10 Facts About Johann Koplenig

Johann Koplenig was the chairman of the Communist Party of Austria from 1945 until 1965, and Honorary Chairman of the party from 1965 until his death.

In 1945, Koplenig was Vice-Chancellor of Austria in Karl Renner's provisional government.

The son of an agricultural laborer, Johann Koplenig was born in Jadersdorf, a small village near Gitschtal, Carinthia.

Johann Koplenig aligned himself with the workers' movement as a youth; in 1910, he joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria.

Johann Koplenig carried out work in support of the Bolsheviks at the time of the October Revolution in 1917, and was a member of a Workers' and Soldiers' Council in Nizhny Novgorod from 1918 until 1920, when he returned to Austria.

Johann Koplenig remained in exile after the Anschluss of Austria into Nazi Germany and the outbreak of World War II, and spent time in Czechoslovakia, France, and the Soviet Union.

Johann Koplenig returned to Austria after the end of the war in 1945, and was made Vice-Chancellor in Karl Renner's provisional government, together with Adolf Scharf and Leopold Figl.

Johann Koplenig was elected Chairman of the KPO, a post he would keep for 20 years before resigning in 1965; however, he retained the post of Honorary chairman until his death.

Johann Koplenig was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering, where his ashes are buried.

Johann Koplenig was married twice; his first wife, Anna, died in 1921.