.
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