Franz Grötzner (geb. Filzwieser)

Franz Filzwieser was born in Vienna as the illegitimate son of master wainwright Johann Grötzner and Barbara Filzwieser. Seven years after his birth, his parents marry and Franz Filzwieser takes his father's surname.

Like his father, Franz Grötzner learns the trade of a wainwright after school. He is a convinced Christian Socialist and is obviously close to the Christian Social Party (CSP) in the 1920s and 1930s. After 1934, he joined the Vaterländische Front out of Austrian patriotism. He rejected National Socialism out of deep conviction.

On March 12, 1938, he witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. After briefly keeping a low profile, he began to make repeated public criticism of National Socialism. In 1941, he married Franziska Handleder, but the marriage remained childless.

The Reichspost official reports Franz Grötzner to the Gestapo, whereupon he is arrested on April 16, 1943. He is remanded in custody until June 18, 1943 and is then released.

In a trial before the special court on July 19, 1943, Franz Grötzner is sentenced to two years in prison for 'homicide'. He began his sentence on February 6, 1944 and was transferred to the Glasmoor prison in Hamburg. There he was liberated by the US Army on May 9, 1945.

Franz Grötzner returned to liberated Austria after his release. He works again as a master wainwright and joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.