Kutschera was born in Oberwaltersdorf, Lower Austria (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) on 22 February 1904 and was the son of a professional gardener and minor civil servant.

Despite the government ban, Kutschera remained a committed Party activist and was arrested several times by Austrian authorities for illegal pro-Nazi political activities.

After the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany in March 1938, Kutschera joined the civil administration of the newly-established Reichsgau Carinthia as an aide to Gauleiter Hubert Klausner.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Kutschera was named the representative in Carinthia of Friedrich Rainer, the Reich Defense Commissioner for Wehrkreis (Military District) XVIII, who was headquartered in Salzburg.

[2] Kutschera volunteered for military service with the Wehrmacht in March 1940 and was assigned to the 139th Gebirgsjäger (light infantry) regiment of the 3rd Mountain Division.

During the German Balkan Campaign, on 14 April 1941 Kutschera was named Chief of Civil Administration for Slovenian Carinthia and Upper Carniola, which were administered as part of his Gau, and where he became infamous in the war against the Yugoslav Partisans for his fanaticism and extreme harshness.

[2] In January 1942, Kutschera was seconded to the staff of Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and police leader (HSSPF) for Central Russia (Belarus), where he served as a representative of the Reich Commissariat for the Strengthening of German Nationhood (RKFDV).

Soon after his arrival on the Eastern Front, Kutschera personally directed numerous anti-partisan and mass-killing operations in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union.

Every day lists were hung in public announcing the names of the next Poles to be executed in the event of any attack on a German soldier or police officer.

Kutschera's exact whereabouts while in Warsaw was a closely guarded secret within the Reich Security Main Office but were discovered in December 1943 by Aleksander Kunicki (Rayski), chief of intelligence for the Agat (Anti-Gestapo) unit of Kedyw.

In the course of his routine surveillance of the Gestapo offices on Aleje Szucha, Rayski noticed an Opel Admiral limousine entering the driveway of the nearby Warsaw SS headquarters.

The execution order was soon drafted and relayed to the commander of Kedyw, Brigadier General Emil August Fieldorf (Nil), whose organization had been given the tasks of planning and performing the assassination.