Mühlviertler Hasenjagd
Encyclopedia
The Mühlviertler Hasenjagd was a Nazi war crime that took place near Linz
in the Mühlviertel
, a region in Upper Austria
. In February 1945, around 500 Soviet prisoners escaped from Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
in the Mühlviertel. Local civilians, soldiers and local Nazi organizations hunted down the escapees for three weeks, murdering most of them. Of the original 500 prisoners who took part in the escape attempt, eleven managed to succeed, remaining free till the end of the war.
The SS
later referred to the three week search as a hasenjagd, or "rabbit chase". The outbreak itself and the fact that some did manage to escape were unique in Mauthausen's history.
in the electrified fence. The prisoners then climbed over the fence.
Of those 500, 419 prisoners did manage to leave the camp grounds but many escapees were already too weakened from starvation to reach the woods and collapsed in the snow outside the camp, where they were shot that night by SS machine guns. All who failed to reach the woods and another 75 prisoners in the barracks who had remained behind because they were too sick to follow, were executed that night. Over 300 prisoners did manage to reach the woods that first night.
divisions, the gendarmerie, the Wehrmacht
, the Volkssturm
and the Hitler Youth
. Local citizens were also incited to take part. The SS camp commandant ordered the gendarmerie "not to bring anyone back alive". No one was forced to participate in the manhunt, they did it willingly.
The majority of the escapees were apprehended and most were shot or beaten to death on the spot. Some 40 murdered prisoners' bodies were taken to Ried in der Riedmark
, where the search was based, and stacked in a pile of corpses, "just like the bag at an autumn hunt", as one former gendarme, Otto Gabriel, put it. Members of the Volkssturm who brought prisoners back to Mauthausen were berated for not having beaten them to death instead. Of the 300 who did survive the escape that first night, 57 were returned to the camp.
The Linz criminal investigations department later reported to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, "Of the 419 fugitives [who managed to leave the camp] [...], in and around Mauthausen
, Gallneukirchen
, Wartberg
, Pregarten
, Schwertberg
and Perg
, over 300 were taken again, including 57 alive."
Just 11 officers are known to have survived the manhunt till the end of World War II
. In spite of the extremely high risk, a few farm families and civilian forced laborers
hid escapees or brought food to those hiding in the woods. After three months, the war ended and the fugitives were safe.
. Although it received a lukewarm review from Variety
, the film was a box office success in Austria.
While he was making the film, Gruber invited Bernard Bamberger to make a behind-the-scenes documentary about the film and compare the movie with the actual events. Aktion K contrasts interviews with local residents about the film and the actual history with archival footage and the eye witness testimony of Mikhail Ribchinsky, a survivor of the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd. Bamberger was awarded the "Austrian People's Education TV" award for "Best Documentary" in 1995. Aktion K has since been broadcast several times on German-language television.
. The monument's face is engraved with 489 hash marks representing those murdered during the course of the escape attempt; the exact number of victims is unknown.
In conjunction with the commemoration of the anniversary of the camp's liberation, the Sociaist Youth of Austria and Socialist Youth of Germany held a program at the new monument for the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd. Attending were three surviving former Soviet prisoners from Mauthausen, Prof. Tigran Drambyan, Roman Bulkatch and Nikolai Markevitch.
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
in the Mühlviertel
Mühlviertel
The Mühlviertel is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria: it is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria, the others being Hausruckviertel, Traunviertel, and Innviertel. It is named for the two rivers and .-Region:...
, a region in Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
. In February 1945, around 500 Soviet prisoners escaped from Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
in the Mühlviertel. Local civilians, soldiers and local Nazi organizations hunted down the escapees for three weeks, murdering most of them. Of the original 500 prisoners who took part in the escape attempt, eleven managed to succeed, remaining free till the end of the war.
The SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
later referred to the three week search as a hasenjagd, or "rabbit chase". The outbreak itself and the fact that some did manage to escape were unique in Mauthausen's history.
Breakout and escape
In the wee hours of February 2, 1945, some 500 "K" prisoners, mostly Soviet officers from barracks 20, known as the "death barracks" (Todesblock) made an attempt to escape Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. Using fire extinguishers from the barracks and blankets and boards as projectiles, one group attacked and occupied a watch tower while a second group used wet blankets and bits of clothing to cause a short circuitShort circuit
A short circuit in an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path, often where essentially no electrical impedance is encountered....
in the electrified fence. The prisoners then climbed over the fence.
Of those 500, 419 prisoners did manage to leave the camp grounds but many escapees were already too weakened from starvation to reach the woods and collapsed in the snow outside the camp, where they were shot that night by SS machine guns. All who failed to reach the woods and another 75 prisoners in the barracks who had remained behind because they were too sick to follow, were executed that night. Over 300 prisoners did manage to reach the woods that first night.
Pursuit
The SS camp commandant immediately called a major search, asking help from the local population. In addition to pursuit by the SS, the escapees were hunted down by SASturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
divisions, the gendarmerie, the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
and the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
. Local citizens were also incited to take part. The SS camp commandant ordered the gendarmerie "not to bring anyone back alive". No one was forced to participate in the manhunt, they did it willingly.
The majority of the escapees were apprehended and most were shot or beaten to death on the spot. Some 40 murdered prisoners' bodies were taken to Ried in der Riedmark
Ried in der Riedmark
Ried in der Riedmark is a municipality in the district of Perg in Upper Austria, Austria....
, where the search was based, and stacked in a pile of corpses, "just like the bag at an autumn hunt", as one former gendarme, Otto Gabriel, put it. Members of the Volkssturm who brought prisoners back to Mauthausen were berated for not having beaten them to death instead. Of the 300 who did survive the escape that first night, 57 were returned to the camp.
