Arrests in Hall from March 1938

12 March 1938 in Hall in Tyrol: Nazi Seizure of Power and the Arrest of Political Opponent

The former municipal prison of Hall in Tyrol was located inside Burg Hasegg. Political opponents of National Socialism were among those held in the cells behind the barred ground-floor windows. AI-generated black-and-white adaptation based on a recent photograph of Burg Hasegg. Created to evoke a historical atmosphere; not a contemporary photograph.

Historical Context

The municipal prison of Hall was housed in one section of Burg Hasegg. The prison cells were located behind the barred windows on the ground floor, while the apartment of the prison administrator’s family was situated on the floor above. Following the Nazi seizure of power in March 1938, political opponents and other people persecuted by the Nazi regime were also detained there before being released or transferred to other places of imprisonment.
The image is not a historical photograph from 1938. It was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and is based on a recent photograph. The black-and-white treatment and dramatically darkened sky are intended to convey an oppressive atmosphere. The image must therefore not be regarded as documentary evidence of the building’s actual appearance or of the weather and lighting conditions during the Nazi period.

Introduction

The night of 11–12 March 1938 marked the beginning of a new era of political persecution in Hall in Tyrol. While the National Socialists were seizing power in