Josef Babel
Personalia
Born:
Died:
Profession:
Persecution:
Imprisonment 19.08.1944 - 11.04.1945,
Death sentence (subsequently pardoned) 30.11.1944
Memberships
Curriculum Vitae
Josef Babel was born in Hotzenplotz in South Silesia [today: Osoblaha in the Czech Republic] as the legitimate son of Rudolf Babel and Johanna, née Uvira. After his German-language schooling in Hotzenplotz, which he completed in 1926 at the age of 16, he learned the trade of restorer and worked there as a self-employed restorer.
In February 1938, the Czech citizen moved to Vienna and also worked there as a restorer. A short time later, on March 12, 1938, the opponent of National Socialism witnessed the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. On October 1 of the same year, the German Wehrmacht marched into the German-speaking part of the Czech Republic, known as 'Sudetenland' in National Socialist diction.
After the outbreak of World War II, Josef Babel was drafted into the Wehrmacht. There he was trained as a medic and deployed in the Albrechtskaserne barracks in Vienna's 2nd district and in the Breitenseerkaserne barracks in Vienna's 14th district. The opponents of National Socialism quickly joined forces with like-minded people there and tried to keep soldiers away from the front or the Wehrmacht by taking sick leave, at least for a short time if not at all. This type of resistance is subsumed under the term Wehrmachtslazarette.
After the Gestapo became aware of the resistance cell in the Albrechtskaserne, they infiltrated the informer Bernhard Rheim. He pretends to be an opponent of National Socialism and thus gains the trust of Josef Babel, who has since risen to the rank of non-commissioned officer.
Josef Babel writes Bernhard Rheim up as unfit for the front. On August 19, 1944, his superior ordered him to the infirmary in the Rossauer barracks, where he was immediately arrested. After torture, during which Josef Babel did not disclose the names of any of his fellow soldiers, he was sentenced to death in a trial before a military court on November 30, 1944 for "subversion of the armed forces". On death row, he is pardoned on February 13, 1945 and his sentence commuted to 15 years in prison. Josef Babel was transferred to the Gestapo for 'labor deployment' with the aim of deporting him to the Mauthausen concentration camp.
[...]
On February 13, 1945, I received a pardon from the W.U.G.'s Captain Walter, who caught me in his arms after I had fainted. This meant a suspended sentence of 15 years in prison with immediate handover to the Gestapo in Vienna, i.e. Mauthausen.
[...]
Because
[...]
On the afternoon of April 10, 1945, the "Promenade" was taken by the "Red Army" and we were convinced that we would now be taken prisoner by the Russians. And lo and behold, on 11.4.45 around noon, a Russian colonel, after checking a list of the existing prisoners, of which I was again the most severely convicted - at the age of 15 - told us that we were going to freedom!
This hour is unforgettable in my miserable drama!
Around 1 p.m. we were set free in 3 loose trains, the second of which I was allowed to lead, so to speak, without any papers on any detours in Liechtensteinstraße.
[...]
I was hardly recognized by my brother, so emaciated I rattled along and weighed the next day, I had exactly 54 kg. After almost 20 days in custody, my weight was 89 kg without clothes.
[...]
After the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic, Josef Babel settles in Ober St. Veit in Vienna-Hietzing. He joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich and returned to work as a self-employed restaurateur.
Places
Residence:
Citations
Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (WStLA)
Archiv der ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich
