Internment camp Karlstein an der Thaya
The internment camp Karlstein an der Thaya was set up in Karlstein Castle (Lower Austria) in Karlstein an der Thaya from 1914 . In the internment nationals were made with Austria-Hungary established in the war contained States. Citizens of the Danube Monarchy were also interned here if they were suspected of being friendly with an enemy state.
After a report was made to Vienna on August 15, 1914 that Count van der Straten's empty castle would be available for 150 people and the necessary security personnel from August 16, the met on August 18 at around 11 p.m. First transport of 95 people on foot in Karlstein an der Thaya after they had been brought to Dobersberg by Thayatalbahn .
The district captain of Waidhofen an der Thaya sent the Lower Austrian Lieutenancy in Vienna a report that the castle , which had been vacant since 1832 , was poorly built, had no windows and no heatable stoves. Nevertheless, the next 71 foreigners followed on August 21.
After a local inspection by the district captain of Waidhofen an der Thaya, Alexander Ritter Bosizio von Thurnberg and Jungsegg , most of the workforce was evacuated from the dilapidated castle to the Grossau internment camp ( Grossau Castle ). A smaller group came to the internment camp in Kautzen . Another group of financially well-off people, for whom the risk of fleeing was assessed as low, was quartered in Karlstein in private quarters that they had to pay for themselves (see below: Konfinierungsstation)
After the camp had been cleared on September 7, 1914 and the necessary renovation work was to begin, despite the protest of the Waidhofen district administration, a transport of 170 people from Galicia and Bukovina , who were suspected of being Russophile, arrived at the Lieutenancy . These Austrians had to be quartered here because the Styrian internment camp Thalerhof near Graz was not yet completed.
On October 9, 1914, this group was able to be relocated to Styria together with other residents interned in the area of the Waidhofen District Administration - a total of around 200 people .
After the adaptation work at Karlstein Castle had been completed, the camp was reopened on October 28, 1914 as a family station for women, children and married couples.
After the typhus - epidemic in internment Drosendorf at the beginning of the year 1915 were to replace the beds on straw iron beds purchased.
Also in 1915 other rooms in the castle were made habitable. In summer, the port attached to the power station of Münchreith electric lighting. In the first half of 1916 the Karlstein gendarmerie was connected to the public telephone network .
In June 1916 the family station was closed on the instructions of the War Surveillance Office in order to be able to accommodate ministers and high-ranking military from Montenegro here. Only 30 Polish inmates remained on the occasion of this partial eviction on June 23rd and 24th to serve the Montenegrins . On September 10, 1916, the War Surveillance Office approved their "strict confinement" (i.e. living and eating in the castle, open from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to sunset).
In 1916 a camp hospital with 25 beds was set up in a house in Karlstein.
Just like prisoners of war, internees were also used to work in and outside the camp. At the beginning of 1918 , the tailoring workshops in Karlstein and Grossau ran out of thread , so that no repairs to clothing or other tailoring work were possible for the next six weeks. The war-related shortage was also noticeable on the menu, which became more and more monotonous and more and more often only had beets to offer. After the end of the war, Béla Kun and his followers were interned in Karlstein after they had previously been housed in the Drosendorf internment camp for a few weeks .
Karlstein confirmation station
In addition to the internment camp in Karlstein Castle on the Thaya, there was also a "Konfinierungsstation" for 40 people in Karlstein since October 28, 1914, after the district administration had asked the mayor of Karlstein about the number of accommodations in private quarters.
In the confinement stations, people were accommodated in private quarters for whom the risk of escape was not rated as high. In addition, they had to be in a financial position to pay for their own accommodation and meals.
The confiscated had to report to the control authorities at certain times and to be in their accommodations at the prescribed times. They were allowed to move freely in the place and the surrounding area within certain marked limits.
literature
- Reinhard Mundschütz: Internment in the Waldviertel. The internment camps and stations of the BH Waidhofen an der Thaya 1914 - 1918. Vienna 2002 (Vienna, University, dissertation, 2002).
Coordinates: 48 ° 52 '54.2 " N , 15 ° 24' 5.8" E