Quick Facts
Biography
Otto Hartmann (1904–1994) was an Austrian stage and film actor. Following Austria's incorporation into Nazi Germany, Hartman acted as an informer for the authorities (Gestapo). In punishment for this he was imprisoned after the Second World War had ended.
Selected filmography before the war
- Bright Eyes (1929)
- Father Radetzky (1929)
- The Hymn of Leuthen (1933)
- Suburban Cabaret (1935)
- Asew (1935)
During the war
Hartmann was a member of the United Austrian freedom movement (a nonviolent conservative Catholic resistance group), which liberation from National Socialism and the detachment of Austria by the German Reich was their goal.
After the war
As Vienna was conquered by the Russian Red Army, in spring 1945 with about 200 other Gestapo informants, Hartmann traveled from Vienna to Innsbruck to hide from the authorities. Through contacts with the Austrian resistance, he was included in the criminal investigation. He was finally arrested by the French occupation forces.
Otto Hartmann was finally handed over to the Austrian authorities in Vienna. On 22 November 1947 by the People's Court in Vienna, he was sentenced in death to lifelong hard labor.
Pardon and future life
He tried repeatedly to obtain a retrial or a pardon, which was rejected in the subsequent period. As part of an amnesty he was eventually pardoned in 1957 for a trial period of five years. Hartmann was then active as sellers and a clerk at various Viennese companies.