Leopold Engleitner

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Leopold Engleitner at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2011

Leopold Engleitner (born July 23, 1905 in Aigen-Voglhub, Strobl municipality ; † April 21, 2013 in Puchenau ) was an Austrian victim of National Socialism. He denied as a Jehovah's Witness to military service and was in the three concentration camps Buchenwald , Niederhagen and Ravensbruck interned, whose oldest survivor he was in each case. Engleitner was the oldest Austrian and was considered the world's oldest male concentration camp survivor. In fact, however, Israel Kristal , of Polish origin , who was born on September 15, 1903, was probably the oldest survivor of the concentration camp.

Engleitner was the holder of the Golden Sign of Merit of the Republic of Austria and the Cross of Merit on the ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

Life

Leopold Engleitner grew up in Bad Ischl and, as a child, had encounters with Emperor Franz Joseph from afar . In the early 1930s he studied the Bible intensively , changed his religion and was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness in 1932. During the time of Austrofascism , he had to struggle with religious intolerance and persecution from his environment and the authorities.

In 1938, after the " Anschluss of Austria " , he came into conflict with the ideology of National Socialism due to his refusal to give up his faith and to do military service in Hitler's army .

Captivity and end of the war

On April 4, 1939 he was in Bad Ischl by the Gestapo arrested in Linz and Wels in custody taken. From October 9, 1939 to July 15, 1943 he was imprisoned in the Buchenwald , Niederhagen and Ravensbrück concentration camps. The simple farmhand found the courage to obey his conscience and refuse to serve in Hitler's army. He did not greet with “Heil Hitler!”. In the Niederhagen concentration camp, Leopold Engleitner refused to sign the “Revers” (declaration) and thereby renounce his belief, although this would have enabled him to be released from the concentration camp. Engleitner bought a suitcase in the concentration camp for the seemingly impossible journey home. Despite brutal treatment in the concentration camps, his will to stand up for his principles and to reject military service remained unbroken. In July 1943, weighing only 28 kilograms, he was released from the Ravensbrück concentration camp on the condition that he undertook “ lifelong forced labor in agriculture”.

After his return home, he worked on a farm in St. Wolfgang . However, three weeks before the end of the war, on April 17, 1945, Engleitner received the draft order for the German Wehrmacht . He did not obey the call and decided to flee to the mountains of the Salzkammergut . There he hid in the Meistereben alpine hut and in a cave.

On May 5, 1945, Leopold Engleitner was able to return home from his escape and initially continued to work as a farmhand on the farm in St. Wolfgang. When he no longer wanted to work in agriculture in 1946, the Bad Ischl employment office refused to do so on the grounds that his “compulsory obligation” from the Nazi era was still valid. Only interventions on the part of the American occupying forces led to his being released from the obligation in April 1946.

For Leopold Engleitner, the years after the war were marked by exclusion and incomprehension.

Biography and documentaries - activities as a contemporary witness in Europe and the USA

It was only after the author and film producer Bernhard Rammerstorfer documented his life in 1999 in the book and the documentary "No instead of Yes and Amen" that the public became aware of him. In the meantime, Engleitner and Rammerstorfer gave lectures at universities, schools and memorials in Germany , Italy , Austria , Russia , Switzerland and the USA .

In 2004 the English version of the book and film "Unbroken Will" were published in America and by Engleitner and Rammerstorfer on a presentation tour at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC , at Columbia University in New York and at Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles . This made it an international symbol of courage, tolerance and loyalty to principles.

In 2006 Engleitner and Rammerstorfer undertook a second lecture tour through the United States, where they gave lectures in Washington D. C. ( Georgetown University ), New York (Columbia University), Chicago (Harold Washington College), Skokie (Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois), Palo Alto , San Francisco Bay ( Stanford University ) and Los Angeles ( Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust ) held. Engleitner was now the oldest survivor of the Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Ravensbrück concentration camps.

In 2007 the book was published in the French version "Une volonté de fer". In 2008 Rammerstorfer published the new version of Engleitner's Unbroken Will , which was also presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2008. Engleitner's letters from captivity that have been lost for almost 60 years, original protocols and concentration camp factual reports, as well as traumatic childhood experiences almost 100 years ago, combine to form an impressive testimonial. A touching short biography of the German conscientious objector Joachim Escher paints an even more precise picture of that time. Escher was imprisoned in various prisons and the concentration camps Sachsenhausen, Niederhagen and Buchenwald from 1937 to 1945. In Buchenwald concentration camp, he had to serve the former French government members Georges Mandel and Léon Blum , who were held hostage .

