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Udo Proksch

1934–2001

Nationality
Austria
Occupation
designer

Udo Proksch (born Rudolf Proksch; 29 May 1934 – 27 June 2001), also known under the designer name Serge Kirchhofer, was an Austrian businessman, designer, socialite and convicted murderer.

Incarceration history

Facilities

  1. Graz-Karlau Prison
    Dates unknown

Biography

Udo Proksch (born Rudolf Proksch; 29 May 1934 – 27 June 2001), also known under the designer name Serge Kirchhofer, was an Austrian businessman, designer, socialite and convicted murderer. A prominent figure in Viennese postwar society, he became known as an eyewear designer, entrepreneur and owner of the famous Viennese confectioner Demel. He was also closely associated with the politically influential Club 45, a social circle connected to leading figures of the Austrian Social Democratic milieu. In 1991, Proksch was convicted in connection with the sinking of the freighter Lucona, which had been destroyed by a time bomb in the Indian Ocean on 23 January 1977. Six people were killed and six survived. The cargo, declared as valuable uranium-processing equipment and insured for more than 200 million Austrian schillings, was later shown to have consisted largely of scrap metal. The case became one of the largest political scandals in postwar Austria, involving years of obstruction, political intervention and a parliamentary investigation. Proksch was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison in 2001.

Related people

Same nationality and era where possible; falls back to shared nationality or era.

  • Ester Tencer
    1909–1990Austria
  • Johann Neuffer
    1912Austria
  • Betty Hirsch
    1919–1996Austria
  • Ruth Maier
    Ruth Maier
    1920–1942Austria

    Ruth Maier (10 November 1920 in Vienna, Austria – 1 December 1942 in Auschwitz, German-occupied Poland) was an Austrian woman whose diaries describing her experiences of the Holocaust in Austria and Norway were published in 2007; reviews described her as "Norway's Anne Frank.".

  • Erich Fein
    1909–1983Austria
  • Fred Wander
    1917–2006Austria

    Fred Wander (5 January 1917 – 10 July 2006) was an Austrian writer and Holocaust survivor. Wander was born Fritz Rosenblatt in Vienna, he left school at 14 and worked as an apprentice in a textile mill, before travelling around Europe taking whatever jobs were going.

External references