Markersdorf Air Base

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Former Markersdorf Air Base
Markersdorf (Lower Austria)
Markersdorf
Markersdorf
Characteristics
Coordinates

48 ° 11 '10 "  N , 15 ° 30' 2"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 11 '10 "  N , 15 ° 30' 2"  E
Height above MSL 255 m (837  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 0.8 km south of Markersdorf-Zentrum,
0.4 km east of Wultendorf,
1.7 km west of Haindorf
train Western Railway
Local transport Bus route
Basic data
opening 1939
closure 1945
operator German airforce
surface about 640 ha
Employees 2500-3000




i7

i11 i13

BW
Approximate location of the former Markersdorf air base in Lower Austria

The airbase Markersdorf was from 1939 to 1945, a military airfield of the Air Force of the German Wehrmacht in the community Markersdorf an der Pielach in St. Pölten , Lower Austria . Markersdorf an der Pielach is today one of ten localities in the market town of Markersdorf-Haindorf .

Air base

Reminiscent of the air base today in Markersdorf an axis running from southeast to northwest, towards the former site of the air base, about 350 meters long street, the airbase road and several bunker and remains of foundations, such as that of an aircraft shooting range east of Markersdorf.

history

In 1937, under the Austro-Fascist dictatorship, the Austrian army at the time planned a military airport in Markersdorf and carried out measurements. After Austria was annexed to the National Socialist German Reich , this planning and preparatory work was resumed by the Wehrmacht . On May 13, 1939, the groundbreaking ceremony was held by Reich Minister Hermann Göring, who is responsible for the Air Force, as part of a large-scale ceremony. The first construction work began soon afterwards. When the Wehrmacht fled the air base on April 20, 1945, many facilities were blown up and further destroyed by the advancing Russian military. In the post-war period, the area was largely returned to agriculture. Ruins are said to still be partially visible today.

Position and extent

The Markersdorf Air Base is located on the southern boundary of Markersdorf to the West Autobahn (A1 / E60 / E55 / E52) at an altitude of about 255  m above sea level. A. The air base covered an area of ​​about 640  hectares and formed an irregular polygon . Approx. 60 hectares of the entire area in the north were built with eight barracks , a hangar for aircraft repairs, five hangars , two boiler houses, vehicle hangars with workshops , farm buildings with kitchens, a cinema and a post office as well as an administration and training wing and, subsequently, an aircraft production facility. In 1942, four apartment blocks with 68 apartments and 17 attic apartments were built in Markersdorf itself. The airfield itself was paved with a turf, only a small area in front of the hangars was concreted.

It is about 800 meters as the crow flies from the center of Markersdorf. From Wultendorf about 400 meters and from Haindorf about 1700 meters.

business

General

The air base created jobs in the structurally weak region and boosted the economy, as the people working there had to be looked after. The air base had a staff of about 2500 to 3000 people (soldiers of the flying personnel and the ground personnel. The military ground personnel consisted of guards, mechanics, firefighters etc., as well as civilian workers, administrative personnel, radio operators and kitchen personnel etc.). At the beginning of the war in 1939 there were no more unemployed in Markersdorf . At the air base also was Angorakaninchenzucht operated whose fur was used to feed the pilot clothes. There was also a mechanical training workshop for around 15 to 20 apprentices.

In 1941 a prisoner-of-war camp consisting of five barracks was built in the western part of the air base area, the internees had to work in agriculture and replace drafted local forces.

Military operation

As part of the ground organization, the Markersdorf Air Base was organizationally subordinate to the Luftgau Command XVII, founded on July 1, 1938 . The pilot school A / B 72 was relocated on February 22, 1940 from Detmold to Markersdorf and was there from 1943 until it was relocated to Schwerin on May 11, 1944 , under the designation "Higher Aviation Training Command 17". During the war, the air base served primarily as an education and training base and for test flights for the air force and a resort as well as subordinate production facilities. In 1944, the average life expectancy of an aviator after training was about three months.

It was not until the end of the Second World War that the Markersdorf air base, along with other air bases located on Austrian territory, served as a combat base as part of the so-called "Reich Defense" (see also: Total War ).

When the Red Army crossed the then Reich border on March 29, 1945 near Klostermarienberg in Burgenland , the military situation was fundamentally changed. The Red Army reached St. Pölten in the night of April 15, 1945, and the front came to a brief halt on April 16, 1945 near Gerersdorf , near Markersdorf. These circumstances resulted in chaotic conditions for the air base

Bombardments and damage

The air base was bombed on July 8, 1944, July 26, 1944 and August 23, 1944, with buildings in the village itself and the surrounding communities being partially completely destroyed.

The first air attack was supposed to destroy the brickworks in the nearby Feilendorf , but the attack missed the target and some bombs hit the area of ​​the air base . A hall and above all the prisoner of war camp were destroyed. The second attack on July 26, 1944 and August 23, 1944 hit the air base. Buildings, planes and parts of the runway were destroyed. There were mainly fatalities in the first and third attacks.

Resistance group

At the beginning of 2015, on the basis of a victim welfare application from Antonia Kraushofer in the Lower Austrian State Archives in St. Pölten, it was determined that a resistance group consisted of Wehrmacht members at the Markersdorf air base and based on this welfare application the history of the group could basically be traced. This resistance group was no longer known as such.

