Fridolin Glass

Fridolin Glass, also Glaß (born 14 December 1910 in Lemberg – died 21 February 1943 in the Soviet Union) was an Austrian Nazi activist and Schutzstaffel (SS) officer. Glass came to prominence in 1934 when he became the effective leader of the July Putsch, a failed coup attempt by the Nazis in Austria.

Glass served with the Austrian Army and was highly decorated. He became a member of the Nazi Party in 1931, with the membership number 440 452. After joining the party Glass, who held the rank of sergeant-major, attempted to build up a force of Nazis within the Austrian army but was expelled from the army in 1933 as a result.

In late 1933, under direct orders of Adolf Hitler, the Austrian Nazis had established the SS Standarte 89 as a group of highly organised shock troops designed to create chaos on the streets of the country. Glass was chosen to command this new unit and given the rank of Sturmbannführer in the SS. Glass at this time enjoyed a fairly close relationship with Heinrich Himmler, who was keen to establish a strong SS presence in Austria, where the rival Sturmabteilung was strong, and felt Glass was the ideal man to aid him in this aim.

On 25 June 1934 Glass held a meeting in Zurich with Theodor Habicht, Rudolf Weydenhammer, Otto Wächter and other Austrian Nazi leaders to discuss strategy. Taking the lead, Glass outlined his plan to use SS Standarte 89 to launch an attack that would see Prime Minister Engelbert Dollfuss, President Wilhelm Miklas and the entire cabinet taken hostage, whilst the rest of the group launched assaults on Vienna's radio and telephone operations. With Glass insisting the secret Nazi networks within the army would ensure wide support from soldiers, the plot was agreed and Glass returned to Austria to initiate his ideas. In fact Glass's insistence that he had close links to members of the army general staff sympathetic to Nazism had been exaggerations. They met again on 16 July to finalise what they dubbed Operation Sommerfest and agreed a date of 24 July for the plan to happen.

...
Wikipedia