Espionage case

After seven years in the gulag, she became head of ÖMV

Margarethe Ottillinger was arrested by KGB agents on November 5, 1948 and sentenced to 25 years in the gulag.(Bild: Stefan Karner (Sammlung Ottillinger))

The abduction of Margarethe Ottillinger, who was arrested by KGB agents from a minister's car in 1948, was spectacular. For decades, many questions remained unanswered. Until Carinthian historian Stefan Karner uncovered the case - and now gives a lecture in Weißenstein about the first female director of OMV - leader ÖMV.

November 5, 1948: 28-year-old section head Margarethe Ottillinger is on her way to Vienna with Peter Krauland, the Minister for Asset Protection. They had previously been at a secret meeting with Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl. Stoj! At the Allied zone border in Steyr, on the Enns Bridge, heavily armed Russian soldiers stop the official car. The Soviets arrest the economist with a doctorate.