Otto Molden

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Otto Molden (born March 13, 1918 in Vienna ; † June 15, 2002 in Paphos , Cyprus ) was an Austrian resistance fighter and cultural politician.

Life

Otto Molden was a son of Ernst Molden and Paula von Preradović ; his cousin was Nikolaus von Preradovich . Molden studied political science at the University of Vienna . Before the “ Anschluss ” he was a member of the federal leadership of the Gray Freikorps , a school and student organization loyal to the government which carried out actions against the illegal National Socialists and after the “Anschluss” resisted Adolf Hitler .

After the Anschluss, Otto Molden was arrested several times and then drafted into the Wehrmacht . In 1944 he deserted. He took part in the establishment of the resistance group O5 and, like his brother Fritz , fled to Switzerland. Towards the end of the war he was also connected to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

In 1945 he founded the European Forum Alpbach under the name International University Weeks of the Austrian College together with the philosophy lecturer Simon Moser . In 1960 he founded the Austrian European Federalist Party , which in 1963 nominated the former resistance fighter and retired gendarmerie general Josef Kimmel as a presidential candidate. Kimmel received four percent of the vote in the federal presidential election. Molden supported the establishment of EFP sections in various countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. In 1992 he reactivated the idea of ​​the now dissolved EFP and founded the European National Movement (ENB): Congress of European Patriots and Federalists .

Grave site in the Vienna Central Cemetery

Otto Molden's first marriage was to the soprano Laurence Dutoit (soloist at the Vienna State Opera). There were two children from this marriage. He was later married to the cultural journalist Koschka Hetzer . Otto Molden was buried in his parents' grave at the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 32 C, number 42).

Works

  • The invisible generation . In: Otto Molden, Paula von Preradović (ed.): Alpbach . Gurlitt, Vienna, Linz, Munich 1952, DNB  450053806 .
  • The call of conscience. The Austrian struggle for freedom 1938–1945 (=  contributions to the history of the Austrian resistance movement ). Herold, Vienna 1958, DNB  453441122 (370 pages).
  • The odyssey of my life and the founding of Europe in Alpbach . Amalthea, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85002-459-8 (268 pages).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Molden, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian resistance fighter and cultural politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 2002
Place of death Paphos , Cyprus