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Marie Schönfeld (13 July 1898 – 19 September 1944) was an Austrian government worker ("Regierungsassistentin") who became an anti-Nazi resistance activist.

She and her brother were members of a small but committed movement that favoured a Habsburg restoration.

She was captured, sentenced, and beheaded at the Vienna district court.^[1][2]

Marie Karoline Schönfeld was born in Vienna. She and her elder brother Franz came from a family in the cty's Währing district, with a long tradition of government service and Catholic conservatism. After her years of compulsory schooling Marie transferred to a "Commercial School" ("Handelsschule"). However, on completing her time there she entered not the private sector but government service, joining the Ministry of Public Works in 1917.^[2]

The Schönfeld siblings were legitimists: they backed the restoration of the Austria-Hungarian monarchy under Crown Prince Otto von Hapsburg as Emperor of Austria. Franz Schönfeld joined the Social Democratic Party in 1919 and Marie Schönfeld at some stage became a member of the Christian Trade Union Federation. In 1934, they reportedly joined the "People's Party" ("Volkspartei"), but at their later trial they both described themselves as non-political. (By this time, as the government drew inspiration from events in Germany, Austria was rapidly becoming a one-party state.) Regardless of their political loyalties in 1938, the Schönfelds saw the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, which took place in March 1938, as a national humiliation.^[1]

Following a promotion, in 1938 Marie Schönfeld began working as a typist in a department of the government's Property Transaction Office. Around this time the Schönfelds started to campaign more actively against the evolving political status quo. Their activity involved producing, copying and distributing political leaflets. Between May 1942 and their arrest in May 1943, court records indicate that together they produced "false and highly treasonable written messages" which they distributed on street corners and in post offices. They also sent their messages on post cards to various Nazi Party buildings and police stations. The most memorable of their treasonable anti-Nazi leaflets appeared in 1942 and consisted of a parody of four lines from the German national anthem:

Another message, which they sent to the party Gauleitung (regional leadership) in Vienna, included the threat that "in our stolen Austrian land we will slit open your stomachs which you have gorged to fill at our expense. We will rip out your guts and use them as wreaths to hang on the pictures of Hitler".^[1]

The leaflets were designed by Franz, but Marie helped with copying and distribution. In total Gestapo submissions indicate knowledge of around 65 different texts.^[2]

On 15 July 1944 Marie and Franz Schönfeld faced the special "Peoples' Court" in Vienna. The charge was the usual one of "preparing to commit high treason and supporting the enemies [of the state]" ("Vorbereitung zum Hochverrat und Feindbegünstigung").^[1]

The court determined:

The Schönfeld siblings died on the guillotine on 19 September 1944 at the Vienna district court.^[1]