Planetta, Otto, born 02-08-1899 in Wischau, South Moravia, Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Czech Republic. Planetta was a trained commercial clerk, Catholic, married and childless. At the time of the July putsch, his main residence was on Laxenburger Strasse in the 10th district of Favoriten In 1916 he volunteered for military service in the Austro-Hungarian Army.
After the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918 at the end of World War I, he joined the Volkswehr, then the Gendarmerie as well as the Bundesheer, the successor of the Volkswehr
after 1920. His last military rank was that of staff sergeant. By trade he was a retail salesman. At the time of his death he was married but had no children and lived on Laxenburger Street in Favoriten, the 10th district of Vienna.
In 1930 he joined the Nazi Party (member number 300,772) and, together with the Austrian Nazi activist and Schutzstaffel (SS) officer, Fridolin Glass
Nazi Party member in 1931, with the membership number 440 452 and Franz Holzweber
who founded the “German Soldiers’ Association for the Registration of National Socialists in the Austrian Armed Forces”. In 1933, while Holzweber was unemployed, he played a leading role in the formation of SS Standarte 89 (later SS-Standarte 89 “Holzweber”),
which was created under the direct orders of Adolf Hitler to be a group of shock troops designed to create chaos on the streets of Austria. Fridolin Glass was arrested in the aftermath of the coup attempt but escaped custody and fled to Czechoslovakia, from where he made his way to Nazi Germany. He was allowed to live in Germany under the assumed name Karl Merkmann and worked full-time for the SS He was killed in action age 32 ,on 21-02-1943, in Russia.
Death and burial ground of Planetta, Otto.


Anxious to bring Nazism to Austria, eight Austrian Nazis marched into the chancery building in Vienna. On 25–07-1934, at the beginning of the July Putsch, a failed coup attempt by Austrian Nazis, Planetta fired one of two fatal shots at Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß.
Consultations before the Federal Chancellery, July 25, 1934:
Police Vice President Michael Skubl (right) with Ludwig Humpel (Federal Police Headquarters Vienna), who was in command of the police operation. In 1947 Skubl appeared as a witness in the high treason trial against Guido Schmidt before the Vienna People’s Court . Scubi died 24-02-1964 in Vienna , age 86. He was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery
Shortly after his arrest, a military tribunal sentenced Planetta and his accomplice Franz Holzweber to “death by cord”, and they were executed on the strangulation gallows by executioner Johann Lang in the Vienna Regional Court on 31-07-1934. On the court’s instructions, Planetta was the second to be hanged. As the ropes were placed around their necks both men shouted, “Heil Hitler!”. The bodies were not handed over to the relatives but instead cremated in the Simmering crematorium. Planetta’s ashes were later buried in the Dornbach Cemetery. (Section 13, Row 3, Grave 33).
After the Anschluss of Austria on 12-03-1938, Planetta was elevated to the status of a “Hero of Austrian Freedom”.

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