Ludwig Dobrovits

Ludwig Dobrovits was born in Fürstenfeld as the illegitimate son of factory worker Johann Dobrovits and Maria, née Fuchs. After elementary school, he attended three years of secondary school and then began an apprenticeship as an electrician. During this time, he became involved in the Marxist association 'Freie Schule Kinderfreund' and the 'Roten Falken' of the Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei (SDAP) [today: SPÖ]. From 1929 to 1932, he was a member of the Fürstenfeld Workers' Football Club.

In 1933, Ludwig Dobrovits turned away from the Social Democrats and joined the Austrian Heimatschutz and the Vaterländische Front. He also became involved in the Reichsbund für Jugend und Sport.

On 12 March 1938, Ludwig Dobrovits witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht.He finds work as an electrician at the Hopf company in Fürstenfeld and makes contact with members of the illegal Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ), joins and tries to recruit more members for the illegal party.

Ludwig Dobrovits tries to recruit his colleague Herbert Strobl for the group, among others. He told him in September 1939 that there was already a large group of illegal communists in Fürstenfeld and that communism was now unstoppable. At the Gasthof Laky in Mosendorf, he provocatively greeted other guests with 'Hail Moscow' and publicly expressed the opinion that the communist takeover was only a matter of time.

Ludwig Dobroski was betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo on October 24, 1939. In a trial before the Vienna Higher Regional Court on April 12, 1940, he was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for 'preparation for high treason'. He spent his time in Graz, Halle, Papenburg and Kiel.

On November 29, 1942, Ludwig Dobrovski was assigned to a punishment company, where he remained until September 28, 1944. He was then transferred to the regular Wehrmacht.

As a soldier in the Wehrmacht, he experienced the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic at the end of April 1945. After the war, he opened a trading business for electrics in Vienna and joined the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich. In 1948 he marries Maria Grasmuk. As a result, his electrical business ran into economic turbulence and the marriage also broke up.