Karel Hudomalj 1905 - 1944

Born 18.10.1905 in Zagorje
Died 27.9.1944 in Mauthausen

Biography

 

Karel Hudomalj was a remarkable figure with an extensive political career. By profession he was a mechanic and, like many of his countrymen, he started his career in a coal mine. But his ambitions stretched far beyond these local boundaries.

He travelled through the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, France and Austria; he studied in Moscow and elsewhere. He held senior executive positions in the illegal Communist Party in pre-war Yugoslavia.

In 1941 he settled illegally in Vienna, where he participated in the local resistance movement. In 1943 he began publishing the anti-fascist newspaper Die Wahrheit (The Truth).

Hudomalj was arrested in Vienna on 4 January 1944 and after interrogations by the Gestapo he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Hudomalj was hanged in Mauthausen on 27 September 1944.

Karel Hudomalj is still remembered with respect in Vienna today.

 

Dušan Stefančič

 

Translation into English: Joanna White

Location In room