Young Austria

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Young Austria was the most important emigre organization of young Austrians in Great Britain from 1939 to 1947 , when Austria was part of the “Third Reich” during the Nazi era .

prehistory

With the “Anschluss” of Austria on March 12, 1938 , the terror began on the night of March 13, with thousands of arrests of communists , socialists , Jews and other people who threatened to stand in the way of the dictatorship . Before repression , imprisonment, torture and murder of thousands fled from the Nazis . During these days and the following year and a half, more than 27,000 Austrians fled to Great Britain alone - directly and indirectly, often via Prague .

Life in exile

Many of the exiles who fled to Great Britain organized themselves into various party political groups according to their political views, according to their affiliation to certain camps. These included the: " Group of Austrian Communists in Great Britain ", the " London Bureau of the Austrian Socialists ", the " Group of Austrian Trade Unionists in Great Britain ", the " Austrian Democratic Union " and the " Association of Austrian Christian Socialists" in Great Britain ", as well as the non-partisan union in the" Free Austrian Movement ". The vast majority of the exiles were not organized, but were supported and represented by the “ Austrian Center ” and later also by the FAM, the “Free Austrian Movement”.

The "Young Austria" was not a party-political organization, but an Austrian organization in which all Austrians found a place. The purpose of the YA was to give young people between 14 and 20 who had never been abroad and who had left their parents, their home, concrete and effective support in a kind of self-help group and through the social form of the youth group.

“In addition, we have propagated a free Austria in the English youth organizations, to which we have been repeatedly invited. Not Greater Germany, but a free Austria, in contrast to the socialists, who at that time represented the conception of a socialist Greater Germany and who insulted us as bourgeois nationalists. But we were of the opinion that all Austrians should build a democratic Austria together. "

Deportation and internment in exile

After the military defeat of the British Army on the continent - especially near Dunkirk - the fear of an invasion by German troops grew. The exiles, especially those from Germany and Austria, came under suspicion as a possible “Fifth Column of Hitler” and were housed as “ enemy aliens ” in various internment camps , including on the Isle of Man . Many were deported to Canada or Australia . With the end of the immediate danger of invasion, these restrictions were gradually lifted, the exiles were included in the British defense efforts (armaments industry, auxiliary corps) after individual checks as far as they were able to do so. Of the approximately 27,000 emigrants, approximately 3,000 Austrians served in combat units in the British Army .

The organization

In March 1939, the first clubhouse of the "Austrian Center" was opened in London at W2 Paddington, 129 Westbourne Terrace. The membership of the YA was 20 emigrants in 1939 and 1,300 emigrants in 1943.

95% percent of the members of “Young Austria” worked in the war industry, 300 were soldiers in the British Army, 80% were union members. In the program of Young Austria of October 1939, the self-image, function, task and goal of the purpose of the organization were formulated in 8 points.

Larger groups passed in: London, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Leeds, York, Oxford, Reading, Truro, Newcastle Nottingham, Kitchener Camp, Birmingham, Leicester, Cambridge and Cheltenham.

The YA was the youth organization of the Austrian Center / Austrian Office in Great Britain. The chairman of the “AC” was the social democratic union official Gottlieb Fiala, the deputy chairman of the “AC” was the Freud scholar , philosopher and communist Walter Hollitscher .

Politics in Emigration

Among the exiles, depending on their political provenance, there were different views of the political goal and the resulting tasks of political activity in exile. As far as the current state of historical research is concerned, it can be generalized as entirely permissible that some were concerned with a “general perspective”, while the majority were concerned with the task of restoring and securing Austria's independence .

The activities of Young Austria included: "Young Austria" during the week "Austrians for Britain":

During this solidarity week, 81 daily wages were donated, exhibitions were organized, and 85 girls knitted for the soldiers of the Red Army.
“Austria - our home”, with a daily cultural program: 150,000 visitors.
  • Lectures: to 180,000 British citizens about Austria, in almost all major cities in Great Britain, in London alone to over 500 organizations.
  • Publication of German and English language publications: Circulation of approx. 300,000 copies.
  • Publication of the magazine "Young Austria": 190 issues. 1940 400 copies, 1944 5000 copies.
  • Choir and play groups: Performances in front of around 40,000 spectators.
  • More than 500 events in youth centers across the country.
  • So-called “home evenings”: 12,000 visitors.
  • 160 excursions with more than 8000 participants.
  • 10 holiday camps with more than 500 participants.
  • Written surveys on current problems: 1500 answers
  • Regular youth leader schools with 300 participants
  • Public relations also included: radio broadcasts on the BBC and local radio stations, articles and resolutions also in large daily newspapers and local papers.

Well-known members

Probably the most famous personality of the YA was the poet and writer Erich Fried . Georg Breuer and Eva Brill, later Eva Kätzeis-Stangl, were responsible for the newspaper until 1945 . Other important personalities, especially in the post-war years and the following period, were the later founder of the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance Herbert Steiner , the actor Otto Tausig , the poet Arthur West , the musician Erwin Weiss and the later publishing director of Globus Verlag Heinz Zaslavsky as well as the Architect and painter Klara Hautmann-Kiss .

literature

  • Young Austria in Great Britain . Vienna 1988.
  • Hans Reichenfeld; Ludwig Laher (ed. & Transl.), Katharina Laher (transl.): Bewegtes Exil. Memories of an uncertain future. Autobiography from diary entries. (= Remembering differently. Volume 4). Verlag der Theodor Kramer Gesellschaft , Vienna 2010 ISBN 978-3-901602-40-5
  • Sonja Frank (Ed.): Young Austria. Austrians in British exile 1938 to 1947. For a free, democratic and independent Austria . 2nd ext. Edition with DVD. Verlag der Theodor Kramer Gesellschaft, Vienna 2014 ISBN 978-3-901602-55-9

swell

  1. ↑ From Fritz Probst: "My life in resistance". Self-published, Vienna 2002.
  2. ↑ Reichenfeld, b. 26 February 1923, 1938 with Kindertransport to GB, interned in May 1940 as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man , deportation to Canada , 1941 back to GB, 1944 Royal Air Force (ground staff), then doctor and psychiatrist for gerontology in Canada, died March 5, 2016 in Ottawa