Schloss Hartheim

Hartheim is a 17th-century medieval castle near the city of Linz in the mountainous part of Austria, an example of Renaissance architecture. During World War II it was the center of forced euthanasia of the Third Reich and one of the stages of the so-called “Action T-4” initiated by Reich Health Commissioner Karl Brandt. During this action, the Nazis exterminated disabled, mentally ill and handicapped people.

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History

The Hartheim estate is located along the Danube River. In 1130, the Hartheim family was mentioned in the documents of the diocese of Passau. The owners of the castle were ministers of the bishop of Passau. In 1287, three brothers, Conrad, Peter and Heinrich, were mentioned in documents for the ownership of the castle. However, already in 1323 the Hartheim family disappeared from the list of castle owners. In the middle of the XIV century the castle consisted of one tower and a low wall surrounding it, as well as a shallow moat was dug along the walls.

After changing several owners, the castle found permanent owners in the person of the Aspan family. In the early 30s of the XVI century the castle building was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Four corner towers and one main tower on the wall were erected. After this rebuilding, the castle did not change its structure again.

In 1799 the castle is acquired by Prince George Adam. At this time the castle was in poor condition. From the property records, historians find information that in the early 19th century the castle lacked doors, windows, and even ceilings in some rooms. In 1898, Prince Heinrich Starkhamberg Camillo donated the castle to the Catholic Church. After that in the building of the castle was formed a medical institution for the mentally ill and invalids, who were cared for by nuns-pallottines.

From 1900 to 1910 renovation works were carried out, after which all outbuildings and the main building of the castle were adapted to the medical institution. In 1926 the stairs in the castle are replaced by an elevator.

During World War II, the castle is used by the Nazis as a euthanasia center. After the war, the castle is remodeled by local authorities as a museum dedicated to the memory of those who died in concentration camps and euthanasia centers.

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Euthanasia Institute

During World War II, a huge center for forced euthanasia was organized in the castle under the direction of the Reich Health Commissioner of the Third Reich, Karl Brandt. All activities carried out in the castle were part of the so-called “Aktion T-4” at that time. During the entire time the castle was used as a Nazi “Euthanasia Institute”, 18,269 people died as a result of “medical treatment” between 1940 and 1941. And this was only the first phase of the action.

In total, about 30,000 people died in the castle. During this action, people suffering from incurable diseases, the mentally ill and the incapacitated were exterminated. In most cases, the relatives of the sick were unaware of the fate of their relatives treated in “hospital centers”. A great many of the patients of the euthanasia center were prisoners of concentration camps, which were located in the upper part of Austria. Also among the patients were criminals, with a particularly criminal past.

Nazi leaders justified these “disinfections” on the grounds of saving money on the care of the sick, as well as the overall health of the growing nation. During “Aktion T-4,” 70,273 people died in various centers of violent extermination. From the calculation of German economists of the time, the annual savings on these sick people amounted to about 88 million marks. Considering that these patients could have lived for another 10 years, it follows that the savings on the maintenance of these patients one decade was 880 million marks.

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Many famous figures were killed in the course of euthanasia, among them: Bernhard Heinz Mann (1903-1942), German Catholic priest; Karas Friedrich (1895-1942), American Catholic priest; Jan Kowalski (1871-1942), Polish bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Mariavites; Ida Maly (1894-1941), Austrian painter; Neungöuserer Gottfried (1882-1941), American Benedictine monk; Silten Werner (1893-1942), Protestant theologian. Among the patients of the Institute of Mortification were many healthy people who were opponents of the Nazi regime. Some medical records did not list an illness but belonged to one of three classes: Nazi opponent, Communist, or Polish fanatic. Some 310 members of the clergy were murdered at Hartheim.

