Otto Tschadek

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Otto Tschadek (born October 31, 1904 in Trautmannsdorf , Lower Austria , † February 4, 1969 in Vienna ) was an Austrian lawyer and politician ( SDAPDÖ , briefly SPD , later SPÖ ).

Youth and education

Otto Tschadek was born in 1904 in Trautmannsdorf as the son of the teacher Hugo Tschadek. He grew up in Sarasdorf an der Leitha in his youth and attended the Austro- Hungarian military secondary school in Bruck an der Leitha from 1916 to 1918 . After the end of the monarchy , he continued his education at the Vienna-Breitensee Federal Educational Institute . In 1923 he obtained his graduation and then spent several semesters studying political science his studies until he finally of rights at the University of Vienna recorded. After his father died in 1927, Tschadek was dependent on a scholarship and support from the party, expressed through his friend and mentor, the then Deputy Governor of Lower Austria, Oskar Helmer . In 1931 Tschadek received his doctorate as Dr. jur. at the University of Graz .

Political career in the interwar period

Otto Tschadek joined the SDAPDÖ at the age of 19 and became a functionary in the Sarasdorf local section. From 1930 to 1934 he was the municipal office manager in Mannersdorf . Furthermore, he was district party chairman of the Bruck an der Leitha district of the SDAPDÖ and was also active in Lower Austrian regional politics. In 1934, the Social Democratic Party was in the time of Austro-fascism of Chancellor Dollfuss banned and Otto Tschadek was for seven months in the detention camps Kaisersteinbruch and Wöllersdorf detained. After his release he decided to become a lawyer and passed the bar exam with distinction in 1939. At first he was unable to practice this profession because he was not a member of the NSDAP . It was not until 1941 that he worked as an independent lawyer in Bruck an der Leitha .

Military service and time in Kiel

From 1940 he served in the German Navy in Stralsund . There he was first employed as a seaman and later as a senior staff judge in the naval auxiliary judge. Most recently he was chief judge at the Kiel Marine Court . In this function he came into very close contact with the Kiel population and was very popular with them, as he largely prevented political convictions. He was also very popular with the Catholic Church because of his defense against a death sentence against a clergyman. Just two days after Germany surrendered , he moved into Kiel City Hall.

According to recent research, Tschadek's Vita must be rewritten, at least in part. Though Tschadek wrote in his autobiography: “Many believed that a judge at war had to be a blood judge . In reality things were completely different ”and he liked to stylize himself as a mild judge and a good person, documents found in a German archive show that Tschadek sentenced several people to death. Thus Tschadek contented in a desertion case not only with the required maximum penalty, but sentenced Ernst Stabenow on 21 September 1942 for desertion to death - and in addition also to the "loss of civil rights for life and to five years in prison and a fine of RM 400 ". In 1943 the later SPÖ politician had Ludwig Becker executed as a " pest of the people ". In November 1944, he sentenced marine Heinrich Laurien to death for alleged looting . This sentence was evidently too harsh even for his superiors, and it was commuted to a prison sentence. Kurt Kuschke, whom Tschadek sentenced to death for so-called degradation of military strength , was executed on January 8, 1943.

Tschadek was appointed by the English as a city councilor and was responsible for the war damage office . He became mayor in July. His greatest job was to restore water pipes and sanitation to prevent disease outbreaks. Just two weeks later he had achieved his goal and the trams were running again. Further successes were the start of peat extraction for heating purposes, the restoration of most of the buildings and the reopening of the theater. In November 1945 the university was also resumed, earlier than in any other German city.

After the re-establishment of the SPD in Kiel, in which Tschadek was involved, and the establishment of a provisional city council, he was appointed Lord Mayor of Kiel in February 1946 , successor to Max Emcke . At the same time he was elected to the Austrian National Council without his knowledge . He returned shortly to Austria to undertake the swearing-in and clarify the situation. Back in Kiel, he handed over the official business to Willi Koch in March 1946 and finally returned to Austria.

Return to Austria and further political career

After his return he initially worked as a lawyer in Wiener Neustadt and at the same time was a member of the National Council. From 1949 to 1952 and from 1956 to 1960 he was Minister of Justice in the governments of Figl II , Raab II and Raab III . The concerns he worked on were a new version of Austrian criminal law and participation in the constitutional committee. After that he was provincial councilor and soon afterwards deputy governor of Lower Austria , where he was mainly committed to improving the school system and the structure of the community. Other political functions were a member of the federal party executive of the SPÖ, deputy state party chairman of the SPÖ Lower Austria and club chairman of the SPÖ in the Lower Austrian state parliament .

Otto Tschadek died on February 4, 1969 after a brief serious illness in Vienna.

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ex-Justice Minister Tschadek was a "blood judge". In: Der Standard , 4./5. September 2010, p. 8, [print edition].
  2. ↑ Ex-Justice Minister Tschadek was a "blood judge". In: Der Standard , September 3, 2010.
  3. ↑ Julia Schrenk: "Blood sticks to Tschadek's hands." In: Kurier , November 3, 2013, p. 17.
  4. ↑ Lower Austria honors leading men . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 24, 1960, p. 4 , middle ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
personal data
SURNAME Tschadek, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian lawyer and politician (SDAPDÖ, SPD, SPÖ), member of the National Council
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Trautmannsdorf on the Leitha
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 1969
Place of death Vienna