The Linz criminal investigations department later reported to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, "Of the 419 fugitives [who managed to leave the camp] [...], in and around Mauthausen
Mauthausen
Mauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
, Gallneukirchen
Gallneukirchen
Gallneukirchen is a small city in Upper Austria, Austria and is part of the district "Urfahr-Umgebung" with an official population of 6281.- History :...
, Wartberg
Wartberg ob der Aist
Wartberg ob der Aist is a municipality in the district of Freistadt in Upper Austria, Austria. It is the 1954 birthplace of Austrian Roman Catholic church official Gerhard Maria Wagner....
, Pregarten
Pregarten
Pregarten is a municipality in the district of Freistadt in Upper Austria, Austria....
, Schwertberg
Schwertberg
Schwertberg is a market town in the district of Perg in Upper Austria in Austria....
and Perg
Perg
Perg is a city in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, capital of the district of the same name.-History:Originally in the eastern part of the Duchy of Bavaria, Perg belonged to Austria from the 12th century on. In 1269 it received commercial privileges from King Ottokar II of Bohemia, and from...
, over 300 were taken again, including 57 alive."
Just 11 officers are known to have survived the manhunt till the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In spite of the extremely high risk, a few farm families and civilian forced laborers
Forced labor in Germany during World War II
The use of forced labour in Nazi Germany and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in German-occupied...
hid escapees or brought food to those hiding in the woods. After three months, the war ended and the fugitives were safe.
After 1945: reconciling the past
The events of the Mühlviertel massacre gained prominence with the 1994 film The Quality of Mercy by director Andreas GruberAndreas Gruber
Andreas Gruber is an Austrian screenwriter and director of both television and film.From 1974 to 1982 he studied screenwriting and directing at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna....
. Although it received a lukewarm review from Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, the film was a box office success in Austria.
While he was making the film, Gruber invited Bernard Bamberger to make a behind-the-scenes documentary about the film and compare the movie with the actual events. Aktion K contrasts interviews with local residents about the film and the actual history with archival footage and the eye witness testimony of Mikhail Ribchinsky, a survivor of the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd. Bamberger was awarded the "Austrian People's Education TV" award for "Best Documentary" in 1995. Aktion K has since been broadcast several times on German-language television.
Legacy
A memorial to the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd was unveiled in Ried an der Riedmark on May 5, 2001, 56 years after liberation of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. The monument was erected at the initiative of the Ried Socialist Youth. The three-meter (9.8 feet) tall granite boulder was donated by the Mauthausen CommitteeInternational concentration camp committees
International concentration camp committees are organizations composed of former inmates of the various Nazi concentration camps, formed at various times, primarily after the Second World War...
. The monument's face is engraved with 489 hash marks representing those murdered during the course of the escape attempt; the exact number of victims is unknown.
In conjunction with the commemoration of the anniversary of the camp's liberation, the Sociaist Youth of Austria and Socialist Youth of Germany held a program at the new monument for the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd. Attending were three surviving former Soviet prisoners from Mauthausen, Prof. Tigran Drambyan, Roman Bulkatch and Nikolai Markevitch.
See also
- Sobibor extermination campSobibór extermination campSobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
(uprising and escape on October 14, 1943) - Nazi war crimes
- Celler HasenjagdCeller HasenjagdThe Celler Hasenjagd was a massacre of concentration camp inmates that took place in Celle, Prussian Hanover, in the last weeks of the Second World War...
(massacre of concentration camp prisoners, Celle, Oct. 8, April 1945) - Rechnitz massacre
- PostenpflichtPostenpflichtThe Postenpflicht was part of a written order for SS guards in Nazi concentration camps regarding the use of firearms. It required SS guards to shoot prisoners who tried to escape or engage in resistance and to do so without verbal warning or a warning shot. The order stated that failure to shoot...
- February ShadowsFebruary ShadowsFebruary Shadows is a 1984 historical novel by award-winning Austrian author Elisabeth Reichart. She wrote it as a response to her discovery of the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd , a massacre on February 2, 1945 at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Upper Austria...
Sources
- Linda DeMeritt, "Representations of History: The Mühlviertler Hasenjagd as Word and Image" in Modern Austrian Literature, Nr. 32.4, (1999) pp. 134–145
- Thomas Karny, Die Hatz : Bilder zur Mühlviertler „Hasenjagd“, Verlag Franz Steinmaßl, Grünbach, Austria (1992) Geschichte der Heimat Edition. ISBN 3-900943-12-5
- Walter Kohl, Auch auf dich wartet eine Mutter. Die Familie Langthaler inmitten der „Mühlviertler Hasenjagd”, Verlag Franz Steinmaßl, Grünbach, Austria (2005) Geschichte der Heimat Edition. ISBN 3-902427-24-8
- Alphons Matt, Einer aus dem Dunkel: die Befreiung des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen durch den Bankbeamten H. SV Internat., Schweizer Verl.-Haus, Zürich (1988) ISBN 3-7263-6574-5
- Elisabeth Reichart, Februarschatten, Müller Verlag, Salzburg and Vienna (1995) ISBN 3-7013-0899-3
- Elisabeth Reichart, Februarschatten, Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verl., Berlin (1997) ISBN 3-7466-1284-5
External links
- Ausschnitte aus der Dokumentation der Gedenkstätte KZ Mauthausen (PDF) Eye-witness reports and citations from original documents. (330 kB)
- Hasenjagd Movie website