Anti-Fascist Freedom Movement Austria Antifaschistische Freiheitsbewegung Österreich

The Antifascist Freedom Movement Austria (AFÖ) was founded in Carinthia in 1941 by the priest Anton Granig and the member of parliament Karl Krumpl, both from Carinthia, and Eduard Pumpernig. The group was formed at the end of February 1942/beginning of March 1942 in Anton Granig's apartment.

The first appeal was in February 1942: Carinthians, our homeland is in need! Brown criminals have betrayed our homeland. Our sons are bleeding and falling on the fronts for brown criminality. The brown traitors to the people are at home in warm offices and exploit the people. Carinthians, get into action! Out with the brown bigwigs to the front! Carinthia and our Austria must once again be free from the Prussian yoke. All united against the brown criminals! Long live Carinthia!

More leaflet campaigns followed; explosive attacks against railroad bridges and the state police in Klagenfurt were considered. Couleur students who were members of the Anti-Fascist Freedom Movement of Austria (AFÖ):

• Kapistran Pieller OFM, member of the K.Ö.H.V. Carolina Graz
• Arthur Trattler, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Babenberg-Klagenfurt and the K.Ö.H.V. Carolina Graz
• Anton Jaklitsch, member of K.Ö.St.V. Traungau Graz
• Karl Wanner, member of A.K.V. Tirolia zu Innsbruck, A.K.V. Aggstein zu Wien, A.V. Archduke Karl
• Ernst Ortner, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Cimbria-Kufstein
• Otto Tiefenbrunner, member of A.V. Austria Innsbruck
• Karl Krumpl, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Babenberg-Klagenfurt
• Hartmann (Karl) Staudacher, member of the K.Ö.St.V. Markomannia-Eppenstein-Graz

The circle of sympathizers included Arthur von Schuschnigg (brother of Kurt von Schuschnigg), Alois Karisch, later District Administrator in Carinthia, and the Archbishop of Salzburg, Andreas Rohracher, member of the student fraternities Austria Innsbruck and Rheno-Juvavia. On July 6, 1943, some members of the AFÖ were arrested by the Gestapo, almost all others by the end of summer 1943.

When Pieler was arrested, letters were found from Max Kurz-Thurn-Goldenstein, a member of the Carolina student fraternity, in which the "Grazer Freundeskreis", meaning the Carolina, was mentioned. The Gestapo therefore suspected that Kurz was the head of the movement in Graz and searched his house. However, he was informed secretly beforehand and was thus able to get rid of some things. From August 9 to 11, 1944, 13 AFÖ members were brought before the People's Court and eight of them were sentenced to death. Among them were Ernst Ortner and Karl Krumpl, both of whom were executed on March 22, 1945 - three weeks before the liberation of Vienna - at the provincial court in Vienna.Johann Kapistran Pieller was shot by the SS on April 15, 1945 after a march of the prisoners sentenced to death from Vienna to Krems-Stein an der Donau with three AFÖ comrades and 40 other convicts. From the verdict of the People's Court, 11.8.1944:

The defendants [Eduard] Pumpernig, Dr. Granig, [Wenzel] Primosch, [Ernst] Ortner, [Karl] Krumpl, Dr. [Eduard] Steinwender and Dr. [Wilhelm] Pieller set up an organization with Habsburg-separatist aims in the years 1941-1943, especially in Carinthia, or participated in these anti-state activities as accomplices. Pumpernig, Dr. Granig, Primosch, Ortner, Dr. Steinwender and Dr. Pieller also produced or distributed anti-state appeals or otherwise made themselves available for this work.

The person of Eduard Pumperning in particular was very controversial and the subject of heated debate. After his arrest, he confessed to avoid the death penalty - but this incriminated other members of the AFÖ. It should also be mentioned that although he incriminated other members of the AFÖ, he staged himself as a leading resistance fighter after the war, which led to further controversy after his inglorious confessions during his Gestapo detention became known. He certainly stands for the gray areas of retrospective evaluation. Due to the complexity of his actions, his person in particular is a source of intense debate.

In October 2023, a memorial page to the Austrian Anti-Fascist Freedom Movement was presented at www.antifaschismus.at in the Knights' Hall of the Landhaus in Graz.