Guido Zeller von Zellhain

Guido Zeller von Zellhain was born in Brno, the son of Major General Alois Zeller von Zellhain. He completed a musical education and later became a choir and vocal director in Vienna. His wife Irma, who comes from the family of the Jewish auction house owner Samuel Kende, is also a musician. In the 1920s and 1930s, Guido Zeller von Zellhain was a solo accompanist at the Vienna Volksoper, a singing and performance master and conductor of the First Vienna Women's Choir. Although he was not politically active, he was a legitimist and opponent of National Socialism.

At the time of the occupation of Austria on March 12, 1938, Guido Zeller von Zellhain was already approaching his 63rd birthday. His Jewish wife Irma is not persecuted because of her marriage to him, although her family's property is "aryanized".

Through his childhood friend Oskar Ghelleri, Guido Zeller von Zellhain was invited to the regulars' table at Café Tschokel at Girardigasse 10 in Vienna's 6th district from the summer of 1942. This regulars' table is in contact with the Lamberti Round Table around Vinzenz Hauser via Karl Wanner and the Antifascist Freedom Movement of Austria (AFÖ). At the regulars' table in Café Tschokel, Oskar Ghelleri, Vinzenz Hauser, Stefan Glanz, Karl Schall and Witold Müller discuss the end of the Third Reich and a possible Danube federation involving Bavaria and under the leadership of Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen. In addition, news from the BBC - labeled an "enemy station" by National Socialists - is exchanged. Guido Zeller von Zellhain subsequently bought his own radio so that he could receive the BBC himself.

On February 13, 1943, Guido Zeller von Zellhain was arrested by the Gestapo. His health had already deteriorated before his imprisonment, which was exacerbated by his detention. Between February 15, 1943 and September 14, 1943, he therefore had to be cared for in the General Hospital [today: Altes AKH]. On the initiative of his sister Marie Lichtblau, the proceedings initiated against him for "preparation for high treason" and "aiding the enemy" were provisionally dropped on April 25, 1944 due to his inability to stand trial and Guido Zeller von Zellhain was released.