In his foreword, Austria's Federal President Heinz Fischer describes the book as a “milestone in reporting on the horrors of National Socialism”. Further forewords were written by the founder of the Austrian Memorial Service, Andreas Maislinger , “ Franz Jägerstätter and Leopold Engleitner” and by Walter Manoschek , University of Vienna , “What engagement can bring about”.

In 2009, the new English book Unbroken Will was published on the occasion of the third lecture tour through the United States, at Harvard University. Engleitner and Rammerstorfer gave lectures at the following universities and institutions: Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida; Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg College, Florida; Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, California; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Moorpark College, California; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, California.

The Russian translation of the book Unbroken Will ("Несломленная воля") was published in 2009 in Russia. Engleitner and Rammerstorfer presented the book in September 2009 in Moscow in the Central Journalist House and in the “BIBLIO-GLOBUS” bookshop.

Even in old age, Leopold Engleitner spared no effort and, as a contemporary witness against forgetting, traveled over 150,000 kilometers with his friend and biographer Bernhard Rammerstorfer to lectures at schools, universities and memorials in Europe, Russia and the USA.

In November 2012, at the age of 107, he even traveled to the USA to personally present the new documentary "LADDER in the LIONS 'DEN" about his life story at Laemmle's Town Center 5 in Encino, Los Angeles. The film "LADDER in the LIONS 'DEN" won international film awards at the Fallbrook International Film Festival 2013 in California, USA, and the Rincòn International Film Festival 2013 in Puerto Rico in April 2013.

Rehabilitation and Recognition

In 2006 Leopold Engleitner and his biographer Bernhard Rammerstorfer received the Elfriede Grünberg Prize from the Wels Initiative against Fascism . On May 30, 2007, Engleitner was honored by the Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer with the Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria and by the German Federal President Horst Köhler with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . On March 5th, 2008 he received the Ring of Honor of the City of Bad Ischl from Mayor Hannes Heide . In 2009 he was presented with the medal of honor of the parish of St. Wolfgang.

Overview of the persecution under Austrofascism from 1934 to 1938

  • Spring 1934 - 48 hours imprisonment: Bad Ischl prison
  • Winter 1934/35 - 48 hours imprisonment: Bad Ischl prison
  • January 5, 1936 to March 30, 1936: St. Gilgen and Salzburg prisons
  • September 19, 1937 to October 14, 1937: Bad Aussee prison

Overview of the persecution during the National Socialism

  • April 4, 1939 to October 5, 1939: Bad Ischl, Linz and Wels prisons
  • October 5, 1939 to October 9, 1939: Transport to the concentration camp (prisons in Salzburg and Munich)
  • October 9, 1939 to March 7, 1941: Buchenwald concentration camp
  • March 7, 1941 to April 1943: Niederhagen concentration camp in Wewelsburg
  • April 1943 to July 15, 1943: Ravensbrück concentration camp
  • July 22, 1943 to April 10, 1946 (!): Forced labor in agriculture
  • April 17, 1945 to May 5, 1945: Escape into the mountains following a draft order

The song "Unbroken Will"

In May 2009 the songwriters Mark David Smith and Rex Salas from California wrote the song Unbroken Will for Leopold Engleitner. He was presented this song, sung by singer Phillip Ingram, on May 22, 2009 during an event at Moorpark College, California. The song and the lyrics can be downloaded from the website www.rammerstorfer.cc .

literature

  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer , Leopold Engleitner: Unbroken Will - The Extraordinary Courage of a Simple Man, Leopold Engleitner, geb. 1905. Herzogsdorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502462-0-9 .
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer, Leopold Engleitner: Unbroken Will - The Extraordinary Courage of a Simple Man, Leopold Engleitner, geb. 1905. Extended and revised edition, Herzogsdorf 2011, ISBN 978-3-9502462-2-3 .
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer, On the witness stand: What else we should say, 100 questions - 900 answers, interviews with Holocaust survivors and Nazi victims. Herzogsdorf 2012, ISBN 978-3-9502462-3-0 .
  • Life Story Though Weak, I Am Powerful The Watchtower, May 1, 2005, pp. 23-28.

