Das Blaue Haus

By chance, the owner of the "Blue House" in the cottage district of Währing, Vienna, learns about the history of her property as an "Aryanized" villa and the residence of resistance fighter Franz Josef Messner. She begins a years-long research project about the house, its Jewish former owners, and the proponents and activities of the resistance group Maier-Messner-Caldonazzi. The results of her research are now available in book form. Starting from the history of the "Blue House" and its inhabitants, the book deals with the resistance group Maier-Messner-Caldonazzi, which consisted of ten to twelve members and aimed to transmit war-related information about the Austrian armaments industry to foreign intelligence services. Franz Josef Messner, the General Director of Semperit, is the central figure, having acquired the "Aryanized" "Blue House" in 1938. The author initially describes Messner as a beneficiary of the new political structures, detailing his later activities in the resistance up to his murder in 1945 in Mauthausen. The basis for the examination of Messner's life story includes archival materials from Austrian and Berlin archives, as well as documents and images from the family collection.