Franz Gotthardi

Franz Gotthardi (Hungarian: Gotthardi Ferenc; 1750 – 1795) was a Hungarian-born businessman who became a senior police officer and subsequently emerged as the head of the secret police for the Habsburg monarchy. He fell from favour and died in prison after Francis II came to power.

Life

Beginnings and service to Joseph II Franz Gotthardi was probably born in Pest. It was in Pest that he built his career as a businessman and opened a coffeehouse. One source identifies him as a "formerly bankrupt coffee trader". Service to Leopold II

In 1790 Joseph II died and, according to at least one source, the "Josephine system" of surveillance collapsed. The theater directorship was a cover which may or may not have convinced observers. He became an imperial advisor. By the first part of 1791 Franz Gotthardi was installed as head of the Imperial Secret Police. Government policy was driven by a fear of secret organisations that might be conspiring to emulate the Storming of the Bastille and its ever more alarming aftermath in Vienna. For Gotthardi there was a focus on recruiting agents and informants, an activity in which he was presumably already well versed on account of his work during the 1780s in Pest. Principal targets included Freemasons, Jesuits and others identified as "Illuminati". Given the shadowy nature of the world in which Gotthardi operated, it is unsurprising that many details of his work remain undisclosed. One high-profile recruit known to posterity is the politician, and a leader of the so-called Hungarian Jacobin movement, Ignác Martinovics, who was reportedly an exceptionally productive intelligence agent. By the time of his death in 1795 Franz Gotthardi had become something of a hate figure in certain quarters. He had quickly built up a network of agents whose professional duties included both reporting on "public opinion" and manipulating it. Franz Gotthardi was not among those executed: instead he received a 35-year prison sentence. Death According to at least one source, it was due to the conditions of his imprisonment that Franz Gotthardi died, probably during the final part of July 1795, less than six months after his sentencing.