Josef Gans

Josef Gans was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of the coachman of the same name Josef Gans and his wife Maria, née Kelly. After attending primary and secondary school, he worked as a laborer. Between 1921 and 1928 he was in the Austrian army. In 1927, he married Hermine Neubauer, but the marriage broke up.

Between 1928 and 1931, Josef Gans was unemployed, after which he found work at Wienerberger Gaswerke. In the same year, he joined the Wiener Heimatschutz. He was actively involved in suppressing the National Socialist coup attempt on July 25, 1934. Between 1934 and 1938, Josef Gans was a domestic worker at the Wilhelminenspital hospital in Vienna.

On March 12, 1938, the staunch Austrian saw the free and independent Austria disappear with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. In 1939, Josef Gans joined the Wiener Linien as a conductor and married a second time. Between August 26, 1939 and October 27, 1940, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and deployed to the Western Front.

His colleagues denounce Josef Gans. He is dismissed from Wiener Linien at the beginning of 1943. Once free, he is charged with 'subversion of military power' at the Vienna Regional Court. On July 23, 1943, he was sentenced to two years in prison. Before entering prison, he falls ill with inflammation of the gallbladder, which leads to an operation in March 1944. He began his imprisonment on June 3, 1944 and, not yet recovered, was sent to the Lobau labor camp. There he was severely abused and forced to perform hard labor. He was liberated from prison on April 7, 1945.

In freedom, Josef Gans experienced the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic. Due to his poor physical condition, he had to spend the first few months in bed. He was then rehabilitated and returned to work as a conductor for Wiener Linien. Josef Gans joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.