Karl Grollnigg

Karl Grollnigg was born in Marburg in Lower Styria [today: Maribor in Slovenia] as the legitimate son of the imperial and royal officer of the same name, Karl Grollnigg. Karl Grollnigg and his wife Klara. He completed primary and secondary school and then moved to Vienna, where he found work as a magazine clerk.

In the 1930s, Karl Grollnigg joined the Vaterländische Front. On 12 March 1938, he witnessed the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht.

From autumn 1939, Karl Grollnigg became involved in the legitimist resistance movement Gruppe Mahr, founded by Leopold Mahr. The aim of the group is to achieve the separation of occupied Austria from the German Reich and the re-establishment of a monarchy under Otto von Habsburg-Lotringen. Death portraits of the Blessed Emperor Karl are used as membership cards. The Leopold Mahr group grows to more than 80 members. The Gestapo became aware of the group's activities and began arresting its members in April 1940.

Karl Grollnigg was arrested on May 7, 1940 on suspicion of 'preparation for high treason'. He is arrested on July 15, 1941 'for lack of proof of guilt'. After his release from prison, he marries and subsequently becomes the father of two sons and a daughter. On 19 June 1944, he was finally sentenced to eight months in prison for the 'crime under the law against the formation of new political parties', which was deemed to have been served on remand.

In freedom, Karl Grollnigg experienced the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. He joined the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.