Stefan Hennet

Stefan Hennet (also spelled Henneth) was born in Bodafok, a district of Budapest, the legitimate son of Adam Hennet and his wife Katalin, née Szeleczky. After completing his schooling, he trained as a shoemaker and graduated as a master craftsman. In 1902, he married Maria Winczheim in Budapest and subsequently became the father of three sons and two daughters.

In 1910, Stefan Hennet moved to Vienna with his family and opened a shoemaking business there. Even after the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the break-up of the dual monarchy and the expulsion of the House of Habsburg, he continued to run his shoemaking business.

In 1930, his marriage broke up. Although he is not politically active, he is not a supporter of National Socialism. He later entered into a relationship with Antonie Schwabel.

When Stefan Hennet criticized Adolf Hitler to Antonie Schwabel on 22 October 1944, their relationship had already broken down. She immediately goes to the Gestapo and denounces Stefan Hennet, who is arrested one day later, on October 23, 1944.

On December 21, 1944, the indictment is issued, but there is no trial and no conviction because the war is coming to an end. In prison, Stefan Hennet contracted a heart and stomach ailment. He regained his freedom on April 6, 1944, during the Battle of Vienna and witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. He immediately reopened his shoemaking business.

Stefan Hennet joined the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich. The illness he contracted in prison progressed to such an extent that he was forced to give up his business in 1950. He died in Vienna at the age of 79 and found his final resting place at the Vienna Southwest Cemetery.