Franz Pristovnik

Franc Pristovnik (born July 30, 1910 in Zell-Pfarre / Sele fara; † April 29, 1943 in Vienna ) was a Slovenian-Carinthian resistance fighter against National Socialism in Carinthia.

Life

He was the son of Gertrud Pristovnik, b. Piskernik, and Simon Pristovnik, the owner of the Hube vlg. Hus. At the age of 13 he lost three fingers of his right hand in an accident at work. From the 1920s he belonged to the Catholic-Slovenian cultural association and the Alpine association "Planina". During the attack by Nazi Germany on Yugoslavia , he was taken into protective custody in April 1941 . When some childhood friends from Zell such as Thomas Olip , Jakob Oraže and the brothers Johann, Peter and Valentin Olip as well as Maks Kelih, who had emigrated to Yugoslavia after the annexation of Austria in 1938, returned to Zell on smugglers' routes in April 1941, Pristovnik brought Thomas Olip and Jakob Oraže in the barn of his parents' house and provided them with food throughout the winter. In the spring of 1942 he helped them build a bunker on the Setitsche Hill behind his farm. When Johann Županc , the founder of the Osvobodilna fronta (People's Liberation Movement) in Carinthia, came to Zell on July 12, 1942 to recruit members, Pristovnik took him to his friends in the bunker. He also helped them to build a second bunker at the lower Hlipovtschnikgraben, which was finally occupied in July. Again and again he brought the friends food and informed them about the situation in the village. By arresting Maria Olip and stealing a letter from her brother Johann Zupanc, the Gestapo succeeded in digging the bunker in Zell on December 1, 1942 and arresting Thomas Olip and Jakob Oraže.

On December 3, 1942, Franc Pristovnik was also arrested. Justine Jug, who was in contact with him in the Gestapo prison in Klagenfurt, received a receipt from him at Christmas 1942 in which he asked her to pray for him so that he could endure the torture. Pastor Alois Vauti, who shared the cell with him, also reported that he had been so beaten up by the Gestapo that he could only be recognized by his voice. With twelve companions he was sentenced to death by the People's Court under the notorious Roland Freisler on April 9, 1943 and executed by guillotine on April 29, 1943 at the Vienna Regional Court . His sister Maria (born 1912), who had supported her brother, received two years in prison . The parents Simon Pristovnik and Gertrud geb. Piskernik were given six or four years in prison in a separate proceeding before the Vienna Higher Regional Court in Klagenfurt on July 22, 1943, because they had not prevented their children from working - a typical example of National Socialist clan liability .

literature

• Franc Kattnig: All Slovenes - Attempted documentation from the files of the People's Court in Berlin . Klagenfurt / Celovec 1978.
• Thomas Olip: Like a bird locked in a cage. The Diary of Thomas Olip . Published by Wilhelm Baum. Kitab Verlag, Klagenfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-902585-56-1 .