Schloss Hartheim
Encyclopedia
Alkoven
Alkoven is a municipality in the district Eferding in Upper Austria, Austria.The Renaissance style Castle Schloss Hartheim is located at Alkoven. It became notorious as one of the Nazi Euthanasia killing centers, where the killing program Action T4 took place....
in Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
, some 14 km. from Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, became notorious as one of the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
killing centers, where the killing program Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
took place.
The castle was built by Jakob von Aspen in 1600. It is one of the most important Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
castles in Austria.
In 1898, Prince Camillo Heinrich Starhemberg (1835 - 1900) donated the castle as a gift to the Upper Austria Charity Organization. With the help of additional donations, they used the castle from the beginning of the 20th century as a psychiatric institution (German: Psychiatrische Anstalt, but originally called the Idioten-Anstalt).
History to 1940
Hartheim lies in the middle of the so-called Eferding Basin, that runs along the River Danube from OttensheimOttensheim
Ottensheim is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in Upper Austria, Austria. In July 2008 it hosted the World Rowing Championships.- History :...
to Aschach an der Donau
Aschach an der Donau
Aschach an der Donau is a municipality in the district Eferding in the region Hausruckviertel with a population of 2,188 in Upper Austria, Austria...
. As early as 1130 a family with the name Hartheim is mentioned in the records. They were vassals of the bishops of Passau. In 1287 three brothers, Conrad, Peter and Henry of Hartheim, were named as owners of the castle as part of a barter arrangement with the Wilhering Abbey
Wilhering Abbey
Wilhering Abbey is a Cistercianmonastery in Wilhering in Upper Austria, about 8 km from Linz. The buildings, re-constructed in the 18th century, are known for their spectacular Rococo decoration.-History:...
. In any case by 1323 another family was named as the owners. Until the middle of the 14th century the site consisted mainly of just one tower, subsequently a residence was added and it was surrounded by a small wall with ramparts and ditches.
After changing hands several times the castle ended up in the possession of the Aspan family, who probably built the castle into its present shape. At the beginning of the 1690s they had a completely new castle built conforming to perceptions of the ideal Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style with a regular four-winged building with four polygonal corner towers and a higher central tower.
In 1799 George Adam, Prince of Starhemberg, purchased the castle. But by 1862 the castle was in a rather poor condition, as a contemporary report describes:
Doors, windows and ovens are entirely missing, ... and several ceilings must be replaced.
In 1898 Camillo Henry, Prince of Starhemberg, made a present of the castle building, the outbuildings and some land to the Upper Austrian State Welfare Society (Oberösterreichischen Landeswohltätigkeitsverein or OÖ. LWV). It was intended to use further donation to convert the building into an "Idiot's Institute" as it was described at the time. In addition between 1900 and 1910 major renovation and conversion work was carried out to enable the building to be used as a care home for mentally handicapped people. In 1926 a staircase was dismantled and replaced by a bed lift.
Nazi era
Following Hitler's euthanasia decree in 1939, Hartheim was selected as one of six euthanasia centres in the Reich. Between May 1940 and December 1944, approximately 18,000 people physically and mentally disabled were killed at Schloss Hartheim by gassingGas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
and lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
as part of the T-4 Euthanasia Program
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
, named after the infamous Berlin address "Tiergartenstrasse 4". These included about twelve thousand prisoners from the Dachau and Mauthausen
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
concentration camps who were sent here to be gassed. The castle was regularly visited by the psychiatrists Karl Brandt, Professor of Psychiatry at Würzburg University, and Werner Heyde
Werner Heyde
Werner Heyde was a German psychiatrist. He was one of the main organizers of Nazi Germany's T-4 Euthanasia Program.-Education:Heyde completed his Abitur in 1920...
.
After World War II, the building was converted into apartments. Beginning in 1969, the gas chamber was opened to visitors. Hartheim Castle is now a Memorial Site dedicated to the thousands of physically and mentally handicapped persons who were murdered here by the Nazis.
In 1946, Countess Alice Ricciardi-von Platen
Alice Ricciardi-von Platen
Alice Ricciardi von Platen, born Alice von Platen-Hallermund , was an Italian physician and psychoanalyst of German descent...
(28 April 1910 in Weissenhaus
Wangels
Wangels is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
- 23 February 2008 in Cortona
Cortona
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), a psychiatrist who practised near Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, was invited to join the German team observing the so-called Doctors Trial in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. The trial was presided over by American judges, who indicted Karl Brandt and 22 others. The 16 who were convicted included Dr. Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
; seven were sentenced to death. Her 1948 book, Die Tötung Geisteskranker in Deutschland, ("The killing of the mentally ill in Germany"), was judged a scandal by German medical professionals.
Further reading
- Angela Gluck Wood, Holocaust - the events and their impact on real people Foreword by Steven SpielbergSteven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. Lots of photos. DK Publishing (2007) ISBN 978-0-75662-535-1
Sources
- Pierre Serge Choumoff, Les Assassinats Nationaux-Socialistes par Gaz en Territoire Autrichien, Vienna, Bundesministerium für Inneres, 2000, ISBN 978-3-9500867-1-3
- Nazi Medicine and the Nuremburg Trials (PDF) Table of contents, introduction and index only.
- Eutanasia, le radici dello sterminio