Karl Lütgendorf

Karl Lütgendorf   (officer, politician)
Born	15 October 1914
Died	9 October 1981 (Age 66)
Cause of death	"suicide"
Nationality	Austrian
Alma mater	Kriegsakademie, Theresian Military Academy
Member of	Club 45
Interests	• Austria/Stay behind • Gehlen Organization
Austria/Minister/Defence In office 1971 - 1977

Karl Ferdinand Lütgendorf, born Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Lütgendorf was an Austrian officer and politician who was Defense Minister of Austria from 1971 to 1977.

Lütgendorf, who may have been part of the Austrian stay behind, was involved in arms dealings in what broadly became known as Iran Contra.

He is remembered because of the mysterious circumstances of his death in a suicide. However, doubts about the suicide have never been dispelled. Why did the right-handed Lütgendorf hold the revolver in his left hand? Shouldn't the recoil have ripped the gun out of Lütgendorf's hand? And above all: why did Lütgendorf shoot himself through his closed mouth?

Background

Lütgendorf came from a noble family. His father was an Austrian-Hungarian army officer. After World War 1 and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, he continued his military career in the new Austria.

Military career

Karl Ferdinand Lütgendorf enlisted in the army in November 1933. He graduated from the Theresian Military Academy in 1937. On April 1, 1937 he was promoted to lieutenant. After the annexation of Austria in 1938, he was taken over by the German Wehrmacht. He entered the War Academy and, after completing all the exams, became an officer of the General Staff. As an officer in the general staff of the mountain troops, he took part in World War II. In Norway he was 2nd General Staff Officer. While there, he was seriously injured. He then served in the Organizational Department of the Army High Command. At the end of the war he was intelligence officer in the 8th Army.

In the summer of 1945 he was one of seven German officers under the direction of Reinhard Gehlen who were flown to the United States in the strictest secrecy. In July 1946 he was released. From 1948, during the Allied occupation, he was involved in building up the so-called B-Gendarmerie, the forerunner of the Austrian Armed Forces. In August 1956 he was as a lieutenant colonel of the higher military service (general staff) in the newly founded army, where he served as the first chief of staff of the Carinthian 7th brigade.

From 1958 he was head of the department for military training in the Federal Ministry for National Defence. From 1961 he discussed a "guerilla-like war" (Kleinkrieg) as a conceivable procedure for the army. The now Colonel of the Joint Chiefs of Staff dispatched officers to the U.S. Ranger course. In 1963 he had the first course for "special training" carried out and also included this procedure in war games (1963 and 1964) at the military academy. Lütgendorf is also considered a co-founder of the Jagdkommando. His expertise and connections makes him a likely participant in the Austrian section of stay behind.

Minister of Defence

Social Democrat Chancellor Bruno Kreisky appointed the aristocratic brigadier to his government in 1971 as a non-party affiliated minister. This was an unusual move in Austria, where party affiliation was an unofficial requirement for high positions, and points to Lütgendorf being part of the deep state. On behalf of Kreisky, Lütgendorf implemented his election promise, a reduction in military service.

In 1977, "Lü" was doomed by the affair surrounding a delivery of sniper rifles and ammunition to war-torn Syria that was stopped by customs officials at Vienna airport, combined with his close contacts with the Linz arms dealer and former brothel operator Alois Weichselbaumer. Weichselbaumer had received the ammunition on loan from the army. From Weichselbaumer it was not far to Lütgendorf. Although the latter denied a close relationship with the arms dealer for almost 15 years, his name appeared 30 times in his guest book. On May 31, Lütgendorf announced his resignation - and withdrew to his hunting estate in Lower Austria.

As a member of the supervisory board of the arms manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, Lütgendorf continued to use his excellent contacts, especially in the Middle East. He also remained close to his friend Udo Proksch, to whom he is said to have repeatedly made army material available as Defense Minister. Later it was revealed that he had enabled his Club 45 friend, the Demel pastry chef Udo Proksch, to divert 250 kilograms of army explosives - which he used the following year to blow up the freighter Lucona.

He brokered arms deals in the Middle East, appeared a couple of times in the company of dubious middlemen. After Lütgendorf's death, it became known that he had a four million Schilling account in Switzerland. His wife Emmy was taciturn about the origin of the money.

Chancellor Kreisky was allegedly in possession of a dossier according to which "a Middle Eastern service" had killed the former minister, but he did not want any investigations.

Death

On October 9, 1981, four years after being defence minister, Lütgendorf was found dead in his hunting estate in Schwarzau. The 67-year-old sat bent over the steering wheel in his Lada Taiga, blood flowing from his mouth and left ear. In his left hand Lütgendorf held a large caliber Smith & Wesson, the last shot of which went through Lütgendorf's mouth.

The official finding was quickly established as suicide by the local community doctor. The criminal police left it at that. However, doubts about the suicide thesis have not been dispelled to this day. Questions not explored include: Why the right-handed Lütgendorf held the revolver in his left hand? Shouldn't the recoil have ripped the gun out of Lütgendorf's hand? And above all: why did Lütgendorf shoot himself through his closed mouth?

Speculations soon arose: was it a secret service from the Middle East or East Germany that had the ex-minister on his conscience? Was it an internal Austrian killer? Or was Lütgendorf's death connected to the Noricum arms deliveries, which began in 1981? Only when the Noricum and Lucona affair became public in the second half of the 1980s did the criminal police officially take an interest in Lütgendorf's death – including shooting tests. The result remained the same: the finding in the report was suicide.

The files have since been closed. Lütgendorf's son Philipp does not accept the suicide version. The son said that his father turned pale when he heard about the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by members of the army on October 6, 1981. "I'm next," he is said to have said to his son. Philipp Lütgendorf also points out that "First of all, it's completely unimaginable that the father didn't leave a farewell letter". The fact that there was allegedly no will also bothers the son.

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