Franz Josef Hovad

Franz Josef Hovad was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of Karl Hovad, a carpenter's assistant, and Franziska, née Buresch. After five years of elementary school, he attended three years of secondary school, then completed an apprenticeship as an armchair joiner and joined the Catholic journeymen's association 'Verein der Jungmänner' in the parish of Meidling. In 1932, he was severely maltreated by communists, which later led to epileptic seizures.

After completing his apprenticeship, he was unemployed for a long time before volunteering for the Austrian army in May 1937. At the end of August 1937, however, he had to leave the service as 'remaining unfit for service'. He was then unemployed again.

On March 12, 1938, Franz Hovad witnessed the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Soon afterwards, he is recruited by his friend Ludwig Cubr for the Austrian Front/Austrian Movement (Theiss Group) around the resistance fighter Friedrich Theiss. Franz Hovad gets involved in the group, attends the meetings, pays his membership fee and tries to recruit new members. He also asks Friedrich Theiss to get him a firearm, which he does.

When the anti-aircraft gunner Leopold Buliczek, who was also a member of the Austrian Front/Austrian Movement, was caught trying to flee to Hungary, he revealed the existence of the Austrian Front group around Friedrich Theiss to the Gestapo after interrogation.

On February 13, 1940, he was arrested by the Gestapo and remained in custody until July 9, 1940. Although he was charged, he was not convicted as the authorities deemed him mentally immature.

Franz Hovad was drafted into the Wehrmacht as a gunner on August 1, 1941, but was invalided out on June 2, 1942 due to his epileptic seizures.

In May 1945, he witnessed the liberation of Austria by the Allies. He then worked as a transport worker and married Maria Matiejka, née Stiedl, in 1955. He later found work as an office boy and messenger at Wagner-Biro-Werke.