The aim of the resistance group was to find like-minded people and, when the front approaches, to save bridges and railway systems that are in the vicinity from destruction. For this purpose, it was decided in autumn 1944 to set up a secret base in a forester's house near the ruins of Hohenegg Castle and subsequently set up and build earth bunkers to protect people, for weapons, food and other things.

The head of the resistance group was Johann Grimm. He put the group size at around 25 men in early 1945, nine of whom, including himself, formed the core of the group. Other group members known by name were:

Due to the chaotic conditions within the Wehrmacht and the escape movements after the Red Army approached Markersdorf, only about eight people from the resistance group were able to reach the earth bunker at Hohenegg Castle. On April 30, 1945, a 15-man Wehrmacht patrol found the bunker and arrested one person, and four other men were also arrested in a nearby clearing. Felix Kromp and Friedrich Plachy managed to escape after their arrest. Johann Scherer is said to have been arrested a few days earlier while eating a meal and taken to Amstetten. Josef Fischer, Karl Kraushofer and Alois Kattinger did not manage to escape and they were brought to Amstetten, handed over to the court martial of Luftgau Command XVII, which sentenced them to death by shooting at 5:00 p.m. on May 3, 1945 at 3:00 p.m. for desertion . The murder took place in a forest in the nearby village of Ardagger by firing squad and they were buried on the spot.

Trivia

The Markersdorf Air Base had its own football team as part of the Air Force Sports Club (LSV) Markersdorf. Such a club was an attractive prestige project and advertising medium for the Wehrmacht and many branches of the armed forces had their own sports teams and the players therefore wore the badges of their units.

Well-known Austrian games in LSV Markersdorf were (only temporarily due to the war) z. For example: Karl Sesta , Max Merkel , Adolf Huber , Lukas Aurednik , the German soccer players Walter Dzur or Paul Zielinski . Erwin Nytz (1914–1988), a Polish soccer player, was also employed at the Markersdorf air base for the local air force sports club.

The club played in the 1941/42 season in the Gauliga Niederdonau , which was carried out in the cup system at the time, but was not yet able to rise to the Danube-Alpenland division. Only in the 1942/43 season did the rise take place. In the 1943/44 season, the LSV took sixth place, u. a. before Rapid Vienna . Due to the course of the war, the club became sportily weaker and had to withdraw from the top division.

literature

  • Christine Schindler (Ed.): Fanatics, Duty Fulfillers, Resisters , Reichsgaue Niederdonau, Greater Vienna , Vienna 2016, Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance, ISBN 978-3-901142-66-6 .

Web links

Commons : Markersdorf-Haindorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I was shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , www.doew.at - Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance (publisher), fanatics, those who performed their duties, those who resisted. Reichsgaue Niederdonau, Greater Vienna, Vienna 2016 (= yearbook 2016), p. 83 ff, ISSN  1012-4535 .
  2. ↑ Marktgemeinde Markersdorf-Haindorf: In conversation with contemporary witnesses , Markersdorf an der Pielach 2015, self-published, p. 58.
  3. ↑ Marktgemeinde Markersdorf-Haindorf: In conversation with contemporary witnesses , Markersdorf an der Pielach 2015, self-published, p. 61.
  4. ↑ a b c Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , p. 83 f.
  5. ↑ a b c d Website of the community Haindorf-Markersdorf: The air base .
  6. ^ Website of the community of Haindorf-Markersdorf: The historical background of the market community of Markersdorf-Haindorf .
  7. ↑ A detailed plan can be found in the book of the market community Markersdorf-Haindorf: In conversation with contemporary witnesses , Markersdorf an der Pielach 2015, self-published, p. 127.
  8. ↑ Marktgemeinde Markersdorf-Haindorf: In conversation with contemporary witnesses , Markersdorf an der Pielach 2015, self-published, p. 125.
  9. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf Air Base near St. Pölten , p. 84 f.
  10. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , pp. 85 and 87.
  11. ↑ a b c d e Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , p. 88.
  12. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , p. 86.
  13. ↑ Marktgemeinde Markersdorf-Haindorf: In conversation with contemporary witnesses , Markersdorf an der Pielach 2015, self-published, p. 60.
  14. ^ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , p. 93.
  15. ↑ Stephan Roth: I would be shot at 5 am today ... , resistance at the airfield marker village near St. Poelten , S. 94th
  16. ↑ Website of the community Haindorf-Markersdorf: The air base .
  17. ↑ a b Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , p. 87.
  18. ↑ Opferfürsorgeakt Antonia Kraushofer, Noela ANÖLR VII / 1 1947 Zl 0099. The application was approved on March 4, 1947 by the St. Pölten magistrate by official decision, and awarded her the status as survivors of a victim under § 1 Victims Welfare Act (OFG). It was established: " that your husband was a member of the resistance group 'Flugplatz Markersdorf' and was therefore executed on May 3rd, 1945 ". A pension to secure livelihoods was rejected by a commission of the Federal Ministry for Social Administration in the meeting on June 7th, 1947 and determined that “in the absence of proof of the use of the above for a free Austria ” the requirements of § 1 OFG do not apply would. The official certificate including the beneficiary's booklet were withdrawn and declared invalid on October 9, 1947.
  19. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , pp. 83, 88, 97.
  20. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , pp. 92, 95.
  21. ↑ Stephan Roth: Since I am being shot at 5 o'clock today ... , Resistance at the Markersdorf air base near St. Pölten , pp. 95–97.
  22. ↑ Warschauer Zeitung, January 4, 1944, p. 6.