Alois Jelen

Alois Jelen was born in Vienna, the legitimate son of Alois Jelen, a forester of the same name, and Franziska, née Ecker. He attended primary and secondary school in Sarajevo and then the commercial college in Travnik in Bosnia-Herzogovina. In addition to German, he also spoke fluent Serbian and Croatian.

In 1914, Alois Jelen began working at the Landesbank for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but was drafted into the First World War in March 1915. World War I, from which he disarmed in November 1918. After the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the dismantling of the dual monarchy and the expulsion and expropriation of the Habsburgs, he moved to Vienna in 1919, where he worked at the Anglobank. Between 1925 and 1933, Alois Jelen found employment at the textile company Heinrich Klinger in Vienna's 1st district. He was then unemployed for three years before becoming sales manager of the art department of the Neues Leben organization of the Vaterländische Front.

As sales manager, Alois Jelen witnessed the downfall of free and independent Austria on 12 March 1938 with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. After the dissolution and banning of the Vaterländische Front and its sub-organizations by the National Socialists, he found work at the Elin company in Vienna.

From October 1941 to September 1942, Alois Jelen was drafted into the Wehrmacht and deployed as a translator for Serbian and Croatian in Dortmund. After his disarmament, he was conscripted as a censor for Serbian and Croatian at the foreign letter verification office in Vienna. In 1942 he married Franziska Blankenbichler. The marriage remained childless.

In January 1944, Alois Jelen joined the Christian-social resistance group Free Austria/Group Karl Gruber (FÖ). He actively helps with the production and distribution of the pamphlet 'Freies Österreich! Leaves for Peace, Freedom and Progress'. In a total of six issues, it reports on the theaters of war and the defeats of German troops in addition to the demands for the re-establishment of a free and independent Austria and the overthrow of the National Socialist terror regime. He also recruited new members for the resistance group.

The resistance group, which had its meeting place at Stuckgasse 6 in Vienna's 7th district, was uncovered in early fall 1944 and Alois Jelen was arrested by the Gestapo on October 6, 1944.

Due to the defeat of the Third Reich, he was never put on trial. Alois Jelen was released from prison on April 6, 1945 and witnessed the re-establishment of the republic. On 27 August 1945, he was accepted into the service of the municipality of Vienna and joined the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ).