Leopold Steurer (resistance fighter)

Leopold Steurer (born August 18, 1921 in Vienna , † February 7, 1944 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was an Austrian worker and resistance fighter against National Socialism . He was sentenced to death by the People's Court and executed in Germany.

life and work

The son of a saddler grew up in Floridsdorf , completed a three-year locksmith's apprenticeship after completing compulsory schooling and found a job in a light bulb factory in 1939. As a child he belonged to the child friends . From the mid-1930s he was involved in setting up the Communist Youth Association (KJVÖ) and in a trade union group in Floridsdorf. After the annexation of Austria, he worked under the code name “Bertl” as one of the leading functionaries of the KJVÖ, initially in Floridsdorf and the surrounding area, and later as area manager of several Vienna districts. He set up the so-called literary apparatusone who organized the production and distribution of pamphlets and also sent out pamphlets to soldiers at the front. Steurer maintained close ties to functionaries of the KPÖ as well as to communist company cells, which did not break after he was drafted into the German armed forces in February 1941. He was arrested on October 14, 1942 and sentenced to death by the People's Court on July 29, 1943 for preparation for high treason . He was executed in the Brandenburg-Görden prison.

literature

• Austrian Biographical Lexicon and Biographical Documentation , OeAW , accessed on February 4, 2015.
• Resistance and persecution in Vienna 1934–45, 2, arr. W. Neugebauer, 2nd edition 1984, s. Reg.
• V. Strecha, Resistance for Austria. (= Biographical texts on the history of the Austrian labor movement 1), 1988.
• W. Weinert, "I want you all to always stay close ...". Communist biographies. Resistance fighters in Austria, 1997, p. 88; DÖW, Vienna.