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Readers familiar with the Anschluss era in\nAustria, including the mass appeal of Hitler and National Socialism as well as\nthe large number of Austrian officials involved in the expulsion and massacre\nof their Jewish fellow citizens, will be astonished, even shocked, by the\nrevelations in this outstanding study. Based on exhaustive research in Germany,\nIsrael, the United States, Slovenia the Russian Federation, and Austria itself,\nthe authors demonstrate that with a staff of merely 900 officials and employees\nthe Vienna Gestapo controlled not only most of the \u201cOstmark,\u201d but also became the largest Gestapo headquarters in Greater\nGermany. Furthermore, many of its officials distinguished themselves as\ncommanders of SS Einsatzgruppen and even Nazi extermination centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nbook is divided into fourteen chapters, but in fact constitutes three main\nparts: the first discusses the establishment, organization, personnel, and\nroutine business undertaken at Gestapo headquarters, the second the brutal\npersecution of the Jews and r\u00e9sistance groups, the third post war prosecutions\nof Gestapo officials by the judiciary of the Second Austrian Republic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nauthors begin by explaining that even before the Anschluss refugee Austrian\nNazis in the Altreich, most notably, Rudolf Mildner and Adolf Eichmann had\ndrawn up extensive plans for the establishment of a Gestapo branch in Vienna\nthat would control of much of Lower Austria as well. And because most of the\npolice force, such as the chief, Otto Steinh\u00e4usl, were themselves Nazis or\nsympathetic to Hitler\u2019s movement it took only a few days for the Vienna Gestapo\nto begin operations. On 26 March, for example, the Gestapo seized the capacious\nMetropole Hotel as headquarters. Simultaneously, agents began rounding up Jews\nand leaders of the hated Christian Corporative regime to be dispatched to\nDachau. Here and throughout the book the writers stress that with sole\nexception of Franz Huber, a Bavarian Gestapo official working closely with\nReinhard Heydrich, leading members of the Vienna Gestapo were highly educated\nAustrians committed to Nazi ideology. Section heads tended to be lower middle\nclass in background, though a number possessed much needed technical skills,\nothers seeking job security. Between seventeen and thirty percent of the staff\nwere women, employed as clerical workers and typists. None committed\natrocities, but as the authors stress, they supported the regime and were fully\naware of Gestapo crimes, including the deportation and extermination of the\nJews, even in Auschwitz. Postwar claims to the contrary, only ten percent of\nthe Vienna Gestapo were Reich Germans; rotating on a regular basis they served\nonly a brief spell in the Metropole Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike\nthe East German Stasi or the Soviet KGB, the authors demonstrate that the\nVienna Gestapo was not a large organization capable of monitoring the entire\npopulation in those areas it controlled. Instead, the Gestapo relied on\ninformants and denouncers. The authors also take partial issue with Robert\nGellately\u2019s contention that the Nazi state was a \u201cself-policing society.\u201d\nWhether this was the case remains an open question. However, there can be no\ndoubt that Hitler\u2019s regime was both popular and enjoyed the support of an\noverwhelming majority of the Austrian people. To be sure, few were aware of the\nbrutalities of Gestapo imposed on their victims, but historical scholarship has\nrevealed that hundreds of Viennese onlookers cheered as they witnessed trucks\ncarrying Jews to collection centers to be deported to concentration camps or\nextermination centers in the East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe second part of this study (chapters 9-17), the authors discuss the savage\ntorture and persecution of the Jews and other resistance groups. The cruel,\nvindictive, and murderous persecution of Austrian Jewry has been described and\nanalyzed for decades, particularly by historians of the Holocaust. Under the\nauspices of Gestapo office II B 4 Viennese Jews were robbed of their assets,\nforced to emigrate, ghettoized, and in 1941-42 driven to collection points where\nthey were dispatched to extermination centers. As mentioned earlier, there is\nlittle new in these pages, although the authors provide exact amounts of Jewish\nassets seized by the regime, for example as early as 28 June 1938 the Nazis\nseized, RM 3,903,391, often keeping some of the belongings for themselves. And\nafter Kristallnacht in November, the Vienna Gestapo shipped RM 1,000,000 