Richard Wadani

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Richard Wadani at the opening of the monument to the persecuted of the Nazi military justice at the Vienna Ballhaus Square , 2014

Richard Wadani (born on 11. October 1922 in Prague as Richard Wedenig , died on April 18, 2020 in Vienna was) an Austrian deserter of the German Wehrmacht and political activist . His commitment and that of his Personnel Committee on Justice for Victims of Nazi Military Justice made a significant contribution to the fact that the National Council passed the Repeal and Rehabilitation Act on October 21, 2009, which rehabilitates all victims of Nazi military justice. Wadani and his personal committee also campaigned for the erection of the monument to those persecuted by the Nazi military justice , which was unveiled in 2014 .

life and work

Wadani grew up bilingually in Prague in a social democratic family that came from Austria. In 1938 the family had to return to Vienna. Here a Schutzbund advised him to volunteer for the Air Force : on the one hand to avoid being drafted into the Reich Labor Service and later on to the army , on the other hand because it was easier to get in touch with partisans in the hinterland . He was employed there as a driver and technician and he repeatedly managed to support the partisans who were active at his stationing locations, for example with fuel. In 1942 he made his first attempt to escape, which failed. The military justice proceedings that were subsequently carried out against him before the court of Luftflotte 4 were suspended. In the spring of 1944, Wadani learned of the death of his brother Alois, who had served in the Navy . After laying on the Western Front in 1944 he succeeded there the desertion - without a weapon. Since there was no Austrian exile unit, he volunteered for the Czechoslovak Army in Exile in Great Britain.

Wadani experienced the end of the war in England, came to Czechoslovakia in November and to Vienna in January 1946 . After his return, his perception as a resistance fighter and an Allied soldier collided with the prevalent victim thesis in Austria and he was subjected to abuse for having served "in a foreign army". He worked in various functions within USIA , later at Globus Verlag as a chauffeur and driver for the numerous newspapers produced there (including Volksstimme ) and was involved in the Free Austrian Youth (FÖJ) . It was there that he met his wife Sieglinde (Linde) née Bair, whom he married on April 19, 1957. When they married, they both changed their names to Wadani. His continuing interest in sport led to his commitment to the KPÖ's sports system, ultimately becoming a sports teacher, later national coach and national captain in the volleyball association . He saw the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) as his political home, but with which he broke after the fall of the Prague Spring . At the beginning of 1970 he resigned from the KPÖ. In all these years as a functionary and athlete, he was repeatedly confronted with the fact that there was no understanding for desertion from the Wehrmacht as an act of resistance. The daily newspaper Der Standard wrote about it: "How post-war Austria dealt with Wehrmacht deserters has never let go of him."

In 2002 he became the spokesman for the personal committee "Justice for Victims of Nazi Military Justice" founded on October 22, 2002. The personal committee set itself the goal of having all judgments of the armed forces justice repealed and the recognition of imprisonment periods in concentration camps and prisons as substitute periods for the statutory pension insurance, to have the victims of the Nazi military justice recognized as victims of National Socialism and the inclusion of this group of people in to achieve the right to supply and compensation, to obtain the ideal and financial support of the historical and political processing of the Nazi military justice by the Republic of Austria and finally to achieve the erection of a memorial for the victims of the Nazi military justice. Wadani also got involved in other historical-political debates: after a tough struggle, in 2003 - together with the Austrian camp community Mauthausen and Wolfgang Neugebauer , the former scientific director of the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW) - the honorary grave of the major of the German Air Force Walter was withdrawn Nowotny . After 2005, the Personnel Committee campaigned to amend the Recognition Act from that year - in which deserters were indirectly rehabilitated, but not explicitly named. This was achieved in 2009 through the resolution of the Repeal and Rehabilitation Act by the National Council : This law not only closed all the existing loopholes, but also named the child by name, by adding people who "acted as resistance fighters or, in particular, as deserters through deliberate non-participation in the war on the side of the National Socialist injustice regime or as so-called 'war traitors' who contributed to its weakening and ending and to the liberation of Austria ". For many years, Wadani and his personal committee organized a rally at the execution site in Kagran at the end of October or beginning of November .

Wadani was supported in his political engagement by his wife Sieglinde. Her father was the resistance fighter Franz Bair, after whom the Franz Bair home in Kapfenberg is named.

family

It was through table tennis, Wadani belonged to the DDSG table tennis club , that Wadani met his future wife. Both shared their enthusiasm for sport and politics. Their son lives in Australia. Richard Wadani died on April 18, 2020 at the age of 97 in Vienna.

Award

literature

Lisa Rettl , Magnes Koch: "I spoke as a deserter." Richard Wadani - A political biography. Milena, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-902950-413 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Mayr: Wehrmacht deserter Richard Wadani died. In: derStandard.at . April 19, 2020, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Peter Mayr: Richard Wadani fights for his recognition. In: derStandard.at. October 7, 2009, accessed April 20, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 67
  4. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 69}}
  5. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 87}}
  6. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 97
  7. ↑ Max Winter: Literally - Richard Wadani. (mp3 audio; 83.5 MB; 98:32 minutes) In: Radio Orange 94.0 . March 21, 2016, accessed April 20, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 125
  9. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . Pp. 138, 152
  10. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . Pp. 152-157
  11. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 158 ff
  12. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 199
  13. ^ Anonymous: Personnel Committee "Justice for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice". 2015, accessed May 9, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Local council, 28th meeting on May 23, 2003, verbatim minutes. In: wien.gv.at. P. 44 , accessed October 27, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Repeal and Rehabilitation Act, Federal Law Gazette I No. 110/2009.
  16. ↑ Rettl, Lisa / Koch, Magnus: "I spoke as a deserter": Richard Wadani, a political biography. Milena Verlag, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-902950-41-3 . P. 152
  17. ^ Austrian League for Human Rights: Human Rights Prize. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Wadani, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wedenig, Richard (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian deserter of the Wehrmacht and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 2020
Place of death Vienna