Adele Stürzl Kriminalpolizeistelle Innsbruck ca1942

Adele Stürzl (November 23, 1892 – June 30, 1944) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

communist and resistance fighter against National Socialism.

Life

Stürzl was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, her parents were originally from

South Bohemia The South Bohemian Region ( cs, Jihočeský kraj; , ) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part ...

near

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian ...

. She worked as a maid in her youth. In Vienna she came into contact with the Social Democratic workers movement. In

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, she met her husband. Together, the couple moved to

Kufstein Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The grea ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

had ended in May 1918. In Kufstein, Adele Stürzl was an activist for labour rights. She managed for female workers in an arms factory to get a raise. She was an active member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

and then the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

. When the Communist Party was prohibited in 1933, she was arrested for a short time. She was again arrested in 1934 and 1935. After Austria became annexed to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, she was active in the resistance against the regime. She collaborated with other resistance fighters around the Robert Uhrig group, they regularly met also at her house. She was arrested in June 1942. She was suspected of trying to bring a deserter out of the country to Switzerland in April 1942. For May 1, 1942 she tried to organise a hunger demonstration of housewives at the main square in Kufstein. In November 1942, Stürzl was convicted in Innsbruck of helping a deserter and sentenced to four years in prison. On April 14, 1944, she was sentenced to death by the People's Court. Probably on June 30, 1944 (some sources mention August 16, 1944), she was executed in Stadelheim Prison in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Remembrance

A small street in Kufstein was named after her: Adele-Stürzl-Weg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturzl, Adele 1892 births 1944 deaths Executed Austrian women Communist Party of Austria politicians Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians Executed communists in the German Resistance People executed by Nazi Germany by guillotine People from Kufstein Austrian communists 20th-century Austrian women 19th-century Austrian women Austrian people executed by Nazi Germany