Josef Maria Heinrich Franz Landgraf

Josef Maria Landgraf was born in Vienna, the second son of a landlord in the 3rd district. His father ran the inn "Zur berühmten Hauspresswurst" at Erdbergstraße 103, where his mother also helped out, and the family lived in Vienna's 6th district. His parents send him to elementary school at the teacher training college at Kundmanngasse 22, also in Vienna's 3rd district. He then transferred to grammar school there and experienced the occupation of Austria by Hitler's Germany in March 1938.

The devout Catholic Josef Maria Landgraf listened to the forbidden broadcasts of the BBC and the "Broadcaster of the European Revolution" on the family radio set even before the outbreak of war. He reports the content of the broadcasts to his classmates and acquaintances and produces letters, flyers and stickers. The content contradicted Germany's official war reports from the front. He adopted the Victory sign "V" from Winston Churchill, which he used to decorate the leaflets.

Josef Maria Landgraf was sentenced to death by the People's Court on August 28, 1942 for "broadcasting crimes" and "preparation for high treason". His parents submitted a petition for clemency, and Josef Maria Landgraf was finally pardoned on September 21, 1943 and his sentence commuted to 7 years in prison. While in prison, he completed an apprenticeship as a baker.

Josef Maria Landgraf remained in prison until the end of the war, then graduated from high school and enrolled to study law, which he did not complete. As a passionate musician, he kept his head above water after the end of the war by performing and became a member of the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich. He married in 1954, had a child and, after a few stops and a long period of unemployment, became an employee at the Vienna Regional Health Insurance Fund, where he retired. As a contemporary witness, Josef Maria Landgraf often speaks to young people at schools. In 1989, he is awarded the Decoration of Honor for Services to the Liberation of Austria. He dies in Vienna.

[Note: The Landgraf group is often mistakenly counted as one of the "four groups". Two other youth resistance groups against National Socialism, which emerged simultaneously and independently of each other in Hamburg and Munich in the summer of 1941, are referred to as the Four Groups.

Johann Trettler was a member of the group, but was not tried and convicted by the People's Court like the other four members. Nevertheless, the group had five members]