Alfred Höchstätter

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Alfred Höchstätter ( June 5, 1902 in Wiener Neustadt - January 25, 1944 in Munich-Stadelheim ) was an Austrian worker and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime . He was sentenced to death by the People's Court on November 19, 1943 and executed with the guillotine two months later .

Life

Höchstätter was a worker in the Raxwerke , a large locomotive tender and armaments factory in Wiener Neustadt during the Nazi regime. He was married. At his place of work he got to know the locksmith Josef Postl from Oed , who after the annexation of Austria by the Nazi regime established a resistance cell and established contact with the central offices in Vienna. He received copies of the Red Flag , which was banned by the National Socialists, and other NS-critical writings, which he distributed with the help of his fellow campaigners Ludwig Haiden and Alfred Höchstätter. He also organized meetings and collected membership fees. Postl also supported the relatives of his Vienna liaison officer, who had been executed in the meantime. In the illegal writings with "treasonable content", according to the later indictment, sabotage in the armaments industry and slow work was requested. Höchstätter took over the distribution of litter labels in the urban area of ​​Wiener Neustadt. However, for fear of discovery, two packages of leaflets were burned.

Haiden, Höchstätter and Postl were arrested, identified , interrogated and severely mistreated at the Wiener Neustädter branch of the Gestapo Vienna . On October 28, 1943, the People's Court in Regensburg tried seven comrades of the Postl resistance group. In the verdict it was stated, among other things: "The accused have undertaken to harm the war power of the Reich and are therefore all sentenced to death." All seven were transferred to the Munich-Stadelheim prison for the purpose of execution. Höchstätter's wife had traveled to Munich and vehemently urged to see her husband before the execution was scheduled for short notice. She succeeded. On January 25, 1944, immediately after his wife's visit, Alfred Höchstätter was executed together with Ludwig Haiden and Josef Postl.

Commemoration

A memorial, an alley and a stumbling block are reminiscent of Alfred Höchstätter, all in Wiener Neustadt :

  • In 1948, a memorial with a metal wreath and the inscription "Never forget" and a concentration camp corner with a prisoner number were opened to the public on the premises of the Rax works . The memorial was financed by donations from workers and employees of the Rax works, produced by them on a voluntary basis for the killed colleagues and placed on the industrial site. In 1973 it was moved to its current location in Pottendorfer Strasse at the intersection with Stadionstrasse. The memorial was dedicated to those workers of the Rax-Werke who fell victim to National Socialism: Ludwig Haiden , Alfred Höchstätter, Julius Puschek , Franz Winkelmann and Josef Postl . The inscription on a metal plaque above the wreath reads:
Stumbling block for Alfred Höchstätter

OUR FRIENDS MURDERED BY GERMAN
FASCISM WHO
DIED FOR A FREE
AUSTRIA,

HAIDEN LUDWIG HOCHSTÖTTER ALFRED
PUSCHEK JULIUS WINKELMANN FRANZ
POSTL JOSEF

IN MEMORY
OF THE RAXWERK
UNION

  • In 1970 a side street of Fischauer Gasse was renamed Alfred-Höchstätter-Gasse .
  • In 2010, the German artist Gunter Demnig laid a stumbling stone in front of Wiener Straße 51 to commemorate the resistance fighter.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Today the Europa-Haus in the city park
personal data
SURNAME Höchstätter, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian workers and resistance fighters against the Nazi regime
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiener Neustadt
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1944
Place of death Munich-Stadelheim