Walter Fantl-Brumlik

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Walter Fantl-Brumlik (born March 6, 1924 in Loosdorf ; † October 24, 2019 ) was an Austrian locksmith , survivor of the Holocaust and contemporary witness .

Life

Walter was born the son of Hilda and Arthur Fantl-Brumlik and had a carefree childhood in Bischofstetten . His sister Gertrude was three years older. His father ran a business with goods of all kinds - "from pipes to horse whips". After the " Anschluss of Austria " to the Nazi state , Walter and Gertrude were no longer allowed to attend school as Jews.

14-year-old Walter and his father were arrested on November 10, 1938 in the neighboring village of Kilb after the November pogroms . His father “was very respected. That is why none of the gendarmerie officers were present on November 10th, and nobody wanted to arrest him. They did that from the neighborhood. ”Father and son were released. “After the connection, my German shepherd Jux protected me from physical attacks. In 1939 my family was forced by the Nazis to sell our house and business. Then we were brought in a truck from Bischofstetten to Vienna to a Jewish collective apartment in the second district. "

Fantl-Brumlik learned the trade of mechanic in Vienna and, as a locksmith, had to maintain the apartments of SS members and other Nazis. Attempts to emigrate failed. On October 1, 1942, he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto with his parents and sister . In autumn 1944 the family was separated. Father and son were selected for transport to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp , where they arrived on September 29th. “At that time, the camp doctor Josef Mengele made the selection after our arrival and said to my father 'left' and to me 'right'. Since then I have never seen my father again. "Fantl-Brumlik could not forget the smell of the crematoria and the inhumane conditions in Auschwitz:" When we were on the way to Auschwitz-Birkenau, I asked a kapo what smells like that here would. Then he looked at me and asked if I really wanted to know. I said yes. Then he pointed his hand up and just said 'your father'. "

In just 112 days in the concentration camp, he lost weight to 37 kilos, became a "Muselmann" and had a purulent inflammation on the sole of the foot. He had reported as a locksmith , had been transferred to the Gleiwitz I subcamp , where he had to work day and night in underground vaults to carry out heavy repairs for the Reichsbahn . The daily way from the camp to the workshop was a gauntlet run. “You always just made sure that you didn't go outside in the column, not last. One was safest in the middle, ”he says. "There have been deaths every day." Those who were hanged or shot were put on display. There was no shift on Sundays, but the internees had to drag stones - purely as harassment. He became friends with Oskar Weiss, Ernst Sonntag, Sigi Rittberg and Leo Luster in the concentration camp.

There was a selection on January 18, 1945, and the death march began at three in the morning . Minus 20 degrees, icy wind. Those who couldn't keep up were shot. On the first day we went to Reigersfeld , on the second day to the Blechhammer concentration camp . Walter could no longer march on on his own. His comrades helped him. The train should have moved on from Blechhammer to the Groß-Rosen , Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camps . Walter was one of the group that decided to stay. I couldn't help it. “I couldn't even get up. And suddenly it was said: You are free, you can leave the barracks. And those who believed that were mowed down outside by the SS rifle volleys. ”It became quiet in the camp. Suddenly the SS was there again, setting fire to barracks and firing. The comrade below was hit. After the liberation he was completely emaciated and his survival was not certain. But he took hope, wanted to see mother and sister again. “I believed it so firmly.” Ernst Sonntag spoke Russian and learned that the situation on site was not safe. They marched to Cracow , to Katowice , to Sagan, and were fed by Russians. Walter finally got back to Theresienstadt via Cottbus in June 1945 . There he learned that his mother and sister had been deported to Auschwitz, eleven days after father and son.

The sister, trained as an infant helper and educator, was then deported to the Kurzbach camp in Silesia, where she had to do heavy earthwork. When the Red Army advanced , they were forced to march into the Groß-Rosen concentration camp , later to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp . There has been no news about her since October 1944.

Walter Fantl-Brumik returned to Vienna, where he lived to the end. In 1954 he married his wife Edith.

Testimony

Fantl made himself available as a contemporary witness until 2014, gave a detailed video interview to the Steven Spielberg project Shoah Foundation in 1997, visited schools, universities and public education institutions such as the DÖW , and allowed his life story to be published in the media and internet platforms. For many decades he pasted the tattooed concentration camp prisoner number on his forearm with Hansaplast when he went to the swimming pool or wore a short-sleeved shirt. Gerhard Zeillinger on Fantl's change in his role as a contemporary witness: “It took a long time before the courage to uncover. I don't remember which school it was in when Walter […] suddenly rolled up his sleeve at the end of his lecture and showed the number . From then on he did it in front of every class and sometimes the students would ask if they could really look at them. They hesitated, stopped a meter or two in front of them, and Walter had to encourage them, come over here, it's completely harmless! "

memories

As a 14 year old in his hometown:

“In the evening the SA marched by, it was well represented in Bischofstetten. They sang National Socialist songs. Among other things, a song with the line, When the Jewish blood splatters from the knife. I can only remember this passage "

- Walter Fantl-Brumlik : The last contemporary witnesses remember

Before the forced move to Vienna, the father had to shoot the beloved dog because it was very clingy and the family could not take it with them:

“My sister and I cried a lot when my father told us he had to shoot the joke. Later in the concentration camp I remembered it and said to myself: And now here in Auschwitz, they are doing things like that with us. "

- Walter Fantl-Brumlik : The last contemporary witnesses

About Otto Moll , who headed the special commandos in the crematoria and gas chambers in Auschwitz and later was camp commandant in Gleiwitz:

“I can still hear him yelling at us on the roll call square: Don't believe that you are walking in freedom! Before the Russians come, I'll make you all cold! "

- Walter Fantl-Brumlik : Bring the matter to an end

About experiences as a contemporary witness:

“Some children are really very interesting. In one [letter] a schoolgirl wrote: 'When I held a Star of David in my hand, I knew that it belonged to a doomed person.' Such children and committed teachers motivate me a lot. "

- Walter Fantl-Brumlik : The last contemporary witnesses

About his survival - he was one of around 100 survivors of a 5,000 transport:

“During the two years in Theresienstadt we said to ourselves: You can somehow get through it. And in Gleiwitz we said to ourselves: Maybe it will work out. We knew roughly where the front was, that the war would soon be over. Only in retrospect did I understand how close it all was. "

- Walter Fantl-Brumlik : Bring the matter to an end

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holocaust survivor Walter Fantl dies. In: kleinezeitung.at . October 24, 2019, accessed October 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c Karin Schuh: The last contemporary witnesses remember. In: diepresse.com . November 8, 2013, accessed October 26, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Karin Berger: Walter was 14 when he was loaded onto a truck ( memento from January 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), A Letter To The Stars .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Claudia Aurednik: The last contemporary witnesses. In: progress-online.at . July 6, 2013, accessed October 26, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Gerhard Zeillinger : Bring the matter to an end. In: The Standard . January 17, 2015, A1-A2.
  6. ↑ Visit by contemporary witness Walter Fantl-Brumlik. GRG 15 Schmelz, accessed on January 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ Presentation: “Videographed Memory” ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), University of Vienna , April 9, 2014.
  8. ↑ Contemporary witnesses: "I got to know the real Viennese". In: diepresse.com , November 8, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Fantl-Brumlik, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fantl, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian locksmith, survivor of the Holocaust and contemporary witness
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Loosdorf
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 2019