Otto Karl Haan

Otto Karl Haan was born in Vienna as the illegitimate son of housewife Maria Haan and Otto Helmreich. After primary and secondary school, he attended two years of commercial school. After 1934, the Austrian patriot became involved in the Austrian Youth League and was a member of the so-called 'Elitegruppe' in Vienna's 9th district. From 1937, he worked as a sales representative for a wine wholesaler.

On March 12, 1938, Otto Haan witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. In 1940, he moved to the City driving school at Porzellangasse 2 in Vienna's 9th district as an office worker.

Immediately after starting work at the driving school, Otto Haan founded the resistance group Gruppe Haan, whose aim was to restore a free and independent Austria under the leadership of a monarch. His sister Ilse Haan is also involved in the group.

He recruits members from the Catholic-conservative camp and tells them that a higher leader, called 'Dux', sends him daily orders. In reality, he writes these daily orders himself.

On October 15, 1940, the Gestapo uncovered the resistance group. Warned of his imminent arrest, Otto Haan manages to destroy the group's documents. He was finally arrested by the Gestapo on October 16, 1940. He remained in custody until August 6, 1941 and was then released. In a trial before the special court on November 19, 1941, he was sentenced to nine months in prison for 'formation of new parties'. The prison sentence is deemed to have already been served by the pre-trial detention.

He then works as an accountant at Deutsche Erdöl-AG - Nova Wien until he is drafted into the Luftwaffe on April 15, 1942, where he rises to the rank of first lieutenant. In February 1945, while stationed in Tyrol, he deserted and joined the Tyrolean resistance.

In Tyrol, Otto Haan witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. Between 1 May 1945 and 15 June 1945, he served as an assistant gendarme at the Westendorf gendarmerie post in Tyrol and then worked as the director of the Westendorf provincial youth home. On October 10, 1945, he returned to Vienna at his own request.

On his return to Vienna, he married Elfriede Alphonsus and set up his own cleaning business. He joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.

In 1946, Otto Haan became the father of a son and in 1947 the father of a daughter. In the year his daughter was born, he ended his self-employment and worked briefly at Wiener Messe AG and Anker Versicherungs-AG before moving to the Federal Ministry of Education. In 1948, he was finally transferred to the University Library of the University of Vienna.

At the beginning of 1961