Wiener Straße 51 (laid in 2010)
Alfred Höchstätter
Executed for distributing leaflets
Alfred Höchstätter, born on 5 June 1902 in Wiener Neustadt, married, employee.
On 19 November 1943 sentenced to death for preparing high treason and aiding the enemy, and executed on 25 January 1944 in Munich-Stadelheim.
In the Rax Works (Wiener Neustadt Locomotive Factory), locksmith Josef Postl from Oed near Waldegg began building a resistance cell and established connections with central groups in Vienna. From Vienna he repeatedly received the illegal newspaper Die Rote Fahne and other anti-Nazi writings, which he disseminated with comrades including worker Ludwig Haiden and employee Alfred Höchstätter. He also organized meetings and used collected contributions to purchase printing materials and support the relatives of his executed Viennese contact.
The leaflets, considered “treasonous,” called for sabotage in the armaments industry and deliberate slow work. Alfred Höchstätter also spread “subversive” leaflets in town. Out of fear of discovery, two bundles of leaflets were never distributed but burned.
He and the producers of the leaflets were arrested. At the Gestapo branch in Wiener Neustadt (today: Europa-Haus in the city park), they were brutally mistreated and forced to confess.
On 28 October 1943, seven members of Postl’s resistance group stood before the People’s Court. The trial was held in Regensburg. The judgment stated that they had “undertaken to harm the military power of the Reich” and all were sentenced to death. They were transferred to Munich-Stadelheim prison for execution.
Alfred Höchstätter’s wife fought vehemently to see her husband one last time before the hastily arranged execution, and finally was allowed. On 25 January 1944, immediately after the visit, Alfred Höchstätter was executed.
Since 1970, Alfred-Höchstätter-Gasse, a side street to Fischauer Gasse in Wiener Neustadt, commemorates him.
Anton Blaha, after Resistance in the Wiener Neustadt Area 1938–1945 by Karl Flanner and the indictment.
Photo: Alfred Höchstätter (© StAWN, Photo Collection IVM)