VIENNA'S SECRET DOOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 14

VIENNA'S SECRET DOOR

WRONG TURN OF HAND DOLLFUSS' FATAL MISTAKE A turn of his hand to the left instead of to the right resulted in the death of Dr. Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria. That theory—which, it is stated, is accepted as fact in Austria —is put forward by Mr. G. Sevicke Jones, of Christchurch, who has just returned from a five months' stay in Austria. He was there during the attempted Nazi coup and the assassination of Dr. Dollfuss. The story as told is a strange one. The Chancellery buildings, in which the assassination took place, had been specially built for a big conference once held between the nations, said Mr. Sevicke Jones. Round the great assembly hall, the scene of the murder, there were put eight rooms, each with a door opening on to tfie hall, so that no nation should be given preference. Seven of the catches on these doors have a left-hand turn, but the eighth has a right-hand turn; and behind that door there is a room containing a secret passage which leads to the street.

Dr. Dollfuss knew of the existence of this passage, continued Mr. Jones, and when the party of Nazis entered the hall he backed toward the door, and felt for the handle. But either he had never realised the peculiarity of the catch or he had forgotten it in his excitement, for he turned the handle the wrong way. The door would not open—if it had he could easily have escaped—and thinking apparently that it was locked, he turned to another of the eight doors. The Nazis thought that he was getting away from them, and shots were fired just as he was getting out of the hall.

Mr. Jones said it was generally believed in Austria that if Dr. Dollfuss had stayed still when the Nazis entered he would not have been shot. His assailants vvcuild merely have held him, as they did the other persons in the building.