Hans Maršálek
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Hans Maršálek (19 July 1914 – 9 December 2011) was an
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
typesetter Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random Ho ...
, political activist, detective, and historian. A devout
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and active in the
resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...
, he was arrested by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
and imprisoned in the
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...
. After the war, he joined the Austrian political police and was instrumental in tracking down and convicting numerous Nazi criminals. He also became the main chronicler of the camp's history, helped establish the Mauthausen Memorial Museum, and published several books.


Early life

Maršálek was born on 19 July 1914 in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
to an ethnically Czech family. His father was a builder, his mother worked as a maid. The family lived in
Hernals Hernals (; Viennese German: Hernois) is the 17th district of Vienna, Austria (german: 17. Bezirk, Hernals). Hernals is in northwest Vienna.Statistik Austria, 2007, webpagestatistik.at-23450. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). It was anne ...
, a working-class district, in humble circumstances. Both parents were members of the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
; Maršálek's father eventually was elected to the Hernals district council on a Social Democratic ticket. Maršálek was educated in Vienna's Czech School. In his teens, he apprenticed as a typesetter for one of the city's Czech-language newspapers. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Maršálek was politically active from an early age. He was active in the Socialist Workers' Youth and, from 1936 to 1938, in the resistance against the
Austrofascist The Federal State of Austria ( de-AT, Bundesstaat Österreich; colloquially known as the , "Corporate State") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the clerical fascist Fa ...
Ständestaat The Federal State of Austria ( de-AT, Bundesstaat Österreich; colloquially known as the , "Corporate State") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the clerical fascist Fat ...
regime. He was arrested and subjected to brutal interrogations for being a member of the Austrian wing of the
International Red Aid International Red Aid (also commonly known by its Russian acronym MOPR ( ru , МОПР, for: ''Междунаро́дная организа́ция по́мощи борца́м револю́ции'' - Mezhdunarodnaya organizatsiya pomoshchi bor ...
, an organisation supporting persecuted left-wing dissidents. He also had ties to revolutionary socialists, in particular Johann Otto Haas, and to the Czech communist movement.


Nazi Germany

Following the 1938 integration of Austria into Nazi Germany, Maršálek fled to
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
to dodge the draft but remained politically active in the
Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
expat community. After the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
in 1939, he joined the communist resistance. For the next two years, his main activity was helping German and Austrian dissidents flee the Reich. In 1941, Maršálek was sent back to Vienna with the mission of finding and recruiting communist-leaning
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 previous ...
soldiers. In spite of his wealth of old contacts and the assistance of his Viennese girlfriend, Anna Vavak, the trip was a failure. The population was still enamored with the Nazi movement. Even most erstwhile Nazi opponents had become infected with infatuation and avoided Maršálek, rationalizing that Nazism might be distasteful but resistance was pointless. Observing that seemingly everyone but him was convinced the Nazis would utterly triumph, Maršálek at times questioned his own sanity. Defeated and humiliated, he returned to Prague in August 1941.Thurner, Erika (1989): ''Hans Maršalek : Der Weg eines Wiener Tschechen ins KZ,'' in: ''Zeitgeschichte 16,'' pp 90–113. Edition Geyer. Vienna/Salzburg, Austria. In September 1941, the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
launched a mass arrest of members of what they called "the Czech section" of the
Austrian Communist Party The Communist Party of Austria (german: Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest communist parties. The KPÖ ...
. Even though he didn't technically fit the bill, Maršálek was caught in the dragnet and arrested on 28 October 1941. After stints in various jails, including three months in a basement in the city's infamous Morzinplatz Gestapo headquarters, he was moved to the
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...
on 28 September 1942. His prisoner's number was 13,129. At first put to work in quarrying and logging teams, he was used for clerical work in the camp's office beginning in 1943. In late 1943, an in-camp resistance group formed; Maršálek promptly joined. The group worked to get conspirators assigned to
Kapo A kapo or prisoner functionary (german: Funktionshäftling) was a prisoner in a Nazi camp who was assigned by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) guards to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks. Also called "prisoner self-administrat ...
positions, where they would use what little influence they had to save as many prisoners from death as possible. By March 1944, the camp's office was staffed exclusively by members of the underground. By May 1944, Maršálek was the camp's second highest-ranking clerk. As planned, he used his position to protect ailing fellow prisoners by manipulating their work assignments and to generally be a spanner in the works. He organized acts of sabotage and saved the lives of numerous prisoners.


