Bahngasse 44 (laid in 2013)
Josef Klinger
A deadly act of revenge
Josef Klinger, born November 9, 1898 in Gloggnitz, married, typesetter.
On March 17, 1938, Josef Klinger was arrested and taken to Wöllersdorf. Neither he nor his family at first knew the reason for his arrest. After his transfer to the Vienna regional court, Klinger hoped for a trial: but there was no criminal charge.
The real reason was political revenge by Nazis in Wiener Neustadt. In their time of illegality, when the Nazis fought Schuschnigg, they had demanded that he duplicate illegal Nazi propaganda. Klinger refused, and they never forgave him.
That was why he was arrested. In April 1938, Josef Klinger was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp. The cheerful and athletic man survived barely a year. At Christmas 1938, he wrote home that he was very ill and had been admitted to the infirmary. His comrades later reported that Klinger dragged himself to work as long as possible, but, weakened, could no longer participate, so they did his work when they could. Finally, he was forced into the sick ward, where he died on February 14, 1939. Non-working prisoners had no chance of survival in the camps.
Anton Blaha after “Resistance in the Wiener Neustadt Area, 1938–1945” by Karl Flanner.
Photo: Josef Klinger (© StAWN, Photo Collection IVM)