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Franz KoritschonerAustrian politician
Date of Birth: 23.02.1891
Country:  Austria |
Content:
- Franz Koritschoner: Leading Austrian Communist, Victim of Repression
- Founding the Communist Party of Austria
- Profintern and Soviet Union
- Imprisonment and Execution
- Rehabilitation and Legacy
Franz Koritschoner: Leading Austrian Communist, Victim of Repression
Early Life and Political ActivismFranz Koritschoner was born on February 23, 1892, in Vienna, Austria. He emerged as a prominent figure in the Austrian left-wing during his youth. With the outbreak of World War I, he actively promoted pacifist propaganda, opposing the conflict.
Founding the Communist Party of Austria
In 1918, Koritschoner co-founded the Communist Party of Austria. He served as a member of the party's Central Committee until 1927 and edited the Communist newspaper "Rote Fahne." Additionally, he led the Austrian Council of Revolutionary Trade Unions.
Profintern and Soviet Union
Koritschoner left Austria to work at the Profintern in Moscow, the international organization for communist trade unions. However, his life took a tragic turn when he was arrested on March 27, 1936, on false charges.
Imprisonment and Execution
In a gross miscarriage of justice, Koritschoner was sentenced to eight years in prison and held in various Soviet prisons and labor camps. In April 1941, the Soviet authorities handed him over to Nazi Germany in Lublin, Poland. The Gestapo swiftly arrested him and imprisoned him in Vienna. On June 3, Koritschoner was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was murdered on June 9, 1941.
Rehabilitation and Legacy
Following the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Koritschoner's Soviet conviction was overturned. He was posthumously acquitted of all charges. Franz Koritschoner's memory serves as a reminder of the countless lives unjustly taken during the Stalinist era.
