Udo Proksch

Case record: Udo Proksch

Udo Proksch was an Austrian businessman and industrialist. He was convicted of the murder of six people as part of a major insurance fraud. He died in prison.

Udo Proksch was born on May 29, 1934 in Rostock, Germany. He died on June 27, 2001 in Graz, Austria.

Background

He was sentenced for a case involving the sinking of the ship Lucona in the Indian Ocean after an explosion that killed six people.

Proksch bought Demel - K.u.K Hofzuckerbäckerei, a Viennese confectionary shop, in 1972. A year later, he started Club 45 upstairs over the cafe, described as influenced to a certain extent by the Italian P2 group of Freemasons. The club was described as a meeting place for politicians (mainly Social Democrats), industrialists, economists, and other opinion leaders.

The members named included Interior Minister Karl Blecha, Foreign Minister Leopold Gratz and Defense Minister Karl Lütgendorf. The material also named Heinz Fischer as President and Hannes Androsch as a member for a time. It also named Franz Vranitzky as a member for a time. The material included a quotation attributed to his brother and stated:

“And if today someone says he was not member of the Club or in Demel, then he’s a liar, ” comments his brother and adds.

The material further quoted his brother, stating:

“He was intellectually superior to the politicians, that has to be said. That is why he gained control over these people; he played them like marionettes. To some extent it was funny what he did with some.”

The material described Club 45 as being closed down after sabotage was revealed.

The material also described a named association founded in 1969/70 that agreed to bury its members vertically, calling itself the “ Verein der Senkrechtbegrabenen .” The dead were described as shrink-wrapped in plastic and then buried vertically.

Supporters of the association included his then wife, the actress Erika Pluhar, and Helmut Zilk, later Minister of Education and Mayor of Vienna.

The material included a quotation attributed to Niki Lauda:

“This personally fascinated me,” comments airline CEO and Formula 1 World champion Niki Lauda in the movie.

The material described Proksch as having plastic surgery on his face in 1989 after the death of his daughter Anna, and as returning to Austria afterward.

The offence

In 1977, the freighter Lucona sank in the Indian Ocean after an explosion, killing six people.

The material described Proksch as the owner of the cargo. It stated that he said the ship was carrying expensive uranium mining equipment and that he claimed nearly $20 million from his insurance company. It also stated that the uranium-mining equipment claim was later revealed as false and was never paid.

The material stated that the ship had been sunk by a time bomb and that no evidence of uranium-mining equipment was found.

The material stated that Proksch was convicted of the murder of six people.

Investigation and obstruction

Fraud was suspected, and investigations were described as being obstructed by powerful Austrian politicians who were friends of Proksch.

The material stated that ex-ministers were eventually convicted over their involvement.

It stated that the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs was sentenced for forging documents authenticating the cargo. It also stated that two other ministers were dismissed for obstructing the investigations.

The material named the minister of Defense as a shareholder in the Proksch firm. It stated that the minister had given permission to deliver explosives to sabotage the ship and committed suicide when that became clear.

The material described journalistic investigation by Gerald Freihofer and Hans Pretterebner, and stated that an expose titled Der Fall Lucona (1987) resulted from those investigations.

It also stated that investigations were obstructed due to strength of connections and that it was only in 1985 that Proksch and partner Peter Daimler were arrested. It further stated that they were set free days later.

Arrest and flight

The material stated that Proksch fled to the Philippines in 1988 after Hans Pretterebner published a book about the scandal.

It stated that Proksch stayed at the palace of his personal friend, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

It also stated that Proksch returned to Vienna in 1989 incognito but was recognized and arrested at the Vienna International Airport Schwechat.

It stated that Proksch and partner Peter Daimler were arrested in 1985 and were set free days later.

Trial

The material stated that Proksch declined to defend himself in court, and that the judge said this in the movie.

It further stated that Proksch was sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 11, 1991.

The material also described that the trial put an end to political careers of several of his friends among them National Council president Leopold Gratz and Interior minister Karl Blecha, who were in charge of the Proksch’s discharge.

The material additionally stated that Karl Lütgendorf’s death, who dropped his positions the year the Lucona sank, remains unsettled.

The material described that in 1992, after one of the longest and most expensive trials in post-war Austria, Proksch was convicted of the murder of six people and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which was later increased to a life-long sentence.

Sentencing

Udo Proksch was sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 11, 1991.

A year later, the sentence was increased to a lifelong term in prison.

Appeals

The material did not provide any appeal-specific outcome.

Outcome

Udo Proksch died in prison on June 27, 2001 during heart surgery.

The material stated that he died in the prison hospital.

