Ernst Kirchweger, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetErnst Kirchweger
Austrian communist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria
About Ernst Kirchweger
- Ernst Kirchweger (January 12, 1898 – April 2, 1965 in Vienna) was the first person to die as a result of political conflict in Austria's Second Republic. From 1916 to 1918, Ernst Kirchweger participated in World War I as a sailor in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
- Afterwards, he fought on the side of the Red Army.
- Until 1934, he was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, but then he joined the Communists, which was outlawed at that time.
- During the reigns of the Fatherland Front and National Socialist German Workers Party, he risked his life as an activist in illegal trade unions.
- After Austria's liberation in 1945, having survived concentration camp, he continued to speak out against Fascism and National Socialism. On March 31, 1965, a demonstration of students, former resistance fighters and unions against Taras Borodajkewycz, a university professor accused of having made anti-Semitic statements, took place in Vienna, while the student organisation of the Freedom Party of Austria organized a riot.
- There were skirmishes between the participants of the two demonstrations; during one in which Kichweger was attacked by Günther Kümel and severely injured.
- He died three days later, aged 67, as a result of his injuries.
- Kümel was sentenced to ten months in prison. 25,000 people attended Kirchweger's funeral.
- He was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering; his ashes are now buried in Hietzing Cemetery in Vienna. In 1990, the Wielandschule in Vienna-Favoriten, a building owned by the Communist Party, was seized by left-wing activists and named Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus.
- The building has been sold by the Communist Party since.
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