Flugfeldgürtel 13/15 (laid 2012, renewed 2015 with revised text)
Karoline Formann
Transport diverted for film recordings
Karoline Formann, born 14 October 1929 in Wiener Neustadt.
Admitted to the children’s sanatorium in Gugging on 27 August 1935; a transport to Hartheim was scheduled for 15 March 1941, but diverted to Arnsdorf near Dresden for film recordings. Transferred to the children’s ward in Leipzig‑Dösen on 23 June 1941 and murdered there on 23 August 1941.
Very few documents exist about Karoline Formann.
The girl was disabled from birth. Her parents applied for her admission to the state children’s institution in Gugging. The request was approved, and the mother brought her daughter to the care facility. In 1941, Karoline Formann, along with many other children from the institution, was caught up in the machinery of “Aktion T4” and the child “euthanasia” program. Space had to be created so that the Gugging children’s institution could serve as a “parking place” for future victims of the children’s ward “Am Spiegelgrund.”
For 15 March 1941, transport lists to Hartheim had been compiled for 14 children and adolescents, and the official records were completed with a stamped euphemism — concealing Hartheim as the true destination.
In the Arnsdorf psychiatric institution near Dresden — a transit station for the Pirna‑Sonnenstein killing center — film recordings for a euthanasia propaganda film were planned. Since there were no longer any juvenile patients in Pirna, the transport from Gugging was simply diverted to Arnsdorf.
After the filming was completed, the children — no longer needed — were handed over to the child euthanasia program for killing. Karoline Formann was transferred to the children’s ward in Leipzig‑Dösen on 23 June 1941 and killed with medication on 23 August 1941.
Together with Karoline Formann, ten‑year‑old Rudolf Müller from Wiener Neustadt was also taken to Arnsdorf and likewise murdered in Leipzig (Stolperstein at Kesslergasse 15).
Anton Blaha