Leopold Josef Hof

Leopold Josef Hof was born in Pressbaum near Vienna, the son of farmer Heinrich Hof and Therese, née Fraila. After attending primary and secondary school, he completed an apprenticeship as a gardener. In 1916 he was drafted into the I. He was drafted into the First World War, went to the Italian front and disarmed as a corporal.

After the First World War, Josef Hof worked briefly as an auxiliary policeman and married Franziska Maurer from Penzing in 1919. He subsequently became the father of two children. [Note: Franziska Hof dies before 1944,] He then works as a gardener again.

In 1921, he joins the Christian trade union and in 1935 the Vaterländische Front. In the year he joined the Vaterländische Front, he also joined the Kaisertreuen Volkspartei, where he became district chairman for the 13th and 14th districts of Vienna. In 1937, he was forced to retire due to illness.

On March 12, 1938, the staunch Austrian witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Leopold Hof was critical of the German occupying power.

In autumn 1939, he founded the Illegal Austrian Imperial Loyal Front (IÖKF) with shoemaker's assistant Leopold Eichinger. Leopold Hof becomes the leader, Leopold Eichinger his deputy. The two actively recruited members, primarily from the former organized legitimist camp. The resistance group produced and distributed between 70,000 and 80,000 leaflets and the Mitteilungsblätter der Österreichischen Freiheitsbewegung

The activities of the IÖKF did not go unnoticed by the Gestapo and Leopold Hof was arrested on September 14, 1942. In a trial before the People's Court on November 16, 1943, he was sentenced to death for "preparation for high treason and aiding the enemy".