DP Camps in Austria, T-Z

Austrian archives - https://www.oesta.gv.at/bezirks-stadt-und-kommunalarchive

Talerhof

concentration camp 20 miles from Graz, Austria. On the map Forst (forest) Thalerhof. The railroad station was southeast of the camp.

Here's a map of Abtissendorf and Thalerhof camp:
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/200e/33-47.jpg

"During the First World War, internment camps were set up, mostly for Serbs and other pro-Serbian Yugoslavs. Men, women, the children and the elderly were displaced from their homes and sent to concentration camps all over the Empire such as Doboj (46,000), Arad, Gyor, Neusiedl am See."
From: http://www.danceage.com/biography/sdmc_Concentration_camp#Austria-Hungary or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camp

---

Some 20 thousand pro-Russian Ukrainians were incarcerated in concentration camp Talerhof (Austrian province of Styria) from September 4, 1914 until May 10, 1917. A full third of the prisoners held died.

"The people who lived on the northern slope of the Carpathian Mountains (Lemkovyna), which is now in Poland and was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, have been subjected to severe and much discrimination throughout many centuries. They have been forcibly relocated and efforts have been made to eradicate all elements and traces of their distinctive culture."... "As they stumbled from the train into the sunlight, they found themselves surrounded by guards riding on horses. They were forced by whips to walk in their weakened condition to Talerhof, a concentration camp which was about a 20 minute walk away. The guards carried whips and did not hesitate to use them on those who lagged or fell behind. Those who tried to escape were shot dead and their bodies were pushed into any convenient ditch to join the bodies of those who had succumbed to the brutal conditions."
From: http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/kr/taler.htm

10/24/06
I suspect the writer is mixing up WW II concentration camps with the WW I ones. Admittedly the first were a prelude to the second. The second type were (bad German) vernichtungs lager- extermination camps, while the first were internierten lager- internment camps. Admittedly conditions were bad and the Thalerhof mausoleum in the Feldkirchen Church cemetery admits to nearly 2,000 deaths, I have never ever read about or seen first person memoirs about "gas or medical experiments." If you have some real information on this I'd like to have it. The Austrians may have been bad but they were not yet Nazis. I do speculate that in WW II some of the Nazi officers in the Carpathian Region were in fact from annexed Austria and they delivered some pay-back for being driven out in 1918. But I have no proof of this, it is speculative. Paul Best, email: merida@snet.net

---

Thalerhof by Jon W. Madzelan
http://www.lemko.org/art/madzelan/29eng.html

Hawker Hunter J-4094
Osterreichisches Luftfahrtmuseum (stored), Graz/ Thalerhof, Austria
http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/hunter/survivors.html

Archive: Tiroler Landesarchiv, Michael-Gaismair-Strasse 1, 6010 Innsbruck
Tel: + 43 (512) 508 3502
Fax: + 43 (512) 508 3505

WWW: http://www.tirol.gv.at/schule3.htm
Bistum Innsbruck, Diözesanarchiv, Domplatz 6, Postfach 582, 6021 Innsbruck
Provinzarchiv der Nordtiroler Kapuziner, Kaiserjägerstr. 6, 6020 Innsbruck
Stift Wilten, Archiv, Klostergasse 7, 6020 Innsbruck
Universität Innsbruck, Universitätsarchiv, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck

See Kärnten archives.

Municipal office: Stadtgemeinde Spittal an der Drau

Burgplatz
A 9800 Spittal an der Drau

Tel: 0043 4762 5650 - 0
Fax: 0043 4762 5650 -156
Email: spittal@ktn.gde.at

"1945: Up to the end of war offer resistance against the terror of the Nazi regime, decided communist inside, to that its expression about also in the "Muehlviertler hasenjagd" finds and the KPOe brings large victims, approximately 160 communist inside come into upper Austria in the resistance around the life.... Death march of the Hungarian Jews (April). " Computer translation from Chronology of Teffling

See also Miff Crommelin's Trofaiach website: http://www.crommelin.org/history/Biographies/1914Edward/UnrraScrapbook/Trofaiach/Trofaiach.htm

