Karl Biedermann (resistance fighter)

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Monument in Floridsdorf

Karl Biedermann (born August 11, 1890 in Miskolc , Austria-Hungary , † April 8, 1945 in Vienna ) was commander of the Austrian Home Guard , major in the German Wehrmacht and member of the military resistance against National Socialism .

Life

Biedermann-Huth-Raschke barracks in Vienna-Penzing
Memorial plaque in the building of the Austrian Postal Savings Bank
Karl Biedermann after his execution

After attending the cadet school in Traiskirchen , Karl Biedermann served in the Austro-Hungarian army from 1910 onwards . In the First World War he was a frontline officer from 1914 to 1918. Two years after the end of the war he was released from military service with the rank of captain . In his civil profession he was an official of the Austrian Post Office Savings Bank . From 1928 to 1936 Biedermann was a member of the Heimwehr . In February 1934, Biedermann was company commander of the Voluntary Protection Corps , an auxiliary force of the police. In February 1934 he was a battalion commander in the conquest of the Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna during the Austrian Civil War . Biedermann was an illegal member of the NSDAP in Austria .

After Austria was annexed to the German Reich in March 1938, Biedermann joined the German armed forces . In 1940 he was promoted to major. During the Second World War he took part in the Western campaign , the Balkan campaign and the war against the Soviet Union . In 1943 he was appointed commander of the Greater Vienna Army Patrol Division.

Biedermann joined the resistance group of Austrian members of the Wehrmacht , which was headed by Major Carl Szokoll , within the military district command XVII . In the spring of 1945 they planned the “ Operation Radetzky ”, the aim of which was to support the Red Army in the liberation of Vienna and to prevent major destruction. Biedermann and his troops should have occupied key positions in the city and prevented bridges from being blown up.

But the "Operation Radetzky" planned for April 6, 1945 was betrayed. Biedermann was arrested on the night of April 5 to 6, 1945, brought before a court martial and sentenced to death . On April 8, 1945, Biedermann was publicly hanged at Floridsdorfer Spitz in Vienna , along with two other members of the military resistance, Captain Alfred Huth and Lieutenant Rudolf Raschke . The Viennese chief of the security police and SD Rudolf Mildner personally assumed command at the place of execution. The execution was carried out by Viennese Gestapo officials under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Franz Kleedorfer (* 1908).

Biedermann was buried on August 2, 1945 in Vienna in the Hietzinger Friedhof in an honorary grave (group 66, row 19, number 5). Alfred Huth and Rudolf Raschke also rest in the same grave.

A photograph that shows Karl Biedermann immediately after his execution became known. On the chest of the hanged man there are two signs that read “I have made a pact with the Bolsheviks!”.

Honors

literature

  • Carl Szokoll: The rescue of Vienna in 1945. My life, my part in the conspiracy against Hitler and in the liberation of Austria. Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85002-472-5 .
  • Michael Krassnitzer: Resistance in Hietzing. The fight for freedom 1934–1938 and 1938–1945 using the example of a Viennese district . Edition Volkshochschule, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-900799-58-X .

Web links

Commons : Karl Biedermann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Biedermann in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna .
  2. ↑ Thomas Mang: "Gestapo Headquarters Vienna - My name is Huber". Who was locally responsible for the murder of the Jews of Vienna? Lit, Münster u. a. 2003, ISBN 3-8258-7258-0 , p. 131.
  3. ^ Reinhard Tenhumberg: Kleedorfer Franz. In: tenhumbergreinhard.de. Retrieved March 16, 2019 .
  4. ^ Reminiscent »Photos and Documents» 1938–1945 »Schlaglichter» April 8, 1945. Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance , accessed on March 16, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Memorial plaque for Robert Hecht, Karl Biedermann, Leopoldine Kovarik and Rudolf Bures in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna .
  6. ↑ Memorial plaque execution of Karl Biedermann, Alfred Huth and Rudolf Raschke in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna .
  7. ^ Karl-Biedermann-Gasse in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna .
  8. ^ Monument to Karl Biedermann, Alfred Huth and Rudolf Raschke in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna .
personal data
SURNAME Biedermann, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian resistance fighter, Heimwehr commander
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Miskolc
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1945
Place of death Vienna , Austria