Josef Leopold

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Josef Leopold

Josef Leopold (born February 18, 1889 in Haindorf, Gobelsburg parish , † June 24, 1941 in Volhynia ) was Gauleiter and regional leader of the NSDAP in Austria .

Life

The son of a farmer attended a fruit and viticulture school and initially worked in his father 's business. After completing his military service , he joined the Austro-Hungarian Army as a professional soldier in 1913 . Deployed as a sergeant on the Eastern Front in 1914 , Leopold was taken prisoner by Russia on August 1, 1915 . In January 1918 he managed to escape and successfully return to his unit. After the war he joined the militia one, became the Volkswehr- lieutenant appointed and Offizierssoldatenrat of Volkswehr- battalion in the ninth Viennese district , Alsergrund chosen.

Taken into the imposed professional army of the First Republic , he graduated from the Army School in Enns between 1920 and 1923 with the top grade “Very good” in all subjects. As a graduate of the army school and non- Maturant , he could only achieve the rank of captain . In 1932 he left the armed forces and devoted himself fully to politics.

In September 1926 he became a member of the NSDAP, which on August 29, 1929 appointed him Gauleiter of Lower Austria . In 1932 he entered the Lower Austrian state parliament for the NSDAP and was then appointed regional councilor. After the NSDAP was banned in June 1933, Leopold was imprisoned several times - despite his immunity as a member of the Lower Austrian Landtag and Provincial Council elected by the people . Subsequently, from January 29, 1935 to February 21, 1938, he was national leader of the NSDAP in Austria, but had long since fallen out of favor with Hitler because of his alleged lack of assertiveness and leadership.

After the “ Anschluss ”, Leopold was promoted to Reich Inspector of the NSDAP and SA group leaders on May 23, 1938 , based in Munich . After this "cold stop" he was - in the meantime promoted to lieutenant colonel (tit.) Of the Wehrmacht - reactivated in October 1939; A year and a half later, in the first days of the German-Soviet War , he was hit as commander of a Znojmo rifle battalion while issuing orders . His grave is next to the church of Worsowska in Volhynia .

Leopold's widow, Sidonie b. Saxeneder (born August 16, 1894 in Lengenfeld (Lower Austria) , † July 19, 1980 in Langenlois ), since 1927 National Socialist and holder of the Golden Party Badge of the NSDAP , was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the Vienna People's Court on October 8, 1945 in accordance with the Prohibition Act Condemned asset collapse.

Awards, honors

  • Honorary Citizen of the City of Krems (1938) 

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From day to day. (...) The widow of Gauleiter Leopold before the People's Court . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna October 9, 1945, p. 3 , column 2 below ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  2. ^ Gauleiter Josef Leopold fallen. In:  Badener Zeitung , No. 62/1941 (LXII. Year), August 2, 1941, p. 2, center left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt.
personal data
SURNAME Leopold, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (NSDAP), MdR, member of the state parliament, Gauleiter and regional leader of the NSDAP in Austria
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenlois
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1941
Place of death Volhynia