Dear Olga,
I am from Argentine, and I have found your page after a long long search. Here, in my country, there is just a few information about the camps and all the history. I'd like to know if you could send me some information about Trofaiach camp, because I need it to know if my mother Juliana Stajdohar / Stajduhar was there between 1945-1948. She is from Slovenia. Please, any information send me it to lagrisel@yahoo.com.ar It's very important for me and my family, and you are the most important hope that I have in this moment. Thanks very much and sorry for my English. Julia Gonzalez

Dear Julia,
As I was doing research to help me translate my father's diary, I happened to come across the posting below which you placed on Olga Kaczmar 's web page. I was born in Trofaiach. My parents lived there during 1948-1949. I have lots of information about Trofaiach and would be glad to share that with you. John Zakelj St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Follow-Up: John, Miff and Julia have corresponded and have shared research. Great.

"It's important to note that the Slovenes, as a whole, were against Nazi Germany and never fought against the Allies; in fact, Slovenes rescued shot-down Allied pilots.

"The repatriations took place in late May and early June 1945, shortly after the Allied forces moved into Austria from Italy. If it were not for Barre's compassion, a further 6,000 Slovene refugees - all civilians, including 3,550 women and children - would have met the same fate.

"The Slovene soldiers and civilians who managed to flee Tito's communist Yugoslav forces, by crossing Slovenia's northern border into Austria, sought and received refuge with the British military in Viktring.

"On May 19, 1945, the civilian refugee camp at Viktring was placed under the command of Major Barre from Allied Military Government (AMGOT). A 38-year-old Canadian officer, Barre quickly grew fond of the Slovene inhabitants of his camp.

"On May 23, Allied Forces Headquarters told the Fifth Corps in Viktring that all Slovene soldiers were to be sent to Italy. With assurances of their safety, the unarmed soldiers initially went willingly - until the night of May 26 when a repatriated anti-Communist Serbian soldier returned to the camp with a horrifying first-hand account of the repatriates' true fate at the hands of Tito's Communist partisans. .. continued

Yugoslav Refugees in Camps in Egypt and Austria 1944-47 by John Corsellis

-------------

1/16/2014 Hi Olga,

My parents were born in Slovenia, they flight with my grandparents in May 1945 through the Loibltunnel to Carinthia and stayed with 20.000 Slovenians on the fields in Viktring, when the British military promised to bring them to Italy. But the trucks go back to Yugoslavia and more than 12.000 Slovenian were murdered.

On June 29th, 1945, all refugees came from Viktring to DP camps in Spittal, St. Veit and Lienz/Peggetz. My father (12 years old) came with the first train to Spittal, my mother (8 years) came to Lienz and in November 1946 with all the other refugges from Lienz to Spittal.
My parents are still living in Spittal and are helping everybody, who wants to know something about the living in the DP camps near Spittal. There were camps in Treffling/Seeboden, in Seebach/Seeboden für TBC patients, in Feffernitz (german-speaking refugees), Kellerberg (Hungarian), Villach/St. Martin and specially in Spittal and Lienz/Peggetz. They help to get birth documents, to find the grave of grandparents, to show the locations.

On your website the DP camp Peggetz/Lienz is named for Slovenian, but all informations and fotos are from the Cossacks, the Cossacks cemetery and their meetings every year.

This camp was built in 1938 and was a camp for POW. In the days 5 – 8th May 1945 there came the Cossacks from Italy (Tolmezzo – Timau – Plöckenpass – Lienz), maybe there were more than 40.000 Cossacks in the Drau valley, soldiers with wives, children and horses.
On June 1st, 1945 and the next days, the British military force them to get in the train – to send them back to the Russian cone at the bridge in Judenburg. The camp got empty.

On June 29th, trains stopped again near Peggetz. They brought more than 2000 Slovenians to stay in this camp for more than 16 months. Than they were brought to the DP camp in Spittal an der Drau.
Now this area is an industry area. The Cossacks were here only 4 weeks, and the people in Lienz know the story of the massacre. But it is hard to find somebody who nothing about Slovenian in Lienz/Peggetz.

