Karl Kremel

Karl Kremel was born in Vienna’s Alsergrund district, the son of a civil servant. He attended elementary school, middle school, and later a commercial school, after which he was employed as a civil servant. In 1915, he was drafted into World War I and deployed to the Russian and later the Albanian fronts, where he was wounded and lost an eye.

After the war, he worked as a private clerk and bookkeeper. He was a member and official of the Fatherland Front. Toward the end of 1938, he became an employee of the Wehrmacht.

Through Vinzenz Hauser, Karl Kremel became acquainted with the Lamerti Circle—named after the Viennese innkeeper Franz Lambert [now PÜRSTNER]—in late 1941. Starting in mid-1942—by which time the Lamerti Circle had already joined the Austrian Anti-Fascist Freedom Movement (AFÖ)—he became a frequent visitor to the regulars’ table led by attorney Karl Wanner. There, they discussed the end of the Third Reich and shared information about the course of the war as heard on “enemy radio stations.” Karl Kremel also reported on the shooting of a deserter at the Rossau Barracks.

Karl Kremel was arrested by the Gestapo on February 24, 1943, and sentenced by the People's Court in Vienna on August 15, 1944, to seven years of penal servitude for “broadcasting offenses” and “failure to report a crime.” He remained in custody until April 25, 1945 (the end of the war).

Karl Kremel died in Vienna in 1974.