Conscientious Objection and Flight

In mid-August 1943, after spending only a few pleasant weeks at home, Engleitner was summoned to a military medical inspection. After first, he was exempt from military service on account of his curvature of the spine. A week later, the MO changed the report to read, “To be used at the front lines - troops substitute reserve No. 1.” So, Leopold received his call-up papers shortly before the end of the war.

Immediate execution awaited anyone who would dare not to follow the draft. His last resort was: Fleeing! He escaped into the woods of the nearby mountain region.

Due to a drop in temperature, rain and snowfalls, he had to leave this refuge and went to an alpine hut. He knew that they would search this hut at some point. But there was no other way to survive in this kind of weather.

On the first night that Engleitner spent in the hut, he immediately fell asleep, only to find that his clothes caught fire. Injured severely, he dragged himself back down into the valley. His parents provided first aid for him but he could not stay very long. Nazi fanatics had already started searching for him.

Engleitner remembered a little cave up in the mountains. It was saver than a hut. It was rather remote and the Nazis might even forget searching this place. But the weather changed again. Snow water forced Engleitner to leave the cave. He went back to the alpine hut at the Meistereben Alm. He was aware of the danger. Especially since the people from his village would imagine that he would hide in this hut, which belonged to a friend of Engleitner. However, this is exactly what saved his life. In the meantime, the Nazis had hired Franz Kain as a guide, Engleitner's former workmate. This man knew exactly which hut Engleitner would hide in. Therefore, he did everything he could to keep the search party away from the Meistereben Alm.