Oskar Grossmann

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Oskar Grossmann , pseudonym Alexander Schönau (born February 6, 1903 in Teplitz-Schönau , † 1944 in Lyon ) was an Austrian journalist, party official ( KPÖ ) and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Grossmann belonged to the Communist Youth Association of Austria (KJVÖ) and rose there as a member of the Vienna management in the leadership circle. Grossmann initially worked as a postal worker. He later joined the KPÖ and in the early 1930s was an elected member of the central committee of the KPÖ and editor of the party newspaper Rote Fahne . Grossmann published articles in the communist magazines Weg und Ziel , Basler Rundschau and Kommunistische Internationale . From June 1932 to November 1935 he was an Austrian representative on the Executive Committee of the Communist International and was a delegate at the 7th World Congress of the Comintern . During the armed uprising in mid-February 1934 against the Austro-Fascist corporate state under Engelbert Dollfuss, Grossmann published about the events under the pseudonym Alexander Schönau.

Grossmann fled to Czechoslovakia in 1934 . After the smashing of the rest of the Czech Republic, Grossmann evaded the exile party leadership of the KPÖ to Paris , where he remained illegally active even after the occupation of France by the Wehrmacht . Grossmann became editor-in-chief of the Austrian communists' exile magazine Nouvelles d´Autriche . He then became the political leader of the Austrian resistance fighters in southern France. There he wrote for the illegally distributed magazine Soldat am Mediterranean , which was intended as an anti-fascist agitation for soldiers of the Wehrmacht. This Austrian resistance group was also involved in acts of sabotage. Grossmann, who had the code name Lucien , was seriously injured and blinded by a bomb explosion in a suburb of Lyon on the evening of May 27, 1944. Grossmann happened to be near the attack, which was targeted at Wehrmacht soldiers. Grossmann was taken to a hospital by Gestapo members. Attempts at liberating members of his resistance group were unsuccessful. The Gestapo was soon able to determine Grossmann's identity and took him into custody four weeks after the attack. Since then he has been considered missing; Grossmann was probably murdered after interrogation by Gestapo members or died of the abuse.

Grossmann's name is listed on the memorial plaque for the twelve central committee members of the KPÖ who were murdered by the National Socialists, which is now in the house of the KPÖ Vienna 10 (Wieland School). In Vienna 20 (Denisgasse 39–41, Pappenheimgasse 4), a residential complex completed in 1925/1926 has been named Grossmannhof in his memory since 1949. A street in Steyr is named after him.

literature

  • Willi Weinert: "I want you to always stay close to you all ..." Biographies of communist resistance fighters in Austria. With comments on the resistance struggle of the Communist Party of Austria and a list of victims , ed. from the Alfred Klahr Society and the KPÖ Steiermark. Vienna: Verlag der Alfred Klahr Gesellschaft 2005, ISBN 978-3-9501204-2-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Klaus J. Becker, Annette Roser: The party proceedings against Lex Ende in the summer of 1945 in Paris ( Memento of December 8, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Documents from the Herbert Müller estate (PDF; 198 kB), footnote 80
  2. ↑ Lotte Hümbelin: My own head: a women's life in Vienna, Moscow, Prague, Paris and Zurich, 1999, p. 339
  3. ↑ a b c Oskar Grossmann at www.klahrgesellschaft.at
  4. ↑ Volker Thurm: Vienna and the Vienna Circle: Places of an Unfinished Modernity: an accompanying book, Facultas, Vienna 2003, p. 50
  5. ^ Oskar Grossmann. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
  6. ↑ Grossmannhof. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
  7. ↑ City of Steyr on www.steyr.at
personal data
SURNAME Grossmann, Oskar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schönau, Alexander (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist, resistance fighter, KPÖ functionary and Nazi victim
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Teplitz-Schönau
DATE OF DEATH 1944
Place of death Lyon