Anna Leicht (geb. Zetlin)

Anna Zetlin was born in Odessa in what was then Russia [now Ukraine] as the daughter of the Catholic couple Ignaz Zetlin and Maria, née Czirnicka. Nothing has been preserved about her childhood and youth. However, she must have emigrated to Vienna before 1914, as she married the Jewish Heinrich Leicht that year. The marriage ended in divorce in 1918.

In Vienna, Anna Leicht worked as a waitress in various restaurants. In her free time, she likes to go to the Café Henny in Kaiserstraße 30, in Vienna's 7th district, not far from her apartment. There she meets up with her friends Anna Bittner and Marie Schmahel.

On March 12, 1938, Anna Leicht witnesses the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Anna Leicht and Anna Bittner are critical of National Socialism, while Marie Schmahel seems to have been rather apolitical. When the three of them are alone or in an intimate circle in a coffee house, they loudly criticize the system. They also spit on the picture of Adolf Hitler.

Ferdinand and Marie Gollob were among the visitors to the coffee house. They heard the statements of Anna Bittner, Anna Leicht and Marie Schmahel.

On November 23, 1942, Anna Leicht and Anna Bittner were arrested by the Gestapo, Marie Schmahel on December 11, 1942. Anna Leicht had just returned home after a tonsil operation and was taken from her sick leave in her apartment directly to the Gestapo headquarters on Morzinplatz. The reason given for her arrest was that she was 'strongly suspected of having made hateful and untrue reports about the party, its branches and the Führer' in Vienna in July 1942.

Anna Leicht remained in custody until February 26, 1943. Proceedings were initiated against her before the Special Court, but no trial was held as the case was dropped. After her release from prison, she returned to work as a waitress.