Matthias Schönerer‑Gasse 10 (laid 2012)
Alfred Halbauer
Denounced by a Hitler Youth boy
Alfred Halbauer, born 11 January 1915 in Wiener Neustadt.
Arrested on 9 November 1939 for violating the Malicious Practices Act and sentenced on 8 December 1939 to three months of hard imprisonment. Afterwards placed in “protective custody” and thus sent to a concentration camp. He died after severe mistreatment following an escape attempt.
(© StAWN, IVM photo collection)
On 10 November 1939, Alfred Halbauer was supposed to report for military service with some friends. The day before, they met in a tavern to say goodbye. That same day, the assassination attempt on Hitler in Munich was announced on the radio. Under the influence of alcohol, Halbauer — a determined opponent of Hitler — shouted on the street while walking home: “Too bad they didn’t kill Hitler. But I’ll go out there and kill him myself!” Hitler Youth member Franz Hauser overheard this and immediately called the police. Halbauer was arrested, beaten bloody, and taken to prison. Upon transfer to the court authorities, the note read: “After serving his sentence, Alfred Halbauer is to be handed over to the Gestapo, Wiener Neustadt field office.” This meant: transfer to a concentration camp.
Halbauer was first taken to the Stein prison on the Danube, then to a labor detachment of a concentration camp in Dessau, Germany. Afterwards he was transferred to a moor camp — by then already gravely ill. Someone reportedly advised him to escape before entering the moor camp, as he would not survive it. But he was caught and brought back. He was beaten until he collapsed, and even then the guards continued beating and trampling him. Afterwards he was chained for weeks. He survived but was completely unable to work, so he was sent back to Stein. His relatives managed to visit him there. They barely recognized him: on the bunk lay a toothless, skeletal man, barely able to sit upright. Through the efforts of his family and a lawyer, the rare success was achieved of having the dying man released in November 1944. He could not eat and constantly vomited blood. A doctor noted, among other things, that his stomach was non‑functional. Alfred Halbauer died on 28 December 1944 from the consequences of the mistreatment.
In 1946, Hitler Youth Franz Hauser faced trial before the Vienna People’s Court. He was convicted of the crime of denunciation and sentenced to one year of hard imprisonment, ordered to pay court costs, and had all his property confiscated.
Anton Blaha, based on Resistance in the Wiener Neustadt Region 1938–1945 by Karl Flanner and court records