Wilhelm Wenzel Hataj

Wilhelm Wenzel Hataj was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of the tailor's assistant Wenzel Hataj and his wife Anna Philippine, née Cizova. After finishing school, he trained as a master tailor and opened a men's and women's tailoring business in Vienna. It is no longer possible to determine whether he fought in the First World War.

In November 1918, Wilhelm Hataj witnessed the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the collapse of the Dual Monarchy and the expulsion of the Habsburgs. However, he remained loyal to the House of Habsburg and was a convinced legitimist. In 1925, he married Anna Schimany, an employee. However, he was not politically active in the 1920s and 1930s.

On March 12, 1938, Wilhelm Hataj witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. He continued to oppose the National Socialist regime.

Alois and Paula Senfter denounce Wilhelm Hataj to the Gestapo, whereupon he is arrested on August 23, 1941. On November 11, 1941, he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment before the Klagenfurt Special Court for the crime of 'homicide', with credit for pre-trial detention.

On April 13, 1942, Wilhelm Hataj's prison sentence was suspended on the condition that he be drafted into the Wehrmacht immediately. On 8 August 1942, the Vienna Guild of Clothes Makers revokes his trade license as a tailor.

At the beginning of 1945, Wilhelm Hataj is stationed in Döllersheim in Lower Austria. There he founded a resistance group among the members of the Wehrmacht. The members of this group were Rudolf Raithofer, Ernst Papst, Rudolf Jany, Firtz Thurnwald, Emmerich Karl, Franz Kutscherauer, Gustav Adam, Josef Kuhn, Siegfried Meerstein, Josef Jaschke, Karl Schober, Georg Lausenhauer, Franz Hartwich, Josef Renec, Michael Röster and Josef Kaplan.