Hofrat Alois Döttling

Alois Döttling was born in Berzdorf near Reichenberg in what is now the Czech Republic, the son of Alois Döttling, later Styrian state secretary of the Christian Social Party, member of parliament and member of the Federal Council, and his wife Josefine, née Sparovic. After attending elementary school and grammar school, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Vienna in 1936. In the same year, he joined the student fraternity Franco-Bavaria. He had been actively involved in the Patriotic Front and its sub-groups since 1934. A staunch opponent of National Socialism, in March 1938 he witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht.

In September 1939, Alois Döttling Friedrich Theiss, who had already founded the resistance movement Austrian Front/Austrian Movement at the time. He joins this group. Together with Camillo Heger and Franz Vochozka, they plan to set up a defense group within the resistance movement.

When the anti-aircraft gunner Leopold Buliczek, who was also a member of the Austrian Front/Austrian Movement, was caught trying to escape to Hungary, he revealed the existence of the Austrian Front group around Friedrich Tisza after interrogation by the Gestapo.

On February 8, 1940, he was arrested together with other resistance fighters. On August 17, 1940, after various interrogations, he was handed over to the Gestapo, who released him pending trial. On December 8, 1941, the trial against 31 members of the Austrian Front/Austrian Movement began before the Special Court II at Vienna Regional Court. On December 17, 1941, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for violating § 2 of the law against the formation of new political parties and released on December 19, 1941 - after crediting his previous imprisonment.

Due to a shortage of soldiers, he was drafted in September 1943 and was taken prisoner of war in Russia, from which he returned home in November 1947.

After his return home, he joined the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich and became an employee at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where he advanced to the position of Head of Division for Returnees, War Missing Persons and War Deaths.