Walter Greif
Walter Martin Greif (born June 30, 1911 in Vienna , † 1944 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was an Austrian political functionary.
Life and activity
Greif was the son of a Viennese merchant family of Jewish descent. After attending the secondary school in Vienna's 8th district, Greif studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology from 1930 . In March 1933 he passed the first state examination in his subject.
During his studies, Greif began to work in the association of socialist students. In 1934 he turned away from social democracy and joined the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) , which had already been declared illegal by the rulers . At the same time he joined the unity party Patriotic Front in March 1934 .
At a communist rally in 1934, Greif was arrested on the Schmelz. He was imprisoned in the Wöllersdorf detention camp from April 12 to September 24, 1934 .
He was sentenced to a prison term of six weeks and banned from all Austrian universities for the entire academic year 1934/35. After resuming his training, he was able to complete it on March 8, 1937 by passing the 2nd state examination.
In April 1937 Greif went to Spain: He joined the International Brigades that fought on the side of the Republicans against the fascists around Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War that broke out in 1936 . As the Republicans' defeat began to emerge, Greif was evacuated to France on September 12, 1938. After Austria was annexed to the National Socialist German Reich , a return to his homeland, where he had to expect persecution as a communist and Jew, was no longer an option.
The National Socialist police officers classified Greif as an enemy of the state: in the spring of 1940, the Reich Main Security Office , which mistakenly suspected him to be in Great Britain, placed him on the special wanted list GB , a directory of people who would have been killed in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British island by the Wehrmacht as particularly high-profile target persons should be automatically and primarily identified and arrested by SS special commandos.
After the military occupation of France, Greif went underground, disguised as an Alsatian worker. He joined the Resistance . In November 1942 he went to Vienna disguised as French civilian worker Alfons Müller. There he coordinated contacts between the KPÖ and KPF and devoted himself to forging identity documents. In August 1943 the resistance cell to which he belonged was blown. Greif, his partner Theresia Meller and a few others were arrested by the Secret State Police on August 28, 1943 .
Greif was finally deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died in 1944. Josef Meisel , also an Auschwitz prisoner, later stated that Greif was shot "one day" in Auschwitz.
His partner was sentenced to death and executed in Vienna in 1945.
literature
- Herbert Exenberger : Like the little group of Maccabees: the Jewish community in Simmering 1848-1945 , Mandelbaum-Verlag, Vienna 2009, p. 309, ISBN 978-3-85476-292-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Entry on Walter Greif in the special wanted list GB (reproduction of the entry on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London).
- ↑ Josef Meisel: "Now we have you, Meisel!" , 1985, p. 137.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Griffin, Walter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Griffin, Walter Martin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian political functionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 30, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1944 |
| Place of death | Auschwitz concentration camp |