Rudolf Friedrich Hauer

Rudolf Friedrich Hauer was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of Alexander Hauer, a Viennese streetcar employee, and his wife Amalia, née Netousek. After elementary school, he first attended two classes at a secondary school, but then transferred to a commercial college. He became involved in an organization close to the Vaterländische Front.

On 12 March 1938, Rudolf Hauer witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Soon after the occupation of Austria, he came into contact with the Camillo Heger via his acquaintance Austrian Front/Austrian Movement (Theiss Group), which was founded by Friedrich Theiss and joins it.

On November 23, 1939, Rudolf Hauer starts working at the Provincial Food Office of the Municipality of Vienna. On February 7, 1940, the resistance group was exposed and Rudolf Hauer was arrested by the Gestapo on February 8, 1940. He was released by the municipality of Vienna on the day of his arrest. On October 21, 1941, he and 30 other people were charged with 'offenses under the law against the formation of new parties'. However, the proceedings against him are dropped. He is released from prison on November 9, 1940.

After this, Rudolf Hauer works as an office worker at the Johann Gottwald company until he is drafted into the Wehrmacht on May 2, 1941. Rudolf Hauer subsequently became an American prisoner of war.

In American captivity, Rudolf Hauer witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. He returned home from captivity on December 22, 1945 and was rehabilitated as a Viennese municipal employee on August 13, 1946.

Rudolf Hauer joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich. In 1963, he marries Rosa Leopoldine Kempner in a civil ceremony.