in\njewelry to Berlin, Finally, the authors calculate that Schirach, Ebner, and\nHuber were responsible for the murder of 48,000 individuals in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\ndiscussing the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church the authors remind\nreaders that the Nazis confronted a dilemma. On the one hand, the regime did\nnot wish to alienate the overwhelmingly Catholic population, not least because\nthe Anschluss had been welcomed by Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. On the other\nhand, the Gestapo sought both to seize clerical property and challenge the\nChristian religion itself. Unsurprisingly, it was Gestapo Deputy Chief Karl\nEbner, who orchestrated the assault. While formally leaving the Church in 1938,\nhe retained many friends among the higher clergy, who helped him pick and\nchoose what was to be secularized or expropriated. These measures included the\nimposition of a church tax, seizing the nearby abbey of Klosterneuburg,\nconfiscating various pamphlets, and monitoring the homilies of parish priests\nand curates. At the same time, the Gestapo proceeded brutally against organized\nCatholic Conservative resistance groups, most notably those led by Karl Roman\nScholz, Jakob Kastelic, and Karl Lederer. To this list may be added Sister\nMaria Restituta. All of whom, as well as many of their followers, were savagely\nbeaten and sent to the guillotine. The Vienna Gestapo also persecuted and\nmurdered members of smaller Catholic Conservative factions, though not as\nviciously as they did Communist groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\nthe Vienna Gestapo proceeded mercilessly against Communist resistance cells is\nboth well known and documented, particularly during the period following\nHitler\u2019s invasion of the Soviet Union. All but a handful of KP members apprehended\nby the Gestapo were tortured to death or executed. In March, 1944, for example,\na third of all arrests, including those taken into custody for pretty crimes,\nwere Communists. Nearly all of these had been betrayed by paid informants. The\nstool-pigeons, in turn, broadcast false information that enabled the Gestapo to\ntrack down and capture Soviet parachutists. In dealing with Revolutionary\nSocialists the Vienna Gestapo pursued policies of ambiguity. On the one hand, those\nof Jewish origin, such as K\u00e4the Leichter, were dispatched to concentration\ncamps or extermination centers, On the other, a number who had participated in\nthe February 1934 uprising tended to be well treated, in some cases hired as\nmunicipal workers or employees. The authors provide details on the maltreatment\nof Socialist resisters, as well as those who had fought against Franco in the\nSpanish Civil War, but for the most part concede that given their relatively\nsmall numbers they managed to avoid Gestapo detection and arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those\npages devoted to the suppression of non-organized resistance are exceptionally\nrevealing. The authors note that defeatist statements, malicious gossip,\nanti-Hitler jokes, and listening to foreign radio broadcasts were not uncommon.\nSome, such as simple wisecracks, were not even hostile to the Nazi regime. As\nmight be expected, those accused of what were minor misdemeanors were conveyed\nby anonymous letters, many of which revealed knowledge of the Holocaust. The\nGestapo responded by taking drastic measures against the accused. Of those\narrested for \u201cradio crimes,\u201d for example, nearly all were imprisoned and over\nhalf condemned to death. The objective here was to intimidate the population,\nby demonstrating that even minor crimes would not go unpunished. Much worse was\nthe fate of those apprehended for helping or hiding Jews in the eyes of the\nregime a capital offense. No fewer than 1,532 \u201cJewish Helpers\u201d were captured\nand subsequently murdered. The fact that only 110 Austrians have been honored\nas members of the \u201crighteous among nations\u201d at Yad Vashem, the authors lugubriously\nconclude, proves once again the ubiquitous anti-Semitic sentiment that\nprevailed in the \u201dOstmark\u201d during the Anschluss era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly,\nthe Vienna Gestapo was only marginally involved in the persecution of\nhomosexuals as was the case elsewhere in Hitler\u2019s domain. However, their agents\ndid establish an \u201cArbeitserziehungslager\u201d in Oberlanzendorf, apparently the\nonly one in annexed Austria. Regulations stipulated that incarcerated\nyoungsters should have taught proper work habits, but Gestapo men preferred shackling,\nbeatings, and short rations, so that many boys died of disease and physical\nabuse. At this point the authors