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Mühlviertler Hasenjagd
The Mühlviertler Hasenjagd () was a war crime in which 500 Soviet officers, who had revolted and escaped from the Mühlviertel subcamp of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp on 2 February 1945, were hunted down. Local civilians, soldiers and local Nazi organizations hunted down the escapees for three weeks, executing most of them. Of the original 500 prisoners who took part in the escape attempt, eleven succeeded in remaining free until the end of the war. The mass escape was unique in Mauthausen's history. Background On 2 March 1944, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel issued a decree ('' Aktion Kugel''—"Operation Bullet") stating that escaped Soviet officers were to be taken to Mauthausen concentration camp and shot. Pursuant to this order 5,700 Soviet officers were apprehended and deported to Mauthausen. Some were shot immediately, and others imprisoned in Block 20, which was separated from the rest of the camp by a fence 2.5 meters high, on top of which was barbed wire. Alo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mühlviertel
The Mühlviertel () is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria: it is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria, the others being Hausruckviertel, Traunviertel, and Innviertel. It is named after the three rivers ', ', and '. Region The Mühlviertel consists of the four Upper Austrian districts that lie north of the river Danube: Rohrbach, Urfahr-Umgebung, Freistadt and Perg. The parts of the state capital Linz that lie north of the Danube also belong to the Mühlviertel. Geologically it is a part of the Bohemian Massif. Major towns include Rohrbach, Bad Leonfelden, Freistadt and Perg. History The region was the site of a notorious war crime at the end of World War II, when hundreds of starving Soviet POWs escaped from nearby Mauthausen concentration camp and were pursued and murdered around Mühlviertel; the SS referred to the event as the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd ("Mühlviertel rabbit hunt"). During the Allied occupation of Austria The Allied occupation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Mistreatment Of Soviet Prisoners Of War
During World War II, Nazi Germany engaged in a policy of deliberate maltreatment of Soviet prisoners of war (POWs), in contrast to their general treatment of British and American POWs. This policy, which amounted to deliberately starving and working to death Soviet POWs, the bulk of whom were Slavs, was grounded in Nazi racial theory, which depicted Slavs as sub-humans (''Untermenschen''). The policy resulted in some 3.3 to 3.5 million deaths.Peter Calvocoressi, Guy Wint, ''Total War'' — "The total number of prisoners taken by the German armies in the USSR was in the region of 5.7 million. Of these, the astounding number of 3.5 million or more had been lost by the middle of 1944 and the assumption must be that they were either deliberately killed or done to death by criminal negligence. Nearly two million of them died in camps and close on another million disappeared while in military custody either in the USSR or in rear areas; a further quarter of a million disappeared or died ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perg
Perg is a city in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, capital of the district of the same name. History Originally in the eastern part of the Duchy of Bavaria, Perg belonged to Austria from the 12th century on. In 1269 it received commercial privileges from King Ottokar II of Bohemia (also duke of Austria), and from 1490 it was part of the Principality of Austria on the Ems. Autonomous from 1542, it was occupied several times during the Napoleonic Wars. Population Main sights * ''Einhorn'', a large unicorn sculpture inspired to the city's coat of arms. * ''Seifensiederhaus'' (workshop and home of a soap boiler), built in 1563. * The Late Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ... ''Kalvarienbergkirche'' (Church of the Calvary Hill, 1734–1735) * ''Pranger'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schwertberg
Schwertberg is a market town in the district of Perg in the Austrian state of Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an .... Geography Schwertberg lies in the Mühlviertel. About 32 percent of the municipality is forest, and 54 percent is farmland. Population References Cities and towns in Perg District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pregarten
Pregarten is a municipality in the district of Freistadt in the Austrian state of Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a .... Population References Cities and towns in Freistadt District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wartberg Ob Der Aist
Wartberg ob der Aist is a municipality in the district of Freistadt in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Population Personalities Wartberg is the birthplace of Austrian Roman Catholic church official Gerhard Maria Wagner Gerhard Maria Wagner (born 17 July 1954, Wartberg ob der Aist, Austria) is an Austrian Roman Catholic priest. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Linz by Pope Benedict XVI on 31 January 2009, but amidst controversy over his views that sin cause .... References Cities and towns in Freistadt District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallneukirchen
Gallneukirchen (Central Bavarian: ''Goineikircha'') is a small town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria and is part of the district Urfahr-Umgebung. Motto ''Experience the city, enjoy the land – "Stadt erleben Land genießen (original)"'' History In the year 1125, it was mentioned for the first time in a documentary as "Novenkirchen". At that time Gallneukirchen was just a market. Originally lying in the East part of the duchy of Bavaria (Germany), in the 12th century it belonged to the duchy "Austria", and in the year 1211, the market was included in the diocese of Passau for the next 200 years. In 1411, the brothers Caspar and Gundakar bought it from the Starhemberg family. Since 1490, it has belonged to the principality of "Österreich ob der Enns". During the Napoleonic wars it was occupied several times, and now belongs to Upper Austria. From 1832 to 1872 the Horse railway transported Goods and persons through Gallneukirchen. In 1985 Gallneukirchen became a Europea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauthausen, Upper Austria
Mauthausen is a small market town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometres east of the city of Linz. The town lies on the banks of the Danube river, opposite the town of Enns, where the major Danube tributary of Enns joins it. During World War II, the town was the site of the Mauthausen concentration camp. History The area of Mauthausen has been settled for many millennia, as shown by archaeological discoveries dating back to the Neolithic age. During the time of the Roman Empire, it was at the crossroads of two trade routes. At the end of the 10th century it became a toll (''Maut'' in German) station for ships, and the name "Muthusen" for the settlement is first mentioned in 1007. A village that had developed by the Third Crusade was ordered burned on 16 May 1189 by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa when it levied a tax on his army as it marched towards Vienna. During the First World War, a prisoner of war camp existed to the east of Mauthausen. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichssicherheitshauptamt
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany. Formation and development Himmler established the RSHA on 27 September 1939. His assumption of control over all security and police forces in Germany was a significant factor in the growth in power of the Nazi state. With the formation of the RSHA, Himmler combined under one roof the Nazi Party's ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD; SS intelligence service) with the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' (SiPo; "Security Police"), which was nominally under the Interior Ministry. The SiPo was composed of two sub-departments, the ''Geheime Staatspolizei'' (Gestapo; "Secret State Police") and the ''Kriminalpolizei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and audacious moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi régime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and defense spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military power. In the early part of the Second World War, the ''Wehrmacht'' employed combined arms tactics (close-cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gendarmerie (Austria)
The Federal Gendarmerie (german: Bundesgendarmerie) was an Austrian federal police agency. It was responsible for approximately two thirds of the population on approximately 98% of Austrian national territory, alongside the Federal Safety Guard Corps (''Bundessicherheitswachekorps'') and Detective Corps (''Kriminalbeamtenkorps''). All Austrian law enforcement agencies were merged into the Federal Police (''Bundespolizei'') agency, with effect from 1 July 2005. History K.k. Gendarmerie The idea to establish a Gendarmerie (from french: gens d'armes: "armed men") military force charged with police duties originated from the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire. It was formed on 8 June 1849 by order of Emperor Francis Joseph as a component of the k.k. Army, modelled on the ''Gendarmerieregiment'' in the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia incorporated upon the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Up to then 1776 set up "military police corps" existed in Austria as a militarily orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
