SPIONAGEAFFÄRE OBERST ALFRED REDL. EINE ZUSAMMENFASSENDE BETRACHTUNG DES FORSCHUNGSSTANDES ZU DEN MÖGLICHEN UMSTÄNDEN SEINES TODES MIT EINER KRITISCHEN HINTERFRAGUNG DER ÜBERLIEFERTEN NARRATIVE

Alfred Redl was born in 1864 in Lemberg, Galicia, the Austrian Empire (now Lviv, Ukraine). He rose quickly within the officer ranks of the Austro-Hungarian k. u. k. (Imperial and Royal) Army. Redl attended the War School in Vienna, with extraordinary success. Having acquired Russian language skills and Russian military issues, Redl joined the Intelligence Bureau of the Austro- Hungarian General Staff. Redl became apparently a spy for Russia and he got plenty of money for his seeming betrayal; in any case he lived a life of luxury. With the help of a secret service covered operation he was caught in a trap and committed suicide in 1913 – without an interrogation or inquiry. This essay points out some oddity of that case and tries to give new clues to the master narrative. The essay underlines the hypothesis that he was an agent with a “for eyes only” mission and he uncovered some secrets which were too close to highest representatives of Austrian Empire.