Kaisersteinbruch stop camp

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The Kaisersteinbruch stop camp was the second largest camp of the Austro-Fascist dictatorship in Austria , alongside the Wöllersdorf stop camp . With the allocation of around 70 prisoners, it was put into operation in Kaisersteinbruch in January 1934 .

Setting up a stopping camp

As a result of the establishment of a detention camp in Kaisersteinbruch, a gendarmerie branch with a strength of 20 officers was set up there on January 18, 1934 . Gendarmerie major Arthur Windisch was appointed commander.

Documented prisoners

Josef Fitzthum , Michael Friesacher, Ernst Kaltenbrunner , Anton Reinthaller , Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg , Gustav Wagner-Wehrborn, also Bonaventura Berloschnik , Erwin Schramm , Franz Staffa and Otto Tschadek .

February riots

" February 12, 1934 caused a lot of unrest here in the town," writes Father Clemens Lissy . Some social democratic workers were taken to the detention camp that had existed in the barracks for the National Socialists since mid-January . After a few days they were released with red, white and red ribbon.

The pastor had to wait a long time for permission to enter the camp, even though the Protestant pastor had held his service there earlier . Only when the command in the camp was changed was he allowed to read Holy Mass for the Catholics in the camp . About 130 people were present at the first service. The service, with Holy Mass, sermon , confession and communion , was held in the camp on three Sundays . Then the camp was abandoned in May; the most dangerous inmates had to go to the detention center in Wöllersdorf.

"Ostmärkische Sturmscharen" of the district Neusiedl am See in the field

For the whole week after February 12, 1934, 40 men were on duty in Kittsee, guarding the Czechoslovak border. The special attention of the Kittsee comrades also succeeded in arresting some refugees from the Schutzbund . 22 men were on duty in Pama , as well as in Zurndorf and Nickelsdorf . In the Kaisersteinbruch detention camp, under the command of the train commander Josef Pöschl, the guards consisted of 35 people from all parts of the district .

“When we heard,” wrote Vinzenz Böröcz , that after the February battles in Kaisersteinbruch in 1934, opponents of the former corporate state were imprisoned and detained, many were bitter about this development. The hardest hit was the population of Kaisersteinbruch themselves, who, despite the crisis and hardship, firmly stood by democracy .

Neusiedler state riflemen on duty

During the February revolt , the Neusiedler state riflemen were called up. First of all, it was important to support the guard duty at home , as the gendarmerie and military could easily be withdrawn from the loyal district. 80 men remained concentrated in Neusiedl am See. A detachment was made available to guard the detention camp in Kaisersteinbruch .

Josef Wolf , Mayor, documented: "... from January 1934 a part of the Kaisersteinbruch military camp was set up as a concentration camp for National Socialists ...". And in the days of February 12th, the shop stewards of the social democratic and communist parties arrested in Burgenland , as well as the free trade union federation, were also housed here. Members of the Patriotic Front from southern Burgenland were ordered to serve as guards here, but they were very strict with the prisoners and mostly treated them very brutally. Hunger strikes were often held against these methods . That was strenuous work for the volunteer fire brigade of Kaisersteinbruch, because they had to do duty in the camp on behalf of the Burgenland state government and take the prisoners who had been on hunger strike to a medical examination and artificial feeding on a stretcher .

Seven social democratic shop stewards from Kaisersteinbruch were imprisoned . About the intervention of some, in freedom-been colleagues at the district administration were Neusiedl am See and the state government, the same released after five days. In May 1934, the concentration camp was closed again and eight of them were made available to the army economy for breeding foals, calves and sheep. In addition, large police and gendarmerie departments from all over Austria were housed here over the summer , where they were trained in sniper shooting and close-range combat.

Camp for National Socialists

It had been the easiest for the communists to make their party apparatus illegal; for them arrest meant only a gradual difference to the general persecution. For the Social Democrats, however, these measures came as a shock. For the National Socialists, however, the camp had a fundamentally different meaning. The feeling of being a martyr for a “holy cause” and the unwavering belief in a reward for hardships from Hitler brought with it a mood of believing, joyful expectation .

And four years later

Press release from June 15, 1938.

Tour of the former Kaisersteinbruch prisoners: On Sunday, a tour of the Kaisersteinbruch comrades took place on the Traunsee with the steamer, who had gathered for a meeting in Traunkirchen . At the meeting, ministers took Reinthaller part .

About 600 men from all districts of Upper Austria were in the course of January 1934, the detention camp Kaisersteinbruch in Burgenland brought. Most of the Upper Austrian and also some of the Styria and Lower Austria were housed in the barracks 22 ..

Paul Koller

Paul Koller was mayor of the free city of Eisenstadt from 1925 to 1929, and vice mayor from 1930 to 1934. During his tenure, Eisenstadt was promoted to the state capital. For 3 months he was detained in the " Kaisersteinbruch concentration camp " and placed under police supervision. As a result of this political persecution during the government of the Home Guard Fascists, his family was in dire straits. He joined the resistance in the communists and was Vice Mayor of Eisenstadt from 1945 to 1950.

See also

literature

  • Sn: Austrian concentration camps . In: Swiss monthly books . Journal for politics, economy, culture . Volume 14 / April 1934 - March 1935, ZDB -ID 2600245-0 . Cooperative for the publication of the Swiss monthly books, Zurich 1935, pp. 98-102. - doi : 10.5169 / seals-157842 .
  • Gerhard Jagschitz : The detention camps in Austria, especially the Kaisersteinbruch detention camp. In: Helmuth Furch (Ed.): 400 years of the Kaisersteinbruch. 1590-1990. Festschrift, 1990 ISBN 978-3-9504555-1-9 , pp. 58-60.
  • Gerhard Jagschitz: The detention camps in Austria. In: Ludwig Jedlicka, Rudolf Neck (ed.): From the Justizpalast to Heldenplatz. Studies and documentation 1927 to 1938. Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1975, pp. 128–151.
  • Helmuth Furch: Historical Lexicon Kaisersteinbruch. Stopping camp 1st band. Kaisersteinbruch 2004, ISBN 978-3-9504555-8-8 , p. 32ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Eisenstädter Zeitung" of January 27, 1934
  2. ↑ "THINGSTÄTTE" ANIF
  3. ^ Archive of Heiligenkreuz Abbey: Notes from Father Clemens Lissy, parish administrator in Kaisersteinbruch
  4. ^ "Eisenstädter Zeitung" of March 4, 1934
  5. ^ Text by Vinzenz Böröcz on "Anhalt camp Kaisersteinbruch" (excerpts). In: Historical Lexicon, page 34
  6. ^ "Eisenstädter Zeitung" of March 11, 1934
  7. ↑ Josef Wolf (1892–1966): A life in Kaisersteinbrucher, especially the years 1938–1955 , year of disaster 1934 . Page 34. In: Communications of the Museum and Culture Association Kaisersteinbruch , November 2005. ISBN 978-3-9504555-3-3 .
  8. ^ Jagschitz: Detention camp
  9. ↑ Linzer Volksblatt from June 15, 1938
  10. ↑ Linzer Tages-Post from June 15, 1938.
  11. ↑ Koller Paul, 1950 (Resistance and persecution in Burgenland 1934-1945). In: Historisches Lexikon Kaisersteinbruch

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 17.6 ″  N , 16 ° 42 ′ 6.5 ″  E