Kollonitschgasse 5 (laid 2013, Adolf renewed 2018)

Adolf and Helene Gerstl

A Profitable Business Arouses Desire

Adolf Gerstl, born on July 24, 1864, in Neunkirchen, timber merchant;
Helene Gerstl, née Kohn, born on August 3, 1874, in Wiener Neustadt.
Children: Ernst (1901), Alfred (1903), Fritz (1904), Herta (1908), and Paul (1915).
Adolf and Helene Gerstl were deported to Theresienstadt on August 20, 1942, where both died within a few months. The children managed to reach exile in Palestine, Australia, the USA, and Great Britain.

In 1912, Adolf Gerstl came to Wiener Neustadt with his wife and four children and moved into an apartment at Kollonitschgasse 5. In 1915, son Paul was born. By 1926, the older children had already moved out, and only son Paul was still registered with his parents.

The Gerstl family’s business was one of two large timber shops and was rated by the trade association as “the best business in Wr. Neustadt.” The timber wholesale business on Gymelsdorferstraße included several storage sites with large timber stocks.

Such a profitable business naturally aroused great interest among competitors in the industry when it came to the “Aryanization” of Jewish businesses. The main focus was on the timber stocks and the properties. By September 1938, all sales had been completed. The timber storage site at the corner of Gymelsdorfergasse/Richtergasse was purchased by the municipal administration. On this site, the “Judenlager” (Jewish camp) for Hungarian Jews was established in 1944/45.

Adolf and Helene Gerstl moved with their sons Ernst and Paul to Marktgasse 6 on September 7, 1938. In 1938, Adolf Gerstl and his son Ernst were imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp for some time. Paul and Herta Gerstl managed to go into exile in the USA via Paris by means of an emigration application, and Alfred Gerstl was able to travel abroad in 1938 (exile in Australia). In the end, all the children of Adolf and Helene Gerstl escaped the Shoah—but not the parents themselves. On August 20, 1942, the couple was deported to Theresienstadt, where Helene died on November 9, 1942, and Adolf on December 1, 1943.

Anton Blaha, after “Lebenslinien” by Werner Sulzgruber, www.doew.at