modulate to describe the activities of those Viennese\nGestapo officials posted on \u201cexternal deployment,\u201d that is, the mass murder of\nhostages, partisans, POWs, Jews and other undesirables throughout Nazi occupied\nEurope. Among the most prominent were Heinrich Berger, who orchestrated the\nLidice and Lezaky massacres in 1942 and Karl Macher, who committed numerous\ncrimes in Greece. The authors provide the names of other Individuals, including\nagents operating in France against refugee Austrian Communists. In 1948 an\nAustrian Volksgericht sentenced Berger to eleven years in prison, but the\nauthors point out that he served only two years behind bars; in contrast,\nMacher was less fortunate in that he was re-arrested in 1970 and sentenced to\nthirty months in prison. As for those Gestapo officials most responsible for\nthe spasm of 1945 massacres that occurred in Vienna and Lower Austria \u2013\nMildner, Huber, and Ebner \u2013 all three escaped retribution or punishment. On the\nother hand, the authors remind us that some of the mass murders that took place\nin April, 1945 were often spontaneous and in a number of cases undertaken by\ncivilians seeking revenge for the Allied bombing raids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the final third of their study the\nauthors address the prosecution of Vienna Gestapo officials by the postwar\nAustrian government. This was no easy task as most Gestapo records had been\nburned or destroyed. Even so, by the end of May 1945, somewhere between 2,000\nto 5,500 Nazis had been taken into custody. A few months later the Renner\ngovernment established Volksgerichte (people\u2019s courts) to try Nazi war criminals.\nIt is remarkable that in the following decade 136,829 individuals were\narraigned, 28,148 indicted, and 13,607 convicted, including 43 who were\nsentenced to death. Aside from major figures such as Sey\u00df-Inquart, Kaltenbrunner,\nSchirach and five others who were tried in Nuremburg, died, or disappeared, the\nVolksgericht managed to identify and try many important officials of the Vienna\nGestapo, the most important of whom, the authors contend, were Karl Ebner,\nOthmar Trenker, Karl Silberbauer, Anton Br\u00f6dl and Johann Sanitzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly\nwhy the authors chose to discuss the cases of these seven perpetrators is not\naltogether clear, but the selection can be regarded as paradigmatic. Franz\nHuber, for example, had been interned in Nuremberg-Langwasser after the war. In\nApril, 1948 camp authorities requested that his file be forwarded to them for\nexamination. The Vienna police responded with only exiguous information. As a\nconsequence, a German Spruchkammer classified him as a \u201clesser offender,\u201d\nsentencing him to one year\u2019s probation and the payment of a small fine. Two\nyears later, he was retried but judged to be a \u201cparticularly hardworking police\nofficer.\u201d Soon thereafter the CIA recruited Huber as source of information\nabout the Soviet Union and shortly after permitted him to join Reinhard\nGehlen\u2019s Bundesnachrichtendienst. In short, the man who had headed the largest\nregional Gestapo headquarters in Hitler\u2019s realm received little more than a\nslap on the hand, retiring in 1967 with a sizeable pension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Karl\nEbner, Deputy Chief of the Vienna Gestapo responsible for the deportation of\nJews to the East, also received relatively lenient treatment. British\nauthorities remanded him to the Austrian judiciary in 1947 to be tried the\nfollowing year. Prosecutors presented irrefutable evidence of Ebner\u2019s major\nrole in the looting and deportation of the Jews, for which he was sentenced to\n20 years in prison. However, the court also took into account the testimony of twenty-three\nhigher clergymen, prelates, and officials of the Catholic Cartellverband whom\nEbner had protected as \u201creinsurance.\u201d All but four maintained that the\ndefendant has saved the lives of many people, thus saving him from what should\nhave been a death sentence. In 1953 Ebner was pardoned and in 1960 his academic\ntitle restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Othmar\nTrenker\u2019s career trajectory and postwar fate resembled that of Ebner. Known for\nhis brutal treatment of Gestapo victims, Trenker was tried by the Volksgericht\nin December, 1948. Like other high ranking Gestapo officials, he denied the\nindictment by relying on a technicality to contend that he had not been\nDepartment Head as charged. Further, the authors reveal, the state prosecutor\nbehaved more as a defense counsel than a prosecuting attorney. The court thus\nsentenced him to eighteen months in prison for \u201cillegality\u201d (because of his\nclandestine membership in the Nazi party before the Anschluss), but released\nhim for time already served in an American compound in Salzburg. The verdict\naroused such outrage that in October, 1949 Trenker was tried again, found guilty\nof \u201cenhanced interrogation,\u201d and sentenced to five years behind bars. A few\nmonths later, however, he was released on probation and in 1957 awarded a civil\nservice position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Karl\nSilberbauer was arrested and tried, in part for his role as a Gestapo official\nin the Netherlands. In Amsterdam SS-Hauptscharf\u00fchrer Silberbauer had\nparticipated in the arrest of Anne Frank. But this was unknown to the Austrian\nprosecutors. The tribunal realized that Silberbauer was not a major war\ncriminal and sentenced him to one year in prison. In 1952 Silberbauer applied\nfor the case to be reopened. In 1954 he was tried and acquitted, but not\npermitted to continue his career as a Vienna police officer. In 1963 Simon\nWiesenthal revealed that Silberbauer had been in charge of the house search in\nAugust 1944. Silberbauer was arrested again, but soon released with reference\nto his previous trial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anton\nBr\u00f6dl had been one of the most brutal, violent thugs in the Vienna Gestapo. In 1947\nhe surrendered to the authorities, pleading guilty to crimes against humanity.\nBut he was never brought to trial, as physicians and psychiatrists recommended\nthat be sent Steinhof psychiatric hospital to determine whether he was mentally\nsane. The physicians drew different conclusions, but in 1955 agreed that Br\u00f6dl\nwas not only delusionary paranoid but also a danger to society. Whether Br\u00f6dl\nwas mentally unbalanced, the authors agree, will never be known. But like other\nVienna Gestapo officials, he escaped punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ntrial and punishment of Johann Sanitzer, one of the main officials of the\nVienna Gestapo, differed somewhat from that of others brought before the bench\nfor extreme brutality, illegality, and \u201cenhanced interrogation.\u201d Because had\nstudied German history and philosophy, Sanitzer came close to outwitting the\nprosecution, cleverly pleading guilty to some crimes while denying others. In\naddition, he had pursued a policy of \u201creinsurance\u201d so that even Karl Seitz,\nLord Mayor of Vienna testified on his behalf. Nevertheless, in 1949 the court\nsentenced Sanitzer to life in prison. Two months later, Soviet occupying officers\nremoved him from Stein penitentiary and took him to Moscow where he was no\ndoubt tortured, beaten, and brutally treated. Not until the signing of the\nState Treaty in 1955 was he repatriated to Austria, where he was eventually\npardoned. In a sense, Sanitzer was a major Gestapo official who did manage to\nescape severe punishment and retribution, albeit not at the hands of his own\ncountrymen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\nis one to make of this remarkable book? The authors themselves provide an\nanswer, writing that \u201cthe Vienna Gestapo was the most important instrument of\nterror in Austria.\u201d (p. 358). With a staff of merely 900 individuals it\nexercised authority over 3.6 million people, controlling parts of Slovakia,\nHungary, Yugoslavia, Italy, and even border areas of Switzerland. In short, the\npower of the Vienna Gestapo has been underestimated. While much the information\nin the book is repetitious relying, for example, on numerous accounts of\nAustrian resistance movements, it does provide a great many previously unknown\ndetails. In addition, it reveals the significant role of informants in\napprehending and persecuting opponents, both real and imagined. Arguably, the\nmost revealing and disturbing section of the study focuses on the prosecution\nof Gestapo officiboals by the judiciary of the Second Austrian Republic. For a\ngreat many reasons, including the lack of hard evidence, the authors admit that\nthe judgments were far too lenient. To this may added that those indicted and\ntried, literally got away with murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evan\nBurr Bukey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elisabeth Boeckl-Klamper , Thomas Mang, and Wolfgang Neugebauer, The Vienna Gestapo 1938-1945: Crimes, Perpetrators, Victims. (Berghahn, New York and Oxford, 2022). $ 153,45. Readers familiar with the Anschluss era in Austria, including the mass appeal of Hitler and National Socialism as well as the large number of Austrian officials involved in the expulsion and massacre … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.austrianresistance.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}