Franz Sobek

Franz Sobek (born May 29, 1903 in Brno , † December 10, 1975 in Vienna ) was a personality in the early years of the Austrian Second Republic. Among other things, he acted as general director of the Austrian State Printing House, founder (1946) and president of the official Austrian interest group for Nazi victims, the Bund of Politically Persecuted People, and donated his valuable watch collection in the Geymüllerschlössel in Vienna- Pötzleinsdorf der Republik.

Life

Franz Sobek came from a Catholic background and was the son of the Brno Police President of the same name (rumors that were never denied, however, also spoke of the illegitimate paternity of the Habsburg Archduke Friedrich). Sobek, who studied law, was also active in the police service from 1928 (in the press police) and was involved in the government during the era of the corporate state . From 1935 he worked in the Federal Press Service of the Federal Chancellery . After the “ Anschluss ” in 1938, Sobek's work for the Fatherland Front probably also resulted in his being sent to the Dachau concentration camp . Sobek was imprisoned there until 1943 and made friends with Leopold Figl , who later became Sobek's greatest sponsor. After his release, Sobek was a member of the Committee of Seven of the Austrian resistance movement O5 , which was founded in February 1945 .

After 1945 Sobek, who is described as a very discreet but self-confident man, acquired the so-called Geymüllerschlössel in Vienna-Pötzleinsdorf for the republic with his own (foreign currency) funds , but secured permanent right of residence in it. It was here that he built up his remarkable collection of old Viennese clocks , which he later dedicated as the Museum of the Republic. Sobek's collecting activity, recognized internationally as pioneering, extended above all to precision instruments from the first half of the 19th century, a time when handcrafted chronometers from Vienna were among the best in the world (the transition to industrial production that was successfully carried out in Switzerland and the Black Forest, however, was in Vienna “overslept”). As part of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Sobek's collection is now a recognized part of Vienna's museum landscape.

In his professional activity Sobek did not remain undisputed. His leading involvement in denazification is likely to have earned him the constant hostility of some “former” people. (The non-partisan "Bund of Politically Persecuted", which existed until 1948, advocated the - highly unpopular - return of rented apartments for those persecuted by the Nazi regime). In 1969 there was an affair in the state printing house about plans to sell large remnants of Hitler stamps from 1943 stored there, which even found its echo in TIME magazine (June 28, 1971). After Sobek retired and the state paid for his right to live, the lifelong bachelor set an important example of patronage with the foundation of his valuable collection .

literature

• Friedrich Berg: The Geymüllerschlössel with the Sobek collection in Vienna Pötzleinsdorf , in: Mitteilungsblatt der Museen Österreichs, 17th year, issue 5/6, June 1968 p. 61ff.
• Ders .: The Sobek Collection in the Geymüllerschlössel , in: Weltkunst, Volume 48, No. 10 of May 15, 1979.

Web links

• Literature by and about Franz Sobek in the catalog of the German National Library
• Link to the Geymüllerschlössel on MAK.at