Polizeioberstleutnant Leopold Rauch

Photo by Leopold Rauch — Leopold Rauch
Image: BPDion Wien

Personalia

Born:

October 9, 1881, Oberrabenthan

Died:

May 13, 1959, Vienna

Profession:

Civil servant

KZ Number:

13850

Memberships

O5 (Austria), Austrian People's Party, ÖVP Comradeship of the politically persecuted and confessors for Austria

Curriculum Vitae

Leopold Rauch was born in Oberrabenthan near Zwettl in Lower Austria, the legitimate son of the farmer Franz Rauch and his wife Maria, née Hahn. After completing elementary school in Oberrabenthan, he moved to Vienna, where he learned the merchant's trade and attended commercial college. From 1902 to 1905 he served in the k.u.k. Infantry Regiment No. 49 'Freiherr von Hess'.

On September 10, 1905, Leopold Rauch joined the Vienna Security Guard

From the Gestapo file on Leopold Rauch dated May 16, 1939

Rauch was chairman of the trade association of the Austrian Federal Security Guard and thus known throughout the country. He was one of the most spiteful opponents of the NSDAP and the right-hand man of the then Pol. President Skubl. He abused his position as chairman of the business association to drive the entire police force into the VF camp and thus hand them over to the system government. During the period of the ban, he used the most derogatory remarks about our leader and the movement in his speeches. After the failure of the July Uprising in 1934, Rauch advocated the death penalty for the party comrades involved in the July Uprising and referred to them only as murderers and criminals.

From the Gestapo file on Leopold Rauch dated May 22, 1939

On March 12, 1938, Leopold Rauch witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. On March 15, 1938, he was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to the Dachau concentration camp on April 2, 1938 on the so-called 'Prominent Transport'. In the concentration camp, six of his teeth were knocked out by the SS and he suffered a hernia from a kick in the boot. He is released from Dachau concentration camp on September 20. He was officially dismissed from the police force on November 17, 1938.

After that, Leopold Rauch and his wife lived on a small pension. In 1943, the staunch Austrian patriot joins the resistance movement 'O5 (Austria)'. His activities within the resistance movement remained undetected by the National Socialists.

In April and May 1945, Leopold Rauch witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic. As early as April 14, 1945, he re-enlisted in the police force. He decisively helped to build up the new Austrian police force and was subsequently promoted to police lieutenant colonel. He became involved in the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and in the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.