This are only the essential informations.
We will be glad to get reactions from all over the world, especially from Slovenian refugees and there descendants. We also organized sightseeing tours in Carinthia and PowerPoint presentations about living in the DP camps.

Sincerly
Johanna Kronawetter, born Starman johanna.kronawetter@aon.at
www.nakul.biz


 

Vienna has its own page.

archives
City Archive: Magistrat der Stadt Wien - MA 8 -
Wiener Stadt- und Landesarrchiv
Rathaus
A 1010 Wien 1

post@m08.magwien.gv.at
Tel: +43 (1) 4000-84808 and +43 (1) 400099-84819

 

City Archive:- Stadtarchiv Villach
Widmanngasse 38
A-9500 Villach
Telephone: 43 (4242) 205 349

		click to enlarge
Villach Fellach kindergarten		Map of Villach St Martincamp (source: Stieber) submitted by Klaus Fohringer

 

Hello Olga,
I have posted a nice series of pictures of the Villach-St. Martin Refugee Centre on my website which you may wish to link to. http://www.crommelin.org/history/Biographies/1914Edward/UnrraScrapbook/Villach/Villach.htm Regards, Miff Crommelin Miff Crommelin

---

Hello Olga,
I am delighted to find your website. I am searching for information about my Grandmother and my Mother who were in Villach St Martin from the years of 1944 to 1950. They had come there from Belaurus and I am in search of recovering our family stories. Would you be able to offer any information or assistance? Thank you, Blessings, Shaunessy Owen (Marchi)

---

Red Cross camps
My aunt was in charge of several camps in Austria, on behalf of the British Red Cross, first at Villach then in Vienna. She appears to have been for a while in overall charge of the British run camps in Vienna. She was a prolific writer and I have a weekly letter from her to her mother throughout the 1945-6 period. I am preparing them for a project at my daughter's school. No-one apart from the staff is mentioned by name but the picture she describes of life in the camps is fascinating. Your advice on preparing these materials to be shared more fully by survivors of these times would be welcome. Peter Leevers

We hope to hear more from Peter in the future. Olga

---

1/1/06 Dear Olga,
You are the Mother Teresa of refugees. In May 1948, soon after fleeing from Budapest to Vienna, I managed to slip into the British Zone at Muerzuschlag). Naively I boarded a train to Salzburg where I thought a friend of mine was. But I had absolutely no documentation and British MPs took me off the train and politely escorted me to a transit camp at the outskirts of Villach. I think I spent only about a week or less there while the Brits established my political refugee status, etc. Now I wonder how could I find out the name of this camp and locate someone whose memory is better than mine about this place. Have you any suggestions? Will much appreciate your advice in this matter...kind regards, the very best for the new year, andrew dettre, e-mail andrew.dettre@bigpond.com

Volksgarten

download photo to get full image - Salzburg, Umg. Volksgarten

Archive: Landesarchiv Vorarlberg
Kirchstrasse 28
A 6900 Bregenz

Tel: +43 (5574) 511-45005
FAX: +43 (5574) 511-45095

Vorkloster, Bregenz, L. Vorarlberg (French)

Vols / Wols, L. Upper Austria, (U.S.) See Wels below. Völs is a market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located at the western border of Innsbruck. It was mentioned for the first time in documents in 1188.

Wagna in Südsteiermark or South Styria, see Leibnitz for archives. Wagna is a municipality in the district of Leibnitz in Styria, Austria. The ancient Roman town of Flavia Solva lies near what is today Wagna.

