Criminal penalty Death Name Franz Strasser Conviction(s) Murder | Children 3 Spouse(s) Unnamed wife Criminal status Hanging | |
 | ||
Born 1899 Germany Died 1946, Landsberg Prison, Landsberg am Lech, Germany | ||
Franz Strasser (unknown date and month in 1899 – 10 December 1945) was an Austrian-German former NSDAP Kreisleiter and convicted murderer.
Contents
Action
In December 1944, in Kaplitz in Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic), Franz Strasser killed two American airmen of the USAAF by shooting them with a Thompson submachine gun. They were members of a group of five who stayed with pilot Warren Woodruff when he landed their plane in a field. They had voluntarily surrendered and were taken away in a truck. A Captain Lindemeyer, who later committed suicide, reportedly killed the other three, and the court verdict suggests that the killings were originally Lindemeyer's idea.
Trial and execution
On 24 August 1945, Strasser was tried in an Allied military court, which had provided a translator for him during the trial. He was found guilty and was sentenced to execution by hanging at Landsberg Prison. On 10 December in 1945, he was hanged and died as German Catholic priest and long-time hospital chaplain Karl Morgenschweis prayed for the convicted murderer.