Alfred Quaderer (20 April 1920 – 7 June 1944) was a Liechtenstein citizen who was executed by Switzerland in 1944 for spying on behalf of Nazi Germany.[1]
Alfred Quaderer | |
|---|---|
 Quaderer from a 1930 primary school photo | |
| Born | 20 April 1920 |
| Died | 7 June 1944 (aged 24) |
| Criminal charge(s) | Espionage, treason |
| Criminal penalty | Execution by firing squad |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Agency | Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle |
| Service years | 1941–1943 |
References
editQuaderer was from Schaan and attended school in the municipality.[2] He worked in construction Feldkirch in 1939, from which he gained contacts with the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle.[3] Starting from 1941, he was deployed in Switzerland where he was tasked with gaining military intelligence, under the alias of a painter in Erstfeld.[4] His activities included the seducing three local Swiss soldiers and bribing a corporal in order to obtain military intelligence.
On 2 January 1943, he was arrested in Buchs outside of the Liechtenstein border. He was interrogated by first the Kantonspolizei Zürich then by the Kantonspolizei St. Gallen, where he confessed.[5] He was held in solitary confinement in St. Gallen until he was sentenced to death for treason against Switzerland in March 1944.[6] Despite efforts by Quaderer's sister and mother to have him pardoned, as such as pleading to Franz Joseph II for a private audience, they were denied an audience, and the sentence was upheld.[7] He was executed by firing squad on 7 June 1944, aged 24 years old.[8]
References
edit- ^ Geiger, Peter; Quaderer, Rupert (31 December 2011). "Spionage". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German).
- ^ Geiger 1999, p. 115.
- ^ Geiger 1999, p. 116.
- ^ Geiger 1999, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Geiger 1999, pp. 120.
- ^ Geiger 1999, pp. 122.
- ^ Geiger 1999, pp. 123–127.
- ^ Geiger 1999, p. 129.
Bibliography
edit- Geiger, Peter (1999). Landesverrat. Der Fall des 1944 in der Schweiz hingerichteten Alfred Quaderer (in German) (98 ed.). Vaduz: Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein. pp. 109–142.
- Fuhrer, Hans-Rudolf (1982). Spionage gegen die Schweiz. Die geheimen deutschen Nachrichtendienste gegen die Schweiz im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945 (in German). Frauenfeld.
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