Lois Weinberger (politician)

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Lois Weinberger (born June 22, 1902 in Markt Eisenstein , Bohemia , † March 17, 1961 in Vienna ) was an Austrian trade unionist, politician ( VF / ÖVP ) and resistance fighter.

Life

In 1916 he went to the Salesian high school in Vienna and - after the high school was closed - in 1920 to the Hollabrunn boys' college , where he graduated in 1924.

During this time Weinberger joined the Catholic middle school movement and met Felix Hurdes for the first time in the “Christian German Student Union” and headed the Neuland group of Wieden and Margareten (see Neuland Association ).

After graduating from high school in 1924, he began studying political science and economics in Vienna. He was involved in the "Young Catholic University Ring", and in 1929 took over the position of secretary of the Christian trade unions in Austria . In the same year he broke off his studies and in 1934 became chairman of the white-collar workers' union in the money, credit and insurance institutions . In 1936 he was appointed to the leadership council of the Fatherland Front .

From 1940 to 1945 Weinberger was the leader of the illegal Christian trade union movement and, together with Christian trade unionists such as Erwin Altenburger , built up a resistance group in Vienna that later prepared the foundation of a new, unified Christian labor movement. Lois Weinberger was in contact with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler , one of the leading civil figures of the German resistance movement, who also visited him in his apartment in Vienna. Weinberger was also in contact with a resistance group around chaplain Heinrich Maier .

Because of his work in the Austrian resistance and his political involvement in the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 , Ernst Kaltenbrunner from Berlin issued a protective custody warrant for Weinberger on October 14, 1944 , because he was "highly treasonous for an illegal secret organization". Thereupon he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo in the autumn of 1944 and remained for some time in the Vienna police prison , the so-called "Liesl". From there he was deported to Mauthausen concentration camp soon afterwards . In mid-January 1945 he and his fellow prisoners Figl , Kottik, Mayer-Gunthoff, Pernter , Troidl and Wiesbauer were brought back to Vienna in the "Liesl" and at the beginning of February 1945 transferred to the Vienna Regional Court , the so-called "Gray House", where the executions were carried out took place. He avoided his execution by the liberation of Vienna by the Red Army - on April 5, 1945 the “politicians” were informed that they could go free, and on April 6, “their doors opened early in the morning […] and they passed through the great gateway of the 'gray house' to freedom ” .

Weinberger was a member of the National Council and founder of the ÖAAB from 1945 to 1953 , and its federal chairman from 1945 to 1960. He was also vice-president and founder of the ÖGB (1945–1946), co-founder of the ÖVP and its deputy federal chairman (1945–1960), member of the Vienna City Council (1945–1961), and vice mayor and deputy governor of Vienna (1946–1959) .

In 1945 he was Undersecretary of State in the State Office for Social Administration , and from 1945 to 1947 Federal Minister without a portfolio . During his political career, Weinberger was close friends with Karel Schwarzenberg , whom he supported financially.

Weinberger wrote the book “Facts, Encounters and Conversations” about memories of the Nazi dictatorship. A book about Austria ”.

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Weekly review: Austria. In:  Alpenländische Rundschau , July 25, 1936, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / alp
  2. ↑ Lois Weinberger: Facts, encounters and conversations . Österreichischer Verlag, Vienna 1948, p. 223 .
  3. ↑ Lois Weinberger: Facts, encounters and conversations . Österreichischer Verlag, Vienna 1948, p. 197, 200 ff .
  4. ↑ Lois Weinberger: Facts, encounters and conversations . Österreichischer Verlag, Vienna 1948, p. 239 .
personal data
SURNAME Weinberger, Lois
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weinberger, Alois (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian resistance fighter and politician (VF / ÖVP), member of the state parliament, member of the national council
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Eisenstein Market, Železná Ruda (Bohemia)
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1961
Place of death Vienna