Vienna on 15 February 1725, the son of a judicial official. After serv-
ing as an imperial page and completing his law studies, he entered the
Habsburg diplomatic service in 1747. Although his performance as
provincial governor in Galicia proved disappointing to the Viennese
court and resulted in his recall, Pergen emerged as a key figure in the
entourage of the new emperor Joseph II in 1780. He proposed that
the police—hitherto concerned with regulating the broader aspects of
municipal administration—be focused on issues of law and order and
subject only to the directions of the emperor. Moreover, this police
force should be based on the Meldepflicht—a compulsory registration
system to be extended beyond Vienna to include the entire Habsburg
realm. Only with such a general requirement in place, he contended,
could foreign travelers suspected as spies be properly monitored.
The reorganization of the police in September 1786, included
creation of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), which
would be disguised as part of the regular police agencies and would
report directly to Pergen on vital state security matters. Despite its
foreboding title, the force initially consisted of three agents. This new
responsibility, however, gave Pergen direct access to the emperor,
who took a keen interest in the day-to-day details of police activities.
Pergen further urged the provincial governors to report any signs of
local dissatisfaction and to exercise vigilance in regard to suspicious
foreigners and persons spreading “sects and errors” among the popu-
lace. He also recommended recruiting servants as confidential agents
and intercepting letters, although it should be done with great care
“not to offend citizens’ freedom or the reputation of the mails.”
Among the problems confronting the Habsburg monarchy were
the escalating separatist ambitions of the Hungarian magnates an-
gered by the reform measures of Joseeph II. Alerted by the emperor
that certain Magyar nobles were plotting with Prussia to depose the
Habsburgs as kings of Hungary and elevate a Prussian prince to the
throne, Pergen took action. His undercover investigation produced
evidence of Hungarian separatist plots in Vienna. Because a public
trial might stimulate sympathy for the conspirators and compromise
the system of secret informants, Pergen and the emperor created
the special category of Staatsverbrecher (state criminal)—a per-
son who had presumably committed high treason and whose fate
would be decided by the emperor alone (and remain unknown to the
PERGEN, JOHANN ANTON • 343