Kurt von Schuschnigg papers

This collection consists of the over 819 page typescript of Kurt von Schuschnigg's Requiem in Rot-Weiss-Rot (Zurich, 1947) which was published in an English translation by Trung von Hildebrand in the United States under the title, Austrian Requiem(New York, 1946). Of this book von Schuschnigg writes:

Most of this book was written between the summer of 1938 and the summer of 1945. During this time I was cut off from the world and knew little about world events- nor did I know what was to become of me. The book, therefore, cannot claim to be anything but a personal account and a human confession.

Parts of these writings were submitted chapter by chapter to the censorship of the Gestapo, or some of them were written... in order to avoid confiscation of everything I had written during my detention... I also wished to put my personal views on record, since neither the Gestapo nor the German government showed any interest in finding out the truth about my views or my activities... The greater part of the manuscript, however, was kept secret; not without difficulty, as my scant belongings were rigidly examined every time I was moved from one camp to another...

Later, during 1943, I was tempted more than once to destroy the entire work, or at least to revise what I had written so far. But finally most of it remained exactly as I had written it down during my detention...

[Kurt von Schuschnigg, Austrian Requiem, translated by Trung von Hildebrand, New York (1946), pp. viii-ix.]

The typescript is arranged in the box as von Schuschnigg originally numbered it. Massive changes were made, especially for the English edition. His list of changes is translated in the Description of the Series.

The papers were the gift of Edwin J. Beinecke in 1958 and 1964.