After the liberation

When Mauthausen was liberated in May 1945, Maršálek used his resistance connections to help care for and repatriate prisoners. He interrogated
Franz Ziereis Franz Xaver Ziereis (13 August 1905 – 24 May 1945) was the commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp from 1939 until the camp was liberated by the American forces in 1945. Early life and SS career Ziereis was born on 13 August 1905 in M ...
, the ex-commandant of Mauthausen, who had been captured by the Americans and shot three times in the process. The commandant died immediately after the interrogation. On 28 May he returned to Vienna and joined the State Police (''Staatspolizei''), Austria's domestic political security agency. In 1946, Maršálek married Anna Vavak, who had been imprisoned in the
Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...
. She died in 1959. Drawing on his intimate knowledge about camp and SS internals, he played an important role in prosecuting Nazi criminals of war, especially in the early days. He was a material witness in the
Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials The Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials were a set of trials of SS concentration camp personnel following World War II, heard by an American military government court at Dachau. Between March 29 and May 13, 1946, and then from August 6 to August 21, 1947, ...
, a series of trials held from 29 March to 13 May 1946. The Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials involved 69 defendants, including much of the surviving camp administration on the one hand and top-level supervisors such as
Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
August Eigruber August Eigruber (16 April 1907 – 28 May 1947) was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of Reichsgau Oberdonau (Upper Danube) and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria. He was convicted of war crimes at Mauthausen-Gusen conce ...
on the other hand. With 61 defendants found guilty and 58 death sentences handed down, the camp trials remain the most stringent and successful attempt at holding Mauthausen criminals accountable.Eiber, Ludwig and Sigel, Robert (2007): ''Dachauer Prozesse: NS-Verbrechen vor amerikanischen Militärgerichten in Dachau 1945-48; Verfahren, Ergebnisse, Nachwirkungen.'' Wallstein. Göttingen, Germany. An affidavit written by Maršálek also played a role in the
Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...
. Maršálek's was active in the Austrian organization of Mauthausen survivors, the ''Lagergemeinschaft Mauthausen''. Starting in 1946, he helped establish the Mauthausen Memorial. He became the camp's main chronicler, tirelessly collecting documentation. His magnum opus, the ''History of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp'' (''Geschichte des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen''), first published in 1974. is considered the definitive account on the Austrian branch of the Nazi
extermination through labour Extermination through labour (or "extermination through work", german: Vernichtung durch Arbeit) is a term that was adopted to describe forced labor in Nazi concentration camps in light of the high mortality rate and poor conditions; in some ...
machine. In 1952, Maršálek became a founding member of the ''Comité International de Mauthausen'', the international counterpart to the ''Lagergemeinschaft''. In 1963, the Austrian
Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
invited Maršálek to establish a museum in the former concentration camp, which had been declared a national memorial site in 1949. Maršálek accepted and took over as the director of the Mauthausen Memorial, a position he filled until his retirement in 1976. On 3 May 1975, the 30th anniversary of the camp's liberation, Maršálek's museum was inaugurated by
Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Bruno Kreisky Bruno Kreisky (; 22 January 1911 – 29 July 1990) was an Austrian social democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest Ch ...
.Bischof, Günter and Pelinka, Anton (1996): ''Austrian Historical Memory and National Identity.'' Transaction Publishers. New Jersey. .


Death

Maršálek died on 9 December 2011 in Vienna. He was cremated at
Feuerhalle Simmering Feuerhalle Simmering is a crematorium with attached urn burial ground in the Simmering (Vienna), Simmering district of Vienna, Austria. It lies at the end of an alley, directly opposite Vienna Central Cemetery's main gate. Description Opened on ...
, where also his ashes are buried.


Honours

Maršálek has been called one of the most important members of the Austrian resistance. On 24 November 2009, he received an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
in social science from the
Johannes Kepler University of Linz The Johannes Kepler University Linz (German: ''Johannes Kepler Universität Linz'', short: ''JKU'') is a public institution of higher education in Austria. It is located in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It offers bachelor's, master's, d ...
. The Hans Maršálek Prize for excellence in memorial, remembrance and awareness work, awarded by the Austrian Mauthausen Committee and the Austrian Camp Association Mauthausen, is named in his honour.


Publications

*Hacker, Kurt and Maršálek, Hans (1995): ''Kurzgeschichte des Konzentrationslager Mauthausen und seiner drei größten Nebenlager Gusen, Ebensee, Melk.'' Österreichische Lagergemeinschaft Mauthausen. Vienna, Austria. *Kohl, Josef and Maršálek, Hans (1950): ''Das war Mauthausen.'' Globus. Vienna, Austria. No ISBN *Maršálek, Hans (1947): ''Mauthausen mahnt! Kampf hinter Stacheldraht. Tatsachen, Dokumente und Berichte über das grösste Hitler'sche Vernichtungslager in Österreich.'' Globus. Vienna, Austria. No ISBN *Maršálek, Hans (1988): ''Die Vergasungsaktionen im Konzentrationslager Mauthausen: Gaskammer, Gaswagen, Vergasungsanstalt Hartheim, Tarnnamen.'' Österreichische Lagergemeinschaft Mauthausen. Vienna, Austria. *Maršálek, Hans (2006): ''Die Geschichte des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen. Dokumentation. 4. Auflage''. Edition Mauthausen.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsalek, Hans 1914 births 2011 deaths Austrian anti-fascists Austrian resistance members Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Johannes Kepler University Linz Austrian police officers Burials at Feuerhalle Simmering Austrian people of Czech descent