Austrian Comradeship Association Österreichischer Kameradschaftsbund

Most of the warriors' and veterans' associations were founded after the battles of 1866 at Königgrätz and Custozza and after the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878.

While the associations initially focused on providing for the invalids and surviving dependants, they soon devoted themselves to commemorating the fallen.

In 1870, the first all-Austrian Veterans' Day was held, and in 1895, all independently operating associations were merged into the K. k. österreichischer Militär-Veteranen-Reichsbund, known as the Kameradenbund for short. In addition to its involvement in church festivities, the Kameradenbund was primarily concerned with organizing celebrations to commemorate fallen, missing and deceased comrades as well as maintaining war memorials and gravesites.

From 1900, members were even allowed to wear uniforms, which contributed significantly to promoting a sense of togetherness and increasing self-confidence.

After the Second World War, our associations were re-established as the 'Returnees' Association' and our far-sighted top officials soon realized that a pure 'Returnees' Association' had no future.
So in the 1960s, the first soldiers of the Second Republic were admitted and our Comradeship Association was born.
 

And the development did not stop there: So-called 'white cohorts' were the first 'non-servicemen' to be integrated into the Kameradschaftsbund. In the mid-1990s, under President DDr. Felix Ermacora, the federal association decided that women could also be accepted as full members of the ÖKB.

Homepage of the Austrian Comradeship Association at www.oekb.net.