Hermann Klepell

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Hermann Klepell (born June 19, 1918 in Vienna ; † March 22, 1945 ibid) was an Austrian resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Hermann Klepell came from a social democratic family. His father August Klepell was an innkeeper and party member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party and from 1919 to February 1934 district chairman of the Viennese district of Währing .

In autumn 1934 Hermann Klepell joined the illegal Hitler Youth . Klepell began studying cultural engineering at the Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) . From January 1938 he was a member of the student SA .

Klepell became assistant geodesy at BOKU . Before he could complete his studies, Klepell was drafted into the Wehrmacht on December 8, 1942 . He was first deployed on the Eastern Front before the BOKU university professor Franz Ackerl was transferred to a surveying department and finally to his own department at the university.

August Klepell stated in a later petition for clemency for his son that he had come into contact with Heinrich Maier and the Maier-Messner-Caldonazzi resistance group through Walter Caldonazzi . The resistance group produced flyers and wanted to support the escape of French officers from a POW camp with maps. The group also wanted to pass on information about operations that were important to the war effort to the Allies in order to bring the war to an end as quickly as possible. The role of Klepell, who was assigned as a soldier to the Army Surveying Office in Vienna, was evidently the procurement of maps and plans. At the turn of the year 1943/44 he is said to have obtained plans for a city (not named) for this purpose, and to have entered important manufacturing facilities of armaments factories in them. This information was supposed to reach the Allies through Franz Josef Messner . In fact, allied air raids on this city followed.

Hermann Klepell was arrested on April 21, 1944. On October 28, 1944, he was sentenced to death and loss of honorary rights for life by the People's Court for preparation for high treason , espionage and favoring the enemy .

Attempts by his parents to avert the execution were unsuccessful. Hermann Klepell was executed on March 22, 1945 in the Vienna Regional Court , as were his co-conspirators Heinrich Maier and Josef Wyhnal . The bodies of the resistance fighters were buried in Vienna's central cemetery . After the end of the war, a few weeks later, they were exhumed and buried next to each other on May 10, 1945 in the Neustift cemetery . His parents were later buried in Hermann Klepell's grave, located in group E, row 1 number 15.

Honors

  • At the request of his father, BOKU awarded Hermann Klepell the posthumous title of “ Diplomingenieur ”.
  • At a memorial service for the dead members of the resistance group in March 1947, Pastor Hans Rieger gave an obituary for Hermann Klepell.
  • Klepell is commemorated on a plaque in the former execution room in what is now the Vienna State Court for Criminal Matters .
  • In autumn 2019, a memorial plaque for Hermann Klepell was set up in Währing opposite the place where his parents' house used to be.

supporting documents

  1. ^ Klepell, August. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (ed.); accessed on July 29, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c d Manfried Welan : The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. From the foundation to the future 1872–1997 . Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 1997, ISBN 978-3-205-98610-2 , pp. 134–137 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ a b c People's Court : Judgments 5 H 96/44 - 5 H 100/44 and reasons for the judgment . Vienna October 28, 1944, p. 1–30 ( online on the DÖW website (PDF; 7.53 MB) - numbering errors: pages 11 and 12 are duplicated).
  4. ↑ a b Eugen Werkowitsch : Schnellbrief. Subject: can. Dipl. Ing. Hermann Klepell . Vienna December 16, 1944, p. 1–7 ( online on the DÖW website (PDF; 2.67 MB)).
  5. ↑ Memorial stone for Hermann Klepell in Vienna-Währing. DÖW, accessed on December 26, 2019.
  6. ↑ Walter Lillich: Notification of the execution of the death sentence . Vienna March 22, 1945 ( online on the DÖW website (PDF; 300 kB)).
  7. ^ Ralf Siebenbürger: Heinrich Maier - A pastor in the resistance . In: ÖVP comradeship of the politically persecuted and confessors for Austria (ed.): The freedom fighter . 63rd year, no. 41 . Vienna May 2014, p. 10 ( online on the ÖVP comradeship website (PDF; 762 kB)).
  8. ↑ Hermann Klepell in the search for the deceased at friedhoefewien.at
  9. ^ Commemoration for six murdered freedom fighters. In:  New Austria. Organ of Democratic Unification , March 23, 1947, p. 2 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nos.
  10. ↑ Thomas Netopilik: Memorial plaque for Währinger resistance fighter Hermann Klepell. In: mein district.at . November 4, 2019, accessed November 6, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Klepell, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1945
Place of death Vienna