Memorial Plaque for Franz Leitner

Franz Leitner was born on 12.2.1918 in Wiener Neustadt. In 1936, he completed his matura at the State Technical School for Mechanical Engineering. Already in the same year, he was sentenced to four months of imprisonment and 15 months of police punishment due to his membership in the communist youth organization, which had been banned during the era of Austrofascism. At the outbreak of the war, on 1.9.1939, he was deported to the concentration camp Buchenwald. Until his self-liberation in May 1945, Franz Leitner, in his capacity as "Blockältester," managed to save hundreds of children's lives. For this, he was awarded the honor title "Righteous Among the Nations" by the national Israeli memorial site Yad Vashem in 1999. Furthermore, he was a recipient of the Styrian Human Rights Prize and high honors from the Republic of Austria, the federal state of Styria, and the city of Vienna. After the war, Franz Leitner was active in several political positions, among others as the state party chairman of the Styrian KPÖ from 1958 to 1979. Until his death on 20.10.2005, he continued to pass on his life experiences as a witness to the following generations.