Oberst i.R. Alois Amadeus Beck

Alois Amadeus Beck is born in Pola [today: Pula in Slovenia] as the only legitimate son of k.u.k. naval captain Wilhelm Beck and Filomena, née Valle. He also had a sister. After the naval school in Pola, he attended the military secondary school in Güns [today: Kőszeg in Hungary] and then the infantry cadet school in Trieste.

After graduating from the infantry cadet school, he was transferred to IR 93 in Olmütz [today: Olomouc in the Czech Republic] in 1893. In 1901, he married Ida Kurz, a native of Olomouc. He had a daughter with her. After holding various positions, he became head of the newsroom in Pola in 1911.

He held this position until the collapse and subsequent dissolution of the Austrian monarchy. He then returned to Vienna and became a soldier in the Austrian army and later head of the main tobacco warehouse of the Gutstehungsgenossenschaft der Tabakhauptverleger in Vienna.

In the interwar period, Alois Beck became involved in the Austrian Heimatschutz and the Austrian Soldiers' Front. Here, he took a firm stand against National Socialism and the 'Anschlussgedanke'.

On March 12, 1938, Alois Beck witnessed the downfall of a free and independent Austria when the German Wehrmacht invaded. Immediately after the occupation of Austria, he was dismissed as head of the main tobacco warehouse and arrested by the Gestapo on March 24, 1938. While in custody, he met Sebastian Blumauer, among others, who vouched for him after the war. He is taken to Elisabethpromenade and released from prison on June 30, 1938. He immediately retired due to his age.

At the end of the war, Alois Beck fled with his wife to Hall in Tyrol, where he witnessed the liberation of Austria in May 1945. He moved back to Vienna in 1949. Both he and his wife Ida became involved in the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich in the new Austria.

Alois Beck died at the age of 86 and was laid to rest at the cemetery in Vienna-Hietzung.