Ludwig Kitzinger

Ludwig Kitzinger was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of Johann Kitzinger, a clerk, and Johanna, née Pache. After attending primary and secondary school, he works as a trainee at the Allgemeine Verkehrsbank in Vienna.

After the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the break-up of the dual monarchy and the expulsion of the Habsburgs in 1918, he finds employment as a commercial clerk at the company Orenstein & Koppel. In 1931, he loses this job.

In 1932, Ludwig Kitzinger joins the legitimist 'Austrian People's Movement' and holds the position of second vice president until its dissolution in 1935. In 1933, he joined the Vaterländische Front and the Vienna Heimatschutz.

On March 12, 1938, the legitimist and patriotic Austrian had to witness the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht.

From his involvement in the Austrian People's Movement, Ludwig Kitzinger knew Josef Eder. At the end of May 1938, the latter got Ludwig Kitzinger a job at Anker-Versicherung and told him in June 1938 about the resistance group under the writer Wilhelm Hebra, the Gruppe Hebra.

Ludwig Kitzinger willingly joined the group. The cell, led by Josef Eder, meets in inns in Vienna-Meidling, Vienna-Altmannsdorf and Vienna-Hetzendorf. He recruits Maria Demel for the group, whom he knows from his involvement in the Austrian People's Movement. On the night of July 25, 1938, he took part in a night-time anti-Nazi leafleting campaign and distributed around 300 leaflets in Vienna.

In October 1938, Ludwig Kitzinger returned to his job at Orenstein & Koppel. His new job meant that contact with the resistance group was somewhat reduced.

At the end of 1938, Josef Eder and Wilhelm Hebra fell out because, in Eder's opinion, Wilhelm Hebra was too careless in expressing his political views and plans to third parties. Josef Eder's cell followed him and henceforth called itself Austrian Freedom Movement - Gruppe Eder.

The Gestapo became aware of the resistance group's activities and began successively arresting its members from 23 March 1939. Ludwig Kitzinger was arrested on November 8, 1939 and held in custody until April 1, 1943. He spends time in prison in Vienna and Regensburg. In a trial before the People's Court on November 18, 1943, he was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for 'preparation for high treason'. The sentence is deemed to have been served, with the pre-trial detention taken into account.

In Vienna, Ludwig Kitzinger witnesses the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. He joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.

Ludwig Kitzinger died at the age of 61 and was laid to rest at the cemetery in Vienna-Ottakring.