Leopold Eichinger

Leopold Eichinger is born in Vienna as the legitimate son of the master wainwright [Note: craftsman who makes wheels, carts and other agricultural implements from wood] Josef Eichinger and Anna, née Bsteh. Josef Eichinger and Anna, née Bsteh, was born. After school, he worked as a boiler attendant and later as a metal trader.

In 1921, he married Maria Schultschik from Hohenau an der March and became the father of a son in 1924. He became active in the legitimist Arbeitsgemeinschaft österreichischer Vereine, one of the Austrian-patriotic monarchist organizations close to Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen. A staunch opponent of National Socialism, he became the chairman of the party and campaigned for Austria's independence.

On March 12, 1938, Leopold Eichinger witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. He was arrested by the Gestapo on March 13, 1938 and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft österreichischer Vereine was forcibly dissolved. On June 16, 1938, he was deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Due to the amnesty on the occasion of the 'reunification of Austria with the German Reich', he is released on March 13, 1939.

After this, he works again as a boiler attendant. In January 1944, he joins Leopold Eichinger of the Gruppe Freies Österreich/Gruppe Karl Gruber. The Gruppe Freies Österreich/Gruppe Karl Gruber (FÖ) was founded in 1942 by Karl Gruber, who was born in 1888 in Altmünster am Traunsee in Upper Austria. The aim of this non-partisan group, which was more in line with the Christian Social camp, was to liberate Austria from National Socialist occupation and re-establish its independence.

From November 15, 1943, members of the Gruppe Freies Österreich/Gruppe Karl Gruber (FÖ) secretly published the campaign newspaper 'Freies Österreich! Blätter für Friede, Freiheit und Fortschritt' at the Viennese publishing house Vorwärts Verlag. In a total of six issues, in addition to the demands for the re-establishment of a free and independent Austria and the overthrow of the National Socialist terror regime, it reported on the theaters of war and the defeats of German troops.

In the early autumn of 1944, the group was finally uncovered and many members were arrested by the Gestapo. However, Leopold Eichinger managed to remain undetected.

In April and May 1945, Leopold Eichinger witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic. He joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich. He retired as a metal trader and died at the age of 92. He finds his final resting place at the cemetery in Vienna-Hütteldorf.

[Note: Leopold Eichinger should not be confused with Leopold Eichinger, born on September 12, 1883 in Anzbach. September 1883 in Anzbach, who was a member of the Illegal Austrian Imperial Loyal Front.]