After the investigation, the full composition of the main staff of the euthanasia center was revealed:

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  • Erwin Lambert – chief engineer for the construction of the gas chambers and crematorium;
  • Rudolf Lonauer – chief physician in charge of all euthanasia operations, was also the head of the psychiatric hospital in Linz;
  • Vincent Nogel – chief worker in the crematorium;
  • Franz Reichleitner – Inspector of the Criminal Investigation Department, in charge of criminal patients in the castle, later to become commandant of the Sobibor death camp;
  • Georg Renno – deputy chief physician Rudolf Lonauer, psychiatrist;
  • Anton Mayer – “nurse”;
  • Franz Stangl – Gestapo inspector, later commandant of Treblinka;
  • Josef Wallaster – warden in the crematorium, later warden at the Sobibor concentration camp;
  • Christian Wirth – head of the information bureau, supervised the transportation of patients from concentration camps, later became commandant of the death camp “Belzec.”
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Memorials

To this day, the castle still preserves documentation of what happened in Hartheim during the National Socialist regime. At the moment, the castle has a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Nazi regime, which is visited by a huge number of tourists every year. In 1997, the Austrian government decided to renovate the castle and organize a memorial. During the restoration, the rooms where the massacres of patients took place were discovered. It was in Hartheim Castle that gas chambers were first used. Numerous burials were discovered in the bus park and gardens of the castle, in which the remains of people who had been burned in the castle’s crematoria were found.

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There are more than 40 plaques in Hartheim Castle commemorating the victims of concentration camps and euthanasia centers.

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French Memorial

The French Memorial, dedicated to the memory of the French prisoners of the Mauthausen death camp, is the very first memorial erected in the castle after the war. It was built in 1950 by Amical de Motozan. The memorial is located on the north side of the castle near the surrounding village. The stone of the memorial plaque bears the inscription, “Honneur aux Francais Victims de la Barbarie Nazie Morts an Hartheim pour la France et la Liberte du Monde”. Translated, “In honor of the French victims who died as a consequence of Nazi barbarism at Hartheim for the freedom of France.”

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Danube Stone Memorial

In October 2001, a memorial was built by Danube Bank, located at the latitude of the village of Gstoket. This village was the site of the release of the remains of euthanasia victims into the Danube. On the memorial plaque are carved the words, “The water erased the tracks which the memory keeps”. Translated into Russian: “The water erased the tracks which the memory keeps”. The author of these lines is Franz Rieger, who lived in this area of Austria.

Monument to the supporters of the resistance

The monument was erected by the local authorities in 2003 to commemorate the victims of the National Socialist regime, resistance fighters Ignatz Schumann and Leopold Hilgart. The monument is located in the eastern part of the castle, near the entrance to the service buildings. The author of the monument is Herbert Friedl.

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Cemetery

During an archaeological excavation in 2002 in the eastern part of the castle, archaeologists discovered mass human burials, particularly the ashes of burned corpses in the castle’s crematoria. Analysis of the remains confirmed that the remains were human, and they dated from 1939-44. In accordance with the Graves Welfare Act, the site where the human remains were found was declared a cemetery. On September 27, 2002, an official funeral was held and a cemetery designed by Herbert Friedl was organized.

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Tourists

Visiting hours:

Monday and Friday: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.Tuesday through Thursday: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.Sunday: 10:00 to 17:00.On Saturday, the museum is closed.

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Entrance to the chambers of the castle:

Access to the memorials is free.Entrance to the exhibition “The Value of Life”: 1€ for children and teenagers, 2€ for adults.

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Excursions:

A rich guided tour of all the sights: 4€ per person; student groups and groups from institutions for people with disabilities: 2€ per person; relatives of victims free admission.

Donations are welcome.

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For tours that do not take place during general visiting hours, an additional fee of 50€ will be charged.

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Tour bookings:

Tour programs must be booked two weeks before the visit. In order to ensure the high quality of the tourist programs provided, the castle administration has to reduce the number of simultaneous tours in the castle, so tourists should submit a tour request in advance so that there are no problems with the timing of the visit.

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