Map: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Wagna&country=AT

Photos submitted by Klaus Fohringer click to enlarge
FL Wagna 1955 Gedenkståtte	Getting food from common kitchen (source: Stieber)	(source: Stieber)
Lagerstrasse, Camp street in Wagna (source: Stieber)		Photo 13: Lager Wagna. 2.v.1. Flüchtlingsseelsorger Msgr. Thiel. (source: Stieber)

Wegscheid / Maurice L - (US zone); UNRRA team 337; 57 Hungarians, Jews

http://www.wegscheid.de

Markt Wegscheid
Marktstr. 1
94110 Wegscheid

Telefon: +49 (0) 8592/ 888-0
Fax: +49 (0) 8592/ 888-40
E-Mail: info@wegscheid.de

Photo submitted Klaus Fohringer
FL Linz Wegscheid 1948 (Photo credit: Ecker)

 

Wegscheid / Vogscheid Tyler I Land Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) (U.S. zone)

See archives: Landesarchiv Linz.

Wegscheid Cantine Photo source: Virtual Museum of Austria http://www.ooegeschichte.at/

 

Wegscheid reception centre, / Vogscheid / Land Upper Austria, (U.S. zone) UNRRA: Team 337 Wegscheid farewell party

Land Oberösterreich, see Landesarchiv Linz.

-------------------

May 6, 2020
I am reaseaching on the DP Camp Freiberg in Flossenbürg als known as "Camp Sikorski" or just DP Camp Flossenbürg on the ground of the former concentration camp Flossenbürg. I would like to come into contact with people interested or connected to the DP camp in Flossenbürg. Before coming to Flossenbürg the 2.100 DPs stayed in camps in Austria, mainly in Braunau, Ebensee, Ems, Frankenmarkt, Ranshofen, Wegscheid and Wels-Lichtenegg. Therefore I am happy to share information with researches on this camps, too. Furthermore there was a Jewish DP-Community in Tirschenreuth. As I'd like to focus on the relationship between (mostly) Polish DPs in Flossenbürg und surrounding Jewish DPs, I'd like to get to know more about Tirschenreuth, too.
SarahGrandke@gmx.de

 

Weichselbaum Siedlung, Jews,

Any assistance from anyone would be greatly appreciated. Thank You Luci Lebedew

Weidmannsdorf, Camp C, UN # 332 (British zone) see Klagenfurt

Below is picture of the Nazi POW Camp Weidmannsdorf, which after the war became a DP Camp (source: Stalag18a Veterans)

		Photo submitted Klaus Fohringer

Nov. 19, 2014 Hello Madam I have already contacted you for research concerning my dad some time ago, I found this photo. I am almost sure that the man with the small beard is my dad. Unfortunately I do not find this photo on the sites. Can you help me. She had to be taken to peggetz -lienz. This would correspond with the travel card on the latter. UNRRA AUSTRIAN OPERATION 331 TB: WEIDMANDORF CAMP TEA D. P. 6S LISTED REQUESTED TO BE SENT TO Klagenfurt where they intended to find work.PLEASE DEMIT THE ABOVE D.P.S. HAVE NOT BEEN REGREGISTERED IN THIS CAMP. (Computer translation from French below.)
		GAU:KAERNTEN KREIS:LIENZ GEMEINDE:PEGGEZ 2 SEPT. 1946
My father was KONONOV IVAN made prisoner the May 10, 1943 in Dnipropetrovs'k do the September 16, 1926 I sought the camp of dp , and perhaps I can know as well the concentration camp where he spent his youth. Thank you Madam for everything that you do for the memory of our Ukrainian families still well forgotten in this war.
Bonjour Madame je vous ai déjà contactée pour des recherches concernant mon papa. il y a quelque temps, j'ai trouvé cette photo. je suis presque sûre que l'homme avec la petite barbe est mon papa. Malheureusement je ne retrouve pas cette photo sur les sites. pouvez -vous m'aider. Elle a dû être prise à peggetz -lienz. cela correspondrait avec la carte de déplacement de celui -ci. UNRRA AUSTRIAN OPERATION 331 TO: WEIDMANDORF CAMP THE D.P.6S LISTED REQUESTED TO BE SENT TO KLAGENFURT. WHERE THEY INTED TO FIND WORK: PLEASE DEMIT WITHOUT DP 2 THE ABOVE D.P.S. HAVE NOT BEEN REGREGISTERED IN THIS CAMP. GAU:KAERNTEN KREIS:LIENZ GEMEINDE:PEGGEZ 2 SEPT. 1946 mon père était KONONOV IVAN fait prisonnier le 10 Mai 1943 à Dnipropetrovsk né le 16 septembre 1926 Je cherche le camp de dp , et je pourrais peut-être connaître ainsi le camp de concentration ou il a passé sa jeunesse. Merci Madame pour tout ce que vous faites pour la mémoire de nos familles Ukrainienne encore bien oubliées dans cette guerre. (I guess I lost the email address to this person. Please see below for reader's reply.)

