Photo: Helmut Klappe/Vorarlberg State Library CC BY 4.0
Ernest Bernadiner (1919–)
Wehrmacht officer from Steyr
Bernadiner joined the Austrian Army in 1937—as a cover for his membership in an illegal Nazi military group. This organisation was making secret preparations for the Nazis’ seizure of power in Austria.
Although Bernadiner’s role in the “Anschluss” of Austria was well known, he was pardoned in 1950 and his commitment to Nazism was no longer a subject of discussion. In 1955 he became one of the first professional soldiers to take up a post at the Ministry of the Interior, even before establishment of the Austrian Armed Forces. He had a successful career and, in 1981, became one of the highest-ranking generals in the army high command. When a journalist finally uncovered his past, the Socialist-led government refused to dismiss him.
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