Franz Anton Wilhelm Dietrich

Franz Anton Wilhelm Dietrich is born in Kaschau [today: Košice in Solwakia] as the legitimate son of Franz and Susanne Dietrich. The family soon moved to Vienna, where he attended elementary school. When his father married for the second time in 1923, Franz Dietrich was placed in children's homes and orphanages, where he grew up from the age of 10. After elementary school, he attended a secondary school and then did an apprenticeship as a tailor, which he completed in 1932 with the journeyman's examination. In 1931, he joined the social democratic Red Falcons and the social democratic trade union.

After the socialist February Uprising, he left and joined the legitimist Reichsbund der Österreicher. During this economically challenging time, Franz Dietrich repeatedly slipped into unemployment and worked primarily as an unskilled laborer. From March 1936 to September 1936, he was a member of the voluntary labor service before joining the army in October 1936. In the same year, he became the youth chairman of the Reichsbund der Österreicher in Vienna's 9th district. After making notes on conscription matters in the army and handing them over to an acquaintance for sale to foreign countries, he is arrested and sentenced to 10 months in prison on March 7, 1938.

In prison, he witnesses the downfall of a free and independent Austria with the occupation of the German Wehrmacht on March 12, 1938. After his release from prison in July 1938, he first works as an earthworker and later at the Hermann Göring Werke in Linz. He had to give up this work for health reasons and returned to Vienna.

On arrival in Vienna, he met up with his former colleague from the Reichsbund der Österreicher, Wilhelm Zemljak, who, together with Johann Pilliater and Johann Swoboda, encouraged him to join the legitimist resistance. Franz Dietrich agrees and joins the Austrian People's Front (Zemljak Group). He subsequently actively recruited new members and tried to establish contacts with former Legitimists.

The activities of the Austrian People's Front (Zemljak Group) did not remain hidden from the Gestapo and Franz Dietrich was arrested on March 27, 1939. He was released from custody on September 10, 1939, but arrested again on November 9, 1939. On December 12, 1940, he was charged with 'preparation for high treason' by the Chief Reich Prosecutor at the People's Court, but the main trial did not take place until July 18, 1944. He is sentenced to three and a half years in prison, with credit for his pre-trial detention. He therefore regains his freedom on August 18, 1944. At the same time, he was classified as 'unworthy of military service', which spared him from serving in the Wehrmacht.

In Vienna, Franz Dietrich experienced the liberation of Austria in April and May 1945. He joined the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich, married Helmtraud Sonnhofer and became the father of a son in 1946. However, the marriage broke up in 1952 and Franz Dietrich married Ingeborg Eiermann for the second time. He found employment with a building management company.

Franz Dietrich died in Vienna at the age of 55 and was laid to rest at Vienna's Central Cemetery.