Dec 11, 2014 Dear Olga,

I found a new posting (Nov. 19, 2014) by the DP camp Weidmannsdorf, a french letter with english translation. But there is no name of the writer, so I answered to you:

I know the foto, I have the complete film, the peacures of all classes that where photographed this day. This is a foto from Lienz, DP camp Peggetz. The barrack Nr. 17 was the school barrack.
The man with the bread (I mean the man in the front with the grey coat) is Ciril Vider. My mother wrote a list with all names of the teachers and pupils she knows. All the teachers and children are Slovenian.

By the way, the UNRRA-number of Lienz was 331 and the Number of Weidmannsdorf was 332.

I hope you can give this information to the writer. I also can write the information in Slovenian.

Sincerly,
Johanna Kronawetter johanna.kronawetter@aon.at
http://www.nakul.biz

Wels has its own page. (Oberösterreich Upper Austria)

City Archive: Stadtarchiv
A-4601 Wels
Rathaus
Tel. (07242) [0043 7242] 235

City of Wels:
Magistrat der Stadt Wels
4600 Wels, Stadtplatz 1
Telefon: 0043 (7242) 235-0
http://www.wels-stadt.at/

May 6, 2020
I am reaseaching on the DP Camp Freiberg in Flossenbürg als known as "Camp Sikorski" or just DP Camp Flossenbürg on the ground of the former concentration camp Flossenbürg. I would like to come into contact with people interested or connected to the DP camp in Flossenbürg. Before coming to Flossenbürg the 2.100 DPs stayed in camps in Austria, mainly in Braunau, Ebensee, Ems, Frankenmarkt, Ranshofen, Wegscheid and Wels-Lichtenegg. Therefore I am happy to share information with researches on this camps, too. Furthermore there was a Jewish DP-Community in Tirschenreuth. As I'd like to focus on the relationship between (mostly) Polish DPs in Flossenbürg und surrounding Jewish DPs, I'd like to get to know more about Tirschenreuth, too.
SarahGrandke@gmx.de

 

Wiesenhof, in Absam municipality, in Innsbuck, (French zone),

Photos submitted by Klaus Fohringer

Wolfsberg on the Lavant river, UNRRA team 329, former POW camp Stalag XVIIIA Hofendorf (?), (British zone)

		Here is picture of the Nazi POW Camps Wolfsberg, which after the war became a DP Camp by Klaus Fohringer   (source: Stalag18a Veterans )

Zell Am See is near Saalfelden, Pinzgau district, Lake Zellner See, (US zone). See Salzburg archives.

DP camp photos & map: http://www.crommelin.org/history/Biographies/1914Edward/UnrraScrapbook/ZellAmSee/ZellAmSee.html

Municipal office: Stadtgemeinde Zell am See
Brucker Bundesstrasse 2
A 5700 Zell am See

Tel: 0043 6542 766 -0
Fax: 0043 6542 766 -30
Email: office@gde.zellamsee.salzburg.at

Zeltweg (British zone) - Jews

Zeltweg is a town in Styria, Austria. It is located in the Aichfeld basin of the Mur River in Upper Styria. Larger municipalities in the vicinity are Judenburg, Knittelfeld and Fohnsdorf. Town info: http://www.zeltweg.at

Stadtgemeinde Zeltweg
Hauptplatz 8
A-8740 Zeltweg
Telefon: 03577-22521 0
Telefax: 03577-22521 17
stadtamt@zeltweg.at

Search this site powered by FreeFind

---

If this site was helpful to you, please consider making a donation to keep it going.