Ferdinand Strasser

Ferdinand Strasser (born April 3, 1901 in Krems an der Donau , † September 30, 1942 in Vienna ) was an Austrian politician ( KPÖ ) and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Strasser grew up as the eldest son in an extended family oriented towards social democracy. He graduated from grammar school, which he could only attend by doing part-time jobs. His plan to study law after completing his school career failed due to lack of financial resources. From 1915 Strasser belonged to the "Association of Young Workers" from 1919 to the SDAPÖ . From 1924 Strasser worked for the party secretariat of the SDAPDÖ , became chairman of the workers' gymnastics and sports club, was a leading functionary of the Republican Protection Association and in April 1933 Vice Mayor of St. Pölten . After the failure of the armed uprising in mid-February 1934 against the Austro-Fascist corporate state under Engelbert Dollfuss , Strasser first fled to Czechoslovakia and from there traveled to the Soviet Union . During his stay in the Soviet Union, Strasser joined the KPÖ. In May 1936, Strasser returned to Czechoslovakia on behalf of the party and returned to Austria in the summer of 1937 using a pseudonym . At the Imperial Conference of the KPÖ, which took place in Prague in August 1937, he was elected to the party's central committee. Soon after, he was arrested and imprisoned, but released as part of the February amnesty in 1938. Then he moved to Krems, where he worked as an accountant. Strasser organized and led a communist resistance group in Krems, which worked closely with the communist resistance movement in St. Pölten. The resistance group sold illegal literature and was committed to the Austrian section of Red Aid .

Strasser was arrested on April 15, 1941 and sentenced to death on June 12, 1942 by the 2nd Senate of the People's Court for preparing for high treason . On September 30, 1942, Strasser was executed in Vienna.

Honors

Strasser's name is listed on the memorial plaque for the twelve central committee members of the KPÖ who were murdered by the National Socialists, which is now in the house of the KPÖ Vienna 10 (Wieland School). In Steyr the Ferdinand-Straßer-Hof was named after him, in the St. Pölten district of Wagram the Ferdinand-Strasser-Weg was named after him in 1955 .

literature

• Ch. Chancellor:  Strasser Ferdinand. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 13, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2007–2010, ISBN 978-3-7001-6963-5 , p. 362.
• Willi Weinert: "I want you to always stay close to you all ..." Biographies of communist resistance fighters in Austria. With comments on the resistance struggle of the Communist Party of Austria and a list of victims , ed. from the Alfred Klahr Society and the KPÖ Steiermark. Vienna: Verlag der Alfred Klahr Gesellschaft 2005, ISBN 978-3-9501204-2-4 .
• Manfred Wieninger : Telling St. Pöltner street names. Loewenzahn, Innsbruck 2002, ISBN 3-7066-2208-4 , pp. 99-100: Entry on Ferdinand-Strasser-Weg .

Web links

• Ferdinand Strasser at www.klahrgesellschaft.at