Franz Wohlfahrt

Born 1920, Koestenberg-Velden, Austria

Franz and his family were Jehovah's Witnesses. Germany annexed Austria in 1938. After World War II began, Franz's father was executed because, as a Witness, he opposed war. In 1940, Franz refused to participate in military training and would not salute the Nazi flag. He was imprisoned, interrogated by the Gestapo (German Secret State Police) in Graz, and sentenced to five years of hard labor in a camp in Germany. Franz was liberated by U.S. forces in 1945.

Describes imprisonment in Graz for refusing to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler.

Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim

Berthold Mewes