Austrian freedom movements Österreichische Freiheitsbewegungen

Around about the summer/autumn of 1938, the first major resistance groups formed, with the three Austrian Freedom Movements around Karl Roman Scholz, Jakob Kastelic and Karl Lederer achieved the greatest significance. The group around the Augustinian canon Karl Roman Scholz from Klosterneuburg formed in the fall of 1938, while the Kastelic group and the Lederer group emerged in parallel and independently in 1939. Although there were repeated negotiations about a merger of the three freedom movements in the spring of 1940, these could no longer be concluded.

Well-informed by the activities of the traitor Otto Hartmann, an actor at the Burgtheater, the Vienna Gestapo blew the whistle on the three groups on July 22, 1940. A total of around 300 people were arrested. The defendants were charged and sentenced in several trials in 1943 and 1944, almost all of them for "preparation for high treason". The leading functionaries were executed in 1944 in the Vienna Provincial Court. The actions of this freedom movement included the production of flyers, primarily by Walter Urbarz, a member of the K.Ö.H.V. Nordgau Wien. One quatrain aroused particular anger among the Gestapo:

"We don't need war,
we don't need victory,
just a beautiful Hitlerleich'
and a free Austria!"

Heinrich Zeder and Walter Urbarz, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Thuringia Wien, the K.Ö.H.V. Nordgau Wien and the K.Ö.St.V. Rugia Retz were arrested in August 1940 and were imprisoned together until April 1943, finally near Krefeld.

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The following members of student fraternities belonged to the three groups:

• Michael Aigner, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg
• Josef Bauer, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg
• Wilhelm Bock, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Welfia-Linz, the K.a.V. Norica and the K.Ö.H.V. Franco-Bavaria
• Herbert Crammer, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg
• Karl Hammer, member of K.Ö.St.V. Kürnberg
• Alois Hradil, member of K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg and the K.H.V. Welfia
• Othmar Klein, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Kürnberg
• Otto Mraz, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg
• Gebhard (Florian) Rath, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Hilaria-Enns and the K.Ö.St.V. Aargau
• Ulrich Sattler, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Asciburgia-Oberschützen, the K.Ö.St.V. Forchtenstein-Eisenstadt, the K.Ö.St.V. Arminia-Mattersburg, the K.Ö.St.V. Ostaricia-Wien, the K.Ö.St.V. Kürnberg and the K.a.V. Austro-Peisonia
• Hans Schipper, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Herulia-Wien, the K.Ö.St.V. Kürnberg and the K.Ö.H.V. Mercuria
• Kurt Schleifer, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Waldmark-Horn, the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia-Klosterneuburg, the K.Ö.St.V. Nibelungia-Melk, the K.Ö.St.V. Austria-Wien and the K.H.V. Welfia
• Johannes Schwaiger, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg
• Karl Smekal, member of K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg and K.H.V. Welfia
• Alfons Übelhör, member of K.a.V. Norica and the K.Ö.H.V. Carolina
• Walter Urbarz, member of the K.Ö.H.V. Nordgau Wien
• Eberhard Würzl, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg and the K.H.V. Welfia
• Heinrich Zeder, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Thuringia-Wien, the K.Ö.H.V. Nordgau Wien and the K.Ö.St.V. Rugia Retz
• Heribert Ziegler, member of the K.Ö.M.V. Arminia Klosterneuburg and the K.H.V. Welfia

The strong presence of the Klosterneuburg connections Arminia and Welfia has to do with the person of Roman Scholz.

Other members included:

Anna Baumgarten, Walter Crammer, Karoline Popp, Augusta Raffel, Gerhard Fischer von Ledenice, Georg Heintschel von Heinegg