International film awards

For the film Ladder in the Lions' Den

  • Winner: “Best Documentary Short” at the “Fallbrook International Film Festival 2013” ​​film festival, Fallbrook, California, USA
  • Winner: “Best Short Documentary” at the film festival “Rincón International Film Festival 2013”, Rincón, Puerto Rico
  • Winner: "Audience Choice Award for a Documentary" at the film festival "Marina del Rey Film Festival 2013", Los Angeles County, California, USA
  • Winner: “Best International Feature Documentary” at the “Laughlin International Film Festival 2013” ​​film festival, Nevada, USA
  • Official selection: “Festival of Tolerance: 7th Zagreb International Jewish Film Festival 2013”, Croatia
  • Official selection: “Festival of Tolerance: 1st Rijeka International Jewish Film Festival 2013”, Croatia
  • Official selection: "Chagrin Documentary Film Festival 2013", Chagrin Falls, Ohio, USA
  • Official selection: Life Fest Film Festival 2014, Hollywood, California, USA
  • Nomination: "Alan Fortunoff Humanitarian Award" at the "Long Island International Film Expo 2014" film festival, Long Island, New York, USA
  • Nomination: "Best Documentary" at the "Long Island International Film Expo 2014" film festival, Long Island, New York, USA
  • Official selection: "Green Bay Film Festival 2015", Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
  • Winner: "Special Jury Mention" at the "European International Film Festival 2016", St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Winner: "Best Documentary Short" at the film festival "Cutting Edge International Film Festival 2016", Florida, USA
  • Winner: "Audience Award" at the "Cutting Edge International Film Festival 2016" film festival, Florida, USA
  • Winner: “Best Religious / Spiritual Film” at the “Erie International Film Festival 2016” film festival, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Official selection: "GardenCity International Film Festival 2017", Bangalore, India

For the film TAKING THE STAND

  • Winner: "Alan Fortunoff Humanitarian Award" at the "Long Island International Film Expo 2016" film festival, Long Island, New York, USA
  • Nomination: "Best Documentary" at the "Long Island International Film Expo 2016" film festival, Long Island, New York, USA
  • Winner: "Best Short Documentary Film" at the film festival "Laughlin International Film Festival 2016", Laughlin, Nevada, USA
  • Finalist: European International Film Festival 2017, St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Finalist: Golden Hollywood International Film Festival 2019, Hollywood, California, USA

Movies

  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer (producer and director): No instead of yes and amen. Leopold Engleitner: 100 years of unbroken will , 180 min., 2005, ISBN 3-200-00279-4 . Also in English: Unbroken Will (2004).
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer (producer and director): Unbroken will on a US lecture tour: Leopold Engleitner's tireless commitment to tolerance, humanity and peace at the age of 101 , 50 min., 2008
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer (producer and director): On the witness stand: What else we should say, 100 questions - 900 answers, interviews with Holocaust survivors , 128 min., 2012
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer (producer and director) with co-producer A. Ferenc Gutai: Ladder in the Lions' Den - Freedom Is a Choice, Nazi Concentration Camp Survivor Leopold Engleitner: A 107-Year-Old Eyewitness Tells His Story , 40 min., 2012
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer (producer and director): LEADER in the LÖWENGRUBE - What does freedom mean? Concentration camp survivor Leopold Engleitner: A 107-year-old contemporary witness tells his story , 44 min., 2013

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. US film award for oldest Austrian , Bad Ischl district review, April 18, 2013.
  2. ^ A native of Strobler as the oldest concentration camp survivor , Salzburger Nachrichten, May 3, 2013.
  3. ↑ The oldest Holocaust survivor is 111 years old ( memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. israelnetz.com, September 16, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.israelnetz.com
  4. Ernst Gansinger: Leopold Engleitner - Great Faith, Great Man ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Church newspaper Diözese Linz, edition 2010/17, April 28, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 85.126.104.81
  5. ^ Andreas Maislinger: Franz Jägerstätter and Leopold Engleitner In: Bernhard Rammerstorfer: Unbroken Will. The extraordinary courage of a simple man . (2008)

Proof of film awards