Maria Cäsar

Resistance fighter and contemporary witness

“I have always been a political woman.”

Maria Kret was born in Prevalje, Slovenia, in 1920 and grew up in Judenburg, Styria. She joined the social democratic youth organisation “Rote Falken” (Red Falcons) in her youth. After the February Uprising of 1934, when social democratic organisations were banned, she joined the illegal Communist Youth Association (KJV) in resistance to the Austrofascist regime. The KJV remained active even after the National Socialists seized power. The Gestapo discovered the group in 1939 and Maria Kret was arrested and transferred to the Graz Regional Court, where she was imprisoned for 15 months for preparing high treason.

In 1940, she married Franz Greilberger, and in 1941, their son Heinz was born. Shortly afterwards, her husband was sent to the Eastern Front, where he was killed in action in 1943. During the war, she established contacts with the Yugoslav partisans and resistance groups in Judenburg, repeatedly risking her life in the fight against fascism.

In 1949, her second son, Ernst, was born. In 1950, Kret moved to Graz, where she lived as a single mother with her children in a barrack in the Lend district. She continued her political involvement in the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ), where she also met her second husband, and was also active in progressive women’s organisations, for example as chairwoman of the Federation of Democratic Women in Styria.

Since the 1980s, Maria Cäsar has been passing on her experiences to young people in schools and educational institutions as a contemporary witness. She also served as chairwoman of the Styrian Association of Former Political Persecutees (KZ-Verband Steiermark). She has received numerous honours for her commitment to Austria during the Nazi era and for her educational work. In 2001, she was named the first recipient of the Styrian Human Rights Award, together with Franz Leitner and Angelika Vauti. In 2011, she received the Women’s Award of the City of Graz, and in 2014, she was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Province of Styria. Maria Cäsar died in Graz on 1 September 2017, shortly before her 97th birthday.