Tailor

Johann Rudolf Svoboda

Johann Rudolf Svoboda was born the legitimate son of Johann Svoboda, a master tailor of the same name, and Franziska, née Kouka. Johann Rudolf has a brother and a sister. The Svoboda family were social democrats; the master tailor and his wife were also members of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) [today: SPÖ].

After elementary school, Johann Svoboda attended the Vereinsgasse grammar school in Vienna [today: Bundesrealgymnasium Lessinggasse], where he graduated in 1919. He also joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and enrolled in architecture at the Vienna University of Technology [today: Vienna University of Technology]. After three semesters, however, he had to abandon his studies in 1921 for financial reasons. He then worked in his father's company, where he did manual work as well as bookkeeping. After the dissolution of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP), he joins the Vaterländische Front. Through a member of the middle school fraternity Wilhelm Zemljaks, the Donaumark Vienna, Johann Svoboda met Wilhelm Zemljak in 1937 or 1938.

On 12 March 1938, Johann Svoboda witnessed the German Wehrmacht invade Austria and occupy the country. In the late summer of 1939, Wilhelm Zemljak, who knew of his opposition to National Socialism, invited him to meet with Johann Pilliater. While these meetings initially focused on a shared contempt for the National Socialist regime, the idea of founding a resistance group increasingly emerged. With the exception of the Communists, the idea was to found a cross-party group. This was to be called the Austrian People's Front. The aim is to create an independent and democratic Austria in the event of the collapse of the National Socialist regime. If necessary, they would like to actively support a coup. The economic program is more socialist in orientation.

Johann Svoboda and the other members of the Austrian People's Front produce flyers, which are no longer distributed.

The group, which has now grown to five members, acts carelessly and attracts the attention of the Gestapo. On November 9, 1939, Johann Svoboda, together with the other members, Wilhelm Zemljak, Franz Dietrich, Johann Pilliater and Karl Wolf were arrested by the Gestapo.

Due to the poor prison conditions, he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis while in custody, which is why he was released at Christmas 1941 because he was unfit to stand trial. He then helped out in his parents' tailor shop until he was conscripted as an army volunteer in the Wilhelmskaserne barracks in Vienna in the summer of 1943. His father died in April 1944 and his brother took over the tailoring business. At a trial on July 15, 1944, Johann Svoboda is sentenced to three years in prison by the People's Court for 'preparation for high treason'. However, due to his state of health, he did not serve his sentence.