Carl Szokoll

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Carl Szokoll (born October 15, 1915 in Vienna ; † August 25, 2004 there ) was an Austrian resistance fighter , major in the German armed forces and involved in the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 . After the Second World War he worked as a film producer .

Life

Career as a professional soldier

Szokoll's father was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War and then remained in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Austria. Following his father's wishes, Carl Szokoll also began a career in the army.

When Austria was annexed to the German Reich on March 12, 1938, he was accepted as an officer in the German Wehrmacht. Since his then partner Christine Kukula was partly of Jewish descent, the planned wedding had to be postponed.

At the beginning of the Second World War he was involved in the attack on Poland and in the western campaign in France. In a battle against members of the French resistance he was wounded and then came as an orderly officer to the Deputy General Command of the XVII. Army Corps in Vienna.

Participation in Valkyrie

In the following time he came to the conviction that an early end of the war would only be possible with the overthrow of Adolf Hitler .

By Robert Bernardis , then lieutenant colonel in the General Staff of the Armed Forces , he was initiated into the plans for an assassination attempt on Hitler. The assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , in which he was Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg's liaison in Vienna, failed. Szokoll remained unrecognized because he did not send the "Valkyrie orders" independently, but rather on the instructions of the chief of staff in the Vienna military district command , Heinrich Kodré , which made him completely unsuspecting and it could not be proven that he was aware of it. Shortly afterwards, Szokoll was transferred to Croatia and then returned to Vienna.

Operation Radetzky - The Savior of Vienna

When the Red Army approached Vienna at the end of March 1945, a resistance group made up of Austrian members of the Wehrmacht within the Wehrkreiskommando XVII under the direction of Szokolls made contact with the leadership of the Red Army . The aim of this initiative called " Operation Radetzky " was to support the Soviet troops in the liberation of the city and to prevent major destruction in the city (Hitler's " Nero order ").

At the meeting in Hochwolkersdorf, Oberfeldwebel Ferdinand Käs and Obergefreiter Johann Reif handed over strength reports from the defenders and the resistance to the High Command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fjodor Tolbuchin and made suggestions for further operational procedures. Three days later, on April 6th, the Soviet army began to attack Vienna . Operation Radetzky was only partially implemented, however, as it was betrayed and the officers involved, Major Karl Biedermann , Captain Alfred Huth and First Lieutenant Rudolf Raschke , were arrested. Szokoll was warned, managed to avoid arrest and fled to the command post of the 9th Guards Army in Purkersdorf , where he informed the Soviets of the failure of the operation. He was temporarily on suspicion of a spy of the United States to be arrested, but released after a few days.

After the war

Central cemetery Vienna - grave of Carl Szokoll

After the end of the war, Carl Szokoll and Christine Kukula married in 1946. He was subsequently a publisher and began in 1949 as a production manager at Helios-Film, later he also worked for Schönbrunn-Film and Cosmopol-Film. In this role he was involved in productions such as the war films The Last Bridge and The Last Act . In 1958 he went to Germany as managing director of Tele München .

In 1961, Szokoll founded his own production company "Neue Delta" and in the following years worked successfully with director Franz Antel , with whom he created numerous comedies . He also developed the concept for Antel's film series Der Bockerer .

He died on August 25, 2004 in Lainz Hospital.

Honors

Szokoll was awarded the Great Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria (1985) and the City of Vienna Ring of Honor (1995). On June 2, 2003 he was awarded the Citizenship Certificate of the City of Vienna (see list of honorary citizens of the City of Vienna ).

After his death on August 25, 2004, he was buried in a grave of honor in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 33 G, number 33). In 2008 the Carl-Szokoll-Platz in Vienna- Alsergrund (9th district) was named after him.

On the first anniversary of his death, August 25, 2005, the inner courtyard of the Austrian Ministry of Defense was named "Carl-Szokoll-Hof" - a memorial plaque and a "conscience sculpture" by Richard Agreiter commemorate the resistance fighter.

On September 29, 2009, a park in Wiener Neustadt opposite the military academy was named after him. The incumbent Federal President Heinz Fischer unveiled a memorial in honor of the former major.

Works

  • Der Bockerer II: Austria is free. Verlag der Apfel, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-85450-128-5 .
  • The broken oath. Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-203-50929-6 .
  • The rescue of Vienna in 1945. My life, my part in the conspiracy against Hitler and in the liberation of Austria. Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85002-472-5 .

Quotes

"I am neither a saint nor a prophet - a traitor, some said, others a hero ..."

- Carl Szokoll : memorial by Irina Simone Wanker

Filmography

literature

  • Sergei Shtemenko: On the General Staff. Berlin 1975.
  • Hans Egger, Franz Jordan: Fires on the Danube. The finale of the Second World War in Vienna, Lower Austria and Northern Burgenland. Leopold Stocker Verlag , Graz 2004, ISBN 3-7020-1053-X .
  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 7: R - T. Robert Ryan - Lily Tomlin. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 588.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Austria's Armed Forces - Current - Inner courtyard of the ministry named after the resistance fighter Szokoll .
  2. ↑ Online Official Gazette of Wiener Neustadt  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 13, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wiener-neustadt.gv.at  
  3. ↑ a b Commemorative publication for Carl Szokoll by Irina Simone Wanker and speech by Federal President Heinz Fischer on May 29, 2009 (accessed on May 7, 2018)
personal data
SURNAME Szokoll, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer, publisher and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 2004
Place of death Vienna , Austria