Ernestine Diwisch

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Ernestine Diwisch (born on March 23, 1921 in Vienna ; died on May 24, 1944 there ) was an Austrian tabulator and resistance fighter against National Socialism . She was sentenced to death by the Nazi judiciary and beheaded.

Life

As the daughter of Anna Diwisch geb. Jezek and a Reichsbahn employee, she attended a housewives school after completing compulsory school. From May 1941 she worked initially as a commercial clerk at Allianz insurance , later at the aircraft engine plant in Wiener Neustadt .

From 1932 to 1934 she belonged to the Rote Falken , from 1940 she worked for the banned Communist Youth Association (KJVÖ). She joined the soldiers' council group , mailing their magazine and illegal leaflets to soldiers at the front. She also took part in the "fire platelet campaign" of the resistance fighter Walter Kämpf .

She was arrested on May 25, 1943 and charged on September 23, 1943 by the senior Reich attorney at the People's Court in Berlin with “preparing for high treason and favoring the enemy ”. In the indictment, she was also accused of attending meetings of KJV members in Vienna.

Death sentence

“In particular, the defendant Diwisch can by no means be merely aiding and abetting, as the defense has argued. For the communist attitude of these defendants and for their own political interest in the implementation of communist ideas, the fact that, according to her own statements, she fell out with her fiancé in 1940 because of her communist activities. A young girl who manages that must be particularly addicted to her political ideas. It doesn't matter that she has given herself to subordinate functions. It is not the type of activity that is decisive for the assessment of the crime, but the intent that accompanied the perpetrator in its execution. "

- People's Court : Justification for the death sentence against Ernestine Diwisch, February 8, 1944

The comrades Friedrich Muzyka , Alfred Rabofsky , Ernestine Soucek , Sophie Vitek and Anna Wala were also accused . Ernestine Diwisch was sentenced to death and "loss of honor for life" by the People's Court in Vienna on February 8, 1944 . Of her co-defendants, only Sophie Vitek, whose death sentence was changed to 15 years in prison, and Ernestine Soucek, who had been sentenced to eight or nine years in prison, survived.

execution

Ernestine Diwisch was, as Frederick Muzyka and Anna Wala, on 24 May 1944 in the Regional Court of Vienna by the guillotine executed.

Commemoration

Her name can be found on the plaque in the former execution room of the Vienna Regional Court .

In October 2006 the Ernestine-Diwisch-Park in Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus , the 15th district of Vienna, was named after her. The park is between Braunhirschengasse and Grimmgasse.

Sources and literature

  • Brauneis, Inge: Resistance of women in Austria against National Socialism 1938-1945. Diss. Vienna 1974
  • Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance (ed.): Resistance and persecution in Vienna 1934-1945. A documentation. Vol. 2, Vienna 1984
  • DÖW-Akt: 4102, 28, 18967, 19489
  • Fine, Erich: The stones speak. Memorials of the Austrian struggle for freedom. Memorials for the victims of fascism. A documentation. Vienna 1975
  • Historical commission at the Central Committee of the KPÖ (ed.): Contributions to the history of the communist youth movement in Austria
  • Austrian women in the resistance : Short biography Ernestine Diwisch , written by Karin Nusko, accessed on April 6, 2015
  • Tidl, Marie: The Red Students. Documents and memories 1938–1945. Vienna 1976
  • Tidl, Maria: Women in the Resistance. Women in the fight against fascism and war. Vienna 1982
  • Willi Weinert: “You can put me out, but not the fire”: a guide through the grove of honor of Group 40 at the Vienna Central Cemetery for the executed resistance fighters . Wiener Stern-Verlag, 3rd edition 2011 [1]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katharina Kniefacz, Alexander Krysl, Manès Weisskircher: University and Discipline: Members of the University of Vienna and National Socialism , Münster 2011, 32f
  2. ↑ Divergent Sources.
  3. ^ Post-war justice , accessed April 6, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Diwisch, Ernestine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Diwisch, Erna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian tabulator and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1944
Place of death Vienna