Otto Hartmann (1904–1994) was an Austrian stage and

film actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

. Following Austria's

incorporation Incorporation may refer to: * Incorporation (business), the creation of a corporation * Incorporation of a place, creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county * Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the student having ...

into

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, Hartmann acted as an

informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

for the authorities (

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

). In punishment for this he was imprisoned after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

had ended.

Selected filmography

* '' Bright Eyes'' (1929) * '' Father Radetzky'' (1929) * ''

Madame Bluebeard ''Madame Bluebeard'' (German: ''Madame Blaubart'') is a 1931 Austrian drama film directed by Conrad Wiene and starring Lil Dagover, Harry Frank and Otto Hartmann.Waldman p.31 The film's sets were designed by the art director Hans Ledersteger. ...

'' (1931) * ''

The Case of Colonel Redl ''The Case of Colonel Redl'' (German: ''Der Fall des Generalstabs-Oberst Redl'') is a 1931 German spy drama film directed by Karl Anton and starring Theodor Loos, Lil Dagover and Otto Hartmann. It was co-production between the Prague-based compa ...

'' (1931) * ''

The Hymn of Leuthen ''The Hymn of Leuthen'' (german: Der Choral von Leuthen) is a 1933 German film depicting Frederick the Great, directed by Carl Froelich starring Otto Gebühr, Olga Tschechowa and Elga Brink. It was part of the cycle of nostalgic Prussian films ...

'' (1933) * ''

Our Emperor ''Our Emperor'' (German: ''Unser Kaiser'') is a 1933 Austria historical film, period comedy film directed by Jacob Fleck and Luise Fleck and starring Karl Ehmann, Alfred Neugebauer and Susi Lanner.Von Dassanowsky p.207 It takes place during the re ...

'' (1933) * ''

Suburban Cabaret ''Suburban Cabaret'' (Germany: ''Vorstadtvarieté'') is a 1935 Austrian musical drama film directed by Werner Hochbaum and starring Mathias Wieman, Luise Ullrich and Oskar Sima.Hake p.155 Cast * Mathias Wieman as Josef Kernthaler, Bauzeichner * ...

'' (1935) * '' Asew'' (1935) * '' Court Theatre'' (1936) * ''

The White Dream ''The White Dream'' (German: ''Der weiße Traum'') is a 1943 musical comedy film directed by Géza von Cziffra and starring Olly Holzmann, Elfriede Datzig and Wolf Albach-Retty. The film was made by Wien-Film, a Vienna-based company set up after ...

'' (1943)

During the war

Hartmann was a member of the ''Österreichische Freiheitsbewegung (Austrian freedom movement'', a nonviolent conservative catholic resistance group), whose goal was the liberation from

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

and the detachment of Austria from the German Reich. He collected Information about this group and other resistance groups and assembled lists of their members. He gave this information to the Gestapo, leading to the arrest of 450 members of the resistance movement, some of which were subsequently sentenced to death, others to long terms in prison.Hans Schafranek: ''Widerstand und Verrat: Gestapospitzel im anitfaschistischen Untergrund 1938–1945.'' Czernin, Vienna 2017, p. 214–218 (german).

After the war

As Vienna was conquered by the Russian

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

, in spring 1945 with about 200 other Gestapo informants, Hartmann traveled from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

to hide from the authorities. Through contacts with the Austrian resistance, he got a job at the police, but was soon arrested by the French occupation forces, who handed him over to the Austrian authorities in Vienna. On 22 November 1947 he was sentenced to life by the People's Court in Vienna.

Pardon and future life

He repeatedly tried to obtain a retrial or a pardon, which was rejected in the subsequent period. Eventually, as part of an amnesty, he was pardoned in 1957 for a trial period of five years. Hartmann then worked as a seller and a clerk at various Viennese companies.

References

Bibliography

* Thomas Weyr. ''The Setting of the Pearl: Vienna under Hitler''. Oxford University Press, 2005.

External links

* 1904 births 1994 deaths Austrian male film actors Austrian male stage actors Gestapo agents Austrian Nazis convicted of war crimes Austrian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Male actors from Vienna {{Austria-bio-stub Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Austria