The grave of the Graz football supporter
A man who rendered outstanding services to football in his home town of Graz in Styria is buried in a row grave on the south side of the Ettersberg, in the area of today's memorial site: The entrepreneur Franz Öhler, born in 1887.
He came from a respected Jewish merchant family. His father Hermann was co-founder of the well-known department stores' "Kastner und Öhler", one of the first mail-order companies in Europe. Franz Öhler made a name for himself as a businessman and through his social and cultural commitment. In 1927, he founded the "Kastner & Öhler Sports and Cultural Association" - a company association with 13 sports sections alone. He himself acted as president. The football team, which had been playing as FC Graz since 1934, was particularly successful. They shared their home ground with the SC Sturm Graz team, a sports ground that made Graz football history as the "Gruabn". Together with others, Öhler financed the expansion of the stadium in 1934.
The "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich four years later changed everything. Öhler fled to Zagreb. There he came into contact with the communist resistance. He was arrested in 1941. Years in Austrian prisons followed. He was acquitted in a treason trial. In January 1945, the Vienna Gestapo nevertheless sent him to Buchenwald concentration camp. After liberation, he made himself available to the US investigators as a witness and planned his return home. Shortly before his departure, however, Franz Öhler died on 4 May 1945 as a result of his imprisonment. He was 57 years old.
