Franz Kutschera (22 February 1904 – 1 February 1944) was an Austrian Nazi politician and government official. He held numerous administrative offices with the Nazi Party and the Schutzstaffel (SS) both before and after the Anschluss of Austria in 1938. During World War II, he served with the SS in France, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and finally Poland.
In 1943, Kutschera was appointed the SS and Police Leader in German-occupied Warsaw. Due to his crimes against Poles, including Polish Jews, the Polish Home Army, in agreement with the Polish government in exile, targeted him for assassination. On 1 February 1944, he was gunned down in front of the SS headquarters in Warsaw in a special operation by Kedyw, a dedicated resistance special operations unit. In reprisal, the Germans executed 300 Polish civilians.
Life
Kutschera was born in Oberwaltersdorf, Lower Austria (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) on 22 February 1904 and was the son of a professional gardener and minor civil servant. After primary school he served as a cabin boy in the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1918–19 and later attended a gymnasium in Villach. After graduation he briefly enrolled at a machinists school in Budapest before training to become a gardener like his father. For several years Kutschera would reside in Opava and Karlovy Vary in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
Early Nazi career
Kutschera joined the Austrian Nazi Party in December 1930 and the Schutzstaffel (SS) in November 1931. The Nazi Party in Austria was banned in July 1933 by the Austrofascist government of Engelbert Dollfuss. Despite the government ban, Kutschera remained a committed Party activist and was arrested several times by Austrian authorities for illegal pro-Nazi political activities. From 1933 he served as an SS-Truppführer in Carinthia, and he joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in 1934. In July 1935 he was appointed deputy commander of the 90th SS-Standarte based in Klagenfurt, serving in this capacity until March 1938.
After the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany in March 1938, Kutschera joined the civil administration of the newly-established Reichsgau Carinthia as an aide to Gauleiter Hubert Klausner. After the 10 April 1938 election and referendum, Kutschera became a member of the Großdeutscher Reichstag, maintaining this position until his death. On 24 May he was formally appointed Deputy Gauleiter, essentially running the Gau during Klausner's frequent absences in Vienna in his capacity as deputy to Reichskommissar Josef Bürckel.
In February 1939, he was also appointed to the People's Court as a lay judge and upon Klausner's sudden death on 12 February, Kutschera was elevated to the post of Acting Gauleiter for Carinthia.
World War II
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Kutschera was named the representative in Carinthia of Friedrich Rainer, the Reich Defense Commissioner for Wehrkreis (Military District) XVIII, who was headquartered in Salzburg. Kutschera volunteered for military service in March 1940 and was assigned to the 139th Gebirgsjäger (light infantry) regiment of the 3rd Mountain Division. He was transferred to the 6th Mountain Division and took part in the Battle of France in the Vosges in May and June 1940.
He was promoted to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer in November 1940. During the German Balkan Campaign, on 14 April 1941 Kutschera was named Chief of Civil Administration for Slovenian Carinthia and Upper Carniola, which were administered as part of his Gau, and where he became infamous in the war against the Yugoslav Partisans for his fanaticism and extreme harshness. On 27 November 1941, Kutschera was dismissed as Gauleiter for reportedly plotting to absorb the neighboring Reichsgau Salzburg into his jurisdiction. He was succeeded by his rival, Friedrich Rainer, the Gauleiter in Salzburg.
In January 1942, Kutschera was seconded to the staff of Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and police leader (HSSPF) for Central Russia (Belarus), where he served as a representative of the Reich Commissariat for the Strengthening of German Nationhood (RKFDV). Soon after his arrival on the Eastern Front, Kutschera personally directed numerous anti-partisan and mass-killing operations in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union. In November 1942 he was given the rank of Generalmajor der Polizei and on 5 May 1943 he was appointed SS and Police Leader (SSPF) for the Mogilev district.