Johann August Malin

Johann August Malin (born September 22, 1902 in Satteins near Feldkirch , † November 9, 1942 in Munich-Stadelheim ) was an Austrian who resisted the Nazi regime and was therefore executed .

Life

Johann August Malin grew up as the son of a wage ticker in rural, poor and poorly educated circumstances. He graduated from the village's two-class elementary school with exceptionally good school results. A further school education was not possible under the given circumstances.

The post-war years spent Malin as casual, of which especially the years as a construction worker in Spullerseekraftwerk helped shape his future political position. The seclusion of this high-altitude construction site was particularly fertile ground for the development of political awareness. The experience of the harshest working conditions, social outsiders (for the rural environment, the workers mostly coming from outside were rabble ) and a necessarily arising solidarity and. Group feelings not only contributed to the emergence of an organized labor movement on this construction site, but also former Spullersee workers ultimately made up a significant part of the committed social democratic worker functionaries in Vorarlberg in general.

Malin, too, became a member of the Social Democratic Party as early as 1920 and soon after took over political functions in his hometown (including chairman of the Sattein group from 1922 to 1925). In addition, he was at times shop steward for the free trade unions. In addition, Malin developed a strong proletarian need for education. His scientific ambitions were particularly in geology , a permanent document of this activity is a publication on the geological nature of the area around the Black Lake . At the same time he was involved in lectures and articles for the further education of the population groups socially excluded from the usual educational opportunities. In his self-assessment he was primarily a “folk writer”, an activity that consisted of political agitation in addition to the mere educational intention.

The double meaning of his intentions can be traced back to his last written statements in 1942, in which the situation-related, linguistic adjustments only inadequately concealed the basic political positions and intended effects. His most important activity, for which he was well known in large parts of the country, was that of an ombudsman . According to his own statements, in the 1930s and also at the beginning of the 1940s he prepared around 4,000 petitions and applications to various authorities, always for people who could not afford academic legal counsel. In June 1941 he wrote a pardon to Adolf Hitler for the former Spanish fighter Ernst Reiner from Götzis , who at the time was in Gestapo custody in Innsbruck and had cancer of the jaw .

The reason for Malin's final arrest on May 6, 1942 is to be sought in this auxiliary activity. A whole group of people ( communists , social democrats , catholics ) were arrested with him on this Mother's Day morning after the targeted use of a female Gestapo spy . The example was set in Malin, the most active and well-known, but also the most careless . The People's Court in Berlin was able to produce evidence and dubious witnesses for the following activities of Malin :

He had advised those on vacation from the Eastern Front who were seeking advice to desert into neighboring Switzerland , based on precise information from foreign broadcasters, he had distributed news of the end of the German advance in the east in various inns and had provided a soldier who was called up to the Eastern Front with leaflets that he was at the moment Enemy contact should help when overflowing.

In doing so, Malin fulfilled the criteria of “ dismantling military strength , preparing for high treason and distributing lies from foreign stations” for the Nazi judiciary . He was on 9 November 1942 executed .

Afterlife

In his farewell letters, Malin had hoped for an appreciation of his activities in the post-war period. A half-hearted funeral ceremony in Satteins in November 1945 was the only thing the new political public had for Malin. The general process of suppression began, however, when choosing a lasting memory: A Satteinser Straße, which was supposed to remind of Malin, was renamed Christelstraße ( house name of the Malin family).

It took decades for a systematic exploration of the anti-fascist resistance in Vorarlberg was started. Therefore, it could happen that most of the victims of Vorarlberg's resistance against the Nazi unjust state were forgotten.

Johann August Malin was also one of those who was hushed up by regional historians after 1945. On the 40th anniversary of his death in 1982, the Johann August Malin Society , the historical association for Vorarlberg, was founded.

Web links

• Homepage of the Johann August Malin Society