Obstlt. a.D. Dr. Johann Bernhard Wilhelm Ludwig Blumenthal

Johann Bernhard Wilhelm Ludwig Blumenthal was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of the Jewish lawyer Markus Blumenthal and Rosa, née Palester, who was Jewish. He attended elementary school and grammar school in Vienna and graduated with distinction in 1913. In the same year, he converted to Catholicism and enrolled in law and history at the University of Vienna.

On October 30, 1914, Johann Blumenthal joined the Imperial and Royal Regiment of the Tyrolean Imperial Hunters. Tyrolean Imperial Infantry Regiment and was subsequently deployed on the Austro-Hungarian Italian front. In 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant and at the end of the war to first lieutenant. After returning home, he completed his studies and also passed the examination to become a court interpreter in English and French. He then began working in the war archives of the Austrian State Archives, but continued to serve as a soldier in the Austrian Armed Forces.

In 1936, Johann Blumenthal became a press officer in the Federal Ministry of Defense. A staunch opponent of National Socialism, he witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the National Socialists. On the very day of Austria's occupation, he requested his immediate retirement so that he would not have to serve as an officer in the German Wehrmacht. This request was granted on November 30, 1938.

With the occupation of Austria, German legislation was adopted and with it the 'Nuremberg Race Laws', according to which Johann Blumenthal was considered a 'full Jew'. In May 1939, together with Captain Rudolf Schalek, he founded a resistance group that joined the 'Großösterreichische Freiheitsbewegung' in December 1939 under the resistance fighter Jakob Kastelic. With membership number 8, he is a member of the Executive Committee and Military Officer. He is actively involved in development work in Vienna and Upper Austria, where he works intensively with Gebhard Rath. He was also responsible for procuring explosives and ammunition for acts of sabotage.

From July 1940, a good 300 people from these resistance groups were betrayed by the castle actor Otto Hartmann (Otto Hartmann was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 and pardoned in 1957) and Johann Blumenthal was arrested on July 23, 1940. In a trial before the People's Court in 1941, he was sentenced to four years in prison for 'preparation for high treason and treason against the country', which he spent in the Anrath and Krefeld prisons. During this time, he was so badly mistreated that he suffered a lifelong 60% reduction in earning capacity. On January 22, 1944, he was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Just before the concentration camp was liberated, he managed to escape on January 25, 1945 and make his way through the German lines to safety.

On December 20, 1945, Johann Blumenthal managed to return to his hometown of Vienna. On February 16, 1946, he was rehabilitated and returned to work at the Austrian State Archives. In 1948, he married Angela Leopoldine Luise Sagaster, née Rezab, and became involved in the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.

In 1950, he took early retirement due to the health problems he had suffered during his imprisonment. He died childless in Baden near Vienna in 1964. His wife survived him by 11 years.