Other details

The material stated that Proksch was the first husband of the actress Daphne Wagner, who was described as the daughter of Wieland Wagner, and great-granddaughter of the composer Richard Wagner and great-great-granddaughter of Franz Liszt.

The material stated that Proksch was married three times: first to Erika Pluhar, then to Daphne Wagner, and from 1969 onwards to Ariane Glatz.

It stated that Erika Pluhar spoke about visits and talks while he was in prison, and said they divorced 20-years before he was detained. It also stated that she spoke at length about their time together and about their only child who had died.

The material stated that Proksch became friends with Austrian terrorist Franz Fuchs while in prison.

It stated that Franz Fuchs was a terrorist convicted of sending letter bombs that killed four people and wounded over a dozen more, including Vienna Mayor Helmut Zilk. It also stated that Helmut Zilk was a close acquaintance of Udo Proksch.

It stated that Franz Fuchs refused to communicate with anyone while in prison, even his own attorney, but opened up to Proksch for reasons that remained unexplained.

The material included quotations attributed to Austrian Czech diplomat Karel Schwarzenberg:

“What he really was, I don’t know, and I have huge doubts that Udo himself knew. In fact, I don’t think so."

The material further described that people doubted Proksch’s responsibility and said he was not physically violent and “couldn’t have hurt a flea.” It stated that Proksch always carried a gun and showed it off with considerable bravado, but that no one had ever seen him shoot at anyone.

It also stated that a film was released and that art and documentary productions later used elements from Proksch’s life and case.

Works and productions named included:

• 1988: Hans Pretterebner published a book about the Lucona case, Der Fall Lucona.
• 1993: A film about the Lucona case (starring David Suchet) was released.
• 2004: The art group monochrom staged Udo 77, a musical about the life of Udo Proksch.
• 2010: A documentary about Proksch, entitled Udo Proksch: Out of Control and directed by Robert Dornhelm, was released.

The material named ORF Anchor-woman Ingrid Thurnher as publishing a book on his controversial character, Auf den Spuren des Udo Proksch.

The material named additional documentary production details, including that Out Of Control was a Filmhaus Wien production, co-financed by the ORF, the Film Institute, and Film Fonds Wien, and that it was directed by Robert Dornhelm.

It stated that the documentary used a combination of archival footage from Proksches archive, as he himself was a film director, dozens of interviews from acknowledged Austrian people from Androsch to Zilk, and partly narrated by Robert Reinagl. It also stated that additional material included 20.00 photos, letters from prison, designs, and concepts from Westlicht founder Peter Coeln.

The material described that the documentary was “well-cut” and that it let people make up their mind about his persona, which only partly included the case Lucona.

The material described Proksch’s student times at the NAPOLA and the material stated it was a training school for up-and-coming SS officers and members of the Nazi Armed Forces.

It stated that after studying at the Academy for Applied Arts in Vienna, he worked as an award winning designer and art director for the company Wilhelm Anger.

Under the alias Serge Kirchhofer, it stated that he designed the sunglasses Carrera, with “13 million” sold in 1955 alone.

The material also described controlled explosive drills and stated Proksch had access to an Austrian military base in Tyrol through a close friendship with then Defense Minister Karl Lütgendorf.

It included quotations attributed to Proksch:

“War is the father of all things,” he would say. “We will continue to fight and kill, this is what is inside us,” which seemed to perfectly describe what he believed in.

It included a quotation attributed to Proksch:

“I too am afraid of dying,” he admitted. “You have to train to overcome that.”

The material included a quotation attributed to Proksch about power:

The material also described that Proksch was “out” in the context of a line quoted:

“I couldn’t help it, I was, out, Out of Control.”

It named other people mentioned around the productions and connections, including Androsch, Zilk, and Helmut Zilk, and included NAPOLA and SS context in the narrative.

Timeline

• 1977 — The freighter Lucona sank in the Indian Ocean after an explosion, killing six people.
• 1985 — Udo Proksch and partner Peter Daimler were arrested; they were set free days later.
• 1987 — An expose titled Der Fall Lucona was published.
• 1988 — Proksch fled to the Philippines; Lucona was located by American shipwreck hunter David Mearns, revealing the ship had been sunk by a time bomb.
• 1989 — Proksch returned to Austria incognito but was recognized and arrested at Vienna International Airport Schwechat; Proksch had plastic surgery on his face after the death of his daughter Anna.
• 1991-03-11 — Proksch was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
• 1992 — After one of the longest and most expensive trials in post-war Austria, Proksch was convicted of the murder of six people and sentenced to 20 years in prison, later increased to a life-long sentence.
• 199? (one year after March 11, 1991) — Proksch’s sentence was increased to a lifelong term in prison.
• 2001-06-27 — Proksch died during heart surgery in the prison hospital.