Major Johann Felkl

Johann Felkl was born in Bohnau [today: Banín in the Czech Republic] as the legitimate son of the building foreman Wenzel and Rosa Felkl. After elementary school in Bohnau, he attended secondary school in Zwittau [today: Svitavy in the Czech Republic] and then went to the cadet school in Prague. After graduating, he joined the Austro-Hungarian army in Tarnopol [today: Ternopil in the Ukraine] in IR 55 on August 18, 1905. He marries and becomes the father of a daughter. He remained in Tarnopol until 1912 and was then transferred to Lemberg [today: Lviv in the Ukraine], where he witnessed the outbreak of the First World War. During World War I, he was primarily deployed on the Eastern Front.

After the break-up of Austria-Hungary, he joined the new Austrian army as a captain in the replacement squadron of the Riding Rifle Regiment No. 5 and was stationed in Stockerau near Vienna.

The staunch Austrian was involved in the Homeland Security during the interwar period and rose to the rank of major. During the National Socialist coup attempt in July 1934, when Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was murdered by the National Socialists, his battalion was transferred to Carinthia to put down the National Socialist uprising there and to locate and confiscate weapons hidden by the National Socialists. During one of these inspections, a young National Socialist was shot dead by a soldier from Johann Felkl's battalion.

Johann Felkl witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. On May 15, 1938, he was arrested by the Gestapo for his activities in suppressing the National Socialist coup attempt in July 1934 and held in custody until August 26, 1938. Due to his age and his anti-Nazi stance, he was not accepted into the German Wehrmacht but was sent into retirement.

During the Second World War, Johann Felkl was able to serve without interruption. Johann Felkl was able to live undisturbed in Stockerau throughout the Second World War and experienced the liberation of Austria there in May 1945. He joins the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich in the resurrected Austria and dies at the age of 81 in Stockerau.