Theodor Körner, Edler von Siegringen (German pronunciation: [ˈteːoˌdoːɐ̯ ˈkœʁnɐ] ; 23 April 1873 – 4 January 1957) was an Austrian military officer and statesman of the Socialist Party of Austria. He served as the president of Austria from 1951 to 1957 and as the mayor of Vienna from 1945 to 1951.
Contents
Early life
As son of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army, he was born in Újszőny, Kingdom of Hungary (today part of Komárom, Hungary), as the second child of an Artillery Captain, later promoted to major Theodor Karl Körner, Edler von Siegringen (1828-1917) and his wife, Karoline Fousek (1849–1929). He had one older sister, Rosa Antonia (b. 1872) and one younger brother Richard (1874-1915), who later became lieutenant colonel in the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces during World War I. He was great nephew of poet Theodor Körner and was distantly related to Bertha von Suttner, through her mother, Sophie Wilhelmine von Körner (1815-1884), who was also related to the poet.
Biography
In 1883–1888, Körner lived in Chrastava, where his father was born, and attended the elementary school there. From 1888, he attended the military school in Hranice, graduated at the head of his class as a pioneer from the Imperial and Royal Technical Military Academy, and became lieutenant in 1894. He served as an officer in Agram (today Zagreb, Croatia) and was promoted to major in 1904, in which year he became a member of the Austrian staff. During World War I, he was an active commander on the Italian front. He resigned from his military career in 1924 as a General.