Flugfeldgürtel 13/15 (laid 2011)
Franz Kasteiner
Spanish Civil War fighter
Franz Kasteiner, born 17 January 1905 in Dunkelstein, unmarried.
He fought in Spain against Franco’s troops, was captured in March 1938, handed over to the German security police, deported to Vienna and then to KZ Groß‑Rosen, and killed there on 22 November 1942.
(© StAWN, IVM photo collection)
He had already fought with the Viennese Schutzbund in February 1934, taking up arms against fascism, and was sentenced to a long prison term for it. In 1937 he went to Spain to fight against fascism in the ranks of the International Brigades. Captured by Franco’s troops, he was eventually handed over to the SS, who sent him to the Groß‑Rosen concentration camp (Silesia).
There he was assigned to the crematorium special unit, which had to burn the bodies of dead prisoners and was itself liquidated every three weeks. The exact time of death — the one reported to relatives — was never accurately known in the concentration camp, except in cases of executions, which had to be precisely recorded for reporting purposes.
In the message from KZ Groß‑Rosen dated 24 November 1942 to Franz Kasteiner’s brother, it cynically stated:
“… Your brother Franz Kasteiner reported sick a few days ago and was admitted to the infirmary for medical treatment. He received the best possible medication and care. Despite all medical efforts, it was not possible to overcome the illness…”
Anton Blaha, based on Resistance in the Wiener Neustadt Region 1938–1945 by Karl Flanner and the DÖW victim database