12. The “Song of Justice”. mdw* members in the Resistance

[Detailed catalog text in german]

The „Lied von der Gerechtigkeit” - or “Song of Justice” - composed in 1939 as the anthem of the Austrian Freedom Movement, is the musical adaptation of a poem written by the founder of this resistance group, Karl Roman Scholz (1912–1944), by the former student at the mdw* Eberhard Würzl (1915–2003).

Organised Resistance

In addition to Würzl, the group around Scholz also included students Hubertus Goller (1919–2013) and Fritz Lehmann (1915–1999). After being betrayed by an informer, Goller and Lehmann were arrested in 1940 and sentenced to several years of imprisonment. Wuerzl, against whom the Gestapo had no evidence, was released after several weeks in prison.

Three further students belonging to other resistance groups were arrested by the Gestapo: Kurt Hickl (1917–2006) spent several days in custody, and Igo Ruber (1912–1982) several weeks, while Barbara Issakides (1914–2011) was detained for eight months. The years-long resistance activity of Gustav (Weihs-)Mainprugg (1918-1985) remained undetected.

Individual rebellions against the regime

Student Emil Paukert (1905–1957) and administrative employee Franz Arbeithuber (1910–1975) were charged with “undermining the military”. After a “violation of the Treason Act”, student Leopold Pahsegger (1920–1985) spent about a year in prison. Teacher Raimund Weißensteiner (1905–1997) was threatened with the death penalty for a similar offence – “defeatist speeches with treacherous attacks against the National Socialist leadership, undermining the military, and aiding the enemy”, but following interventions from family and friends, he was given a three-year prison sentence.

A derogatory comment about Hermann Göring’s wife had earned Bernhard Wicki (1919–2000), already viewed with political suspicion, several months of imprisonment in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp before his time studying at mdw*. Erik Werba (1918–1992) had his studies discontinued after allegations of “incitement” resulting from his “composing a defamatory letter against the Nazi party”.

The activities of student Rolf Kunowski (1917–2014), a member of a Social Democratic resistance group, remained undetected, as did those of the circle around teacher Grete Wiesenthal (1890–1981), who, among other things, had supported Emil Geyer (1872–1942), who, after the “Anschluss”, had been expelled from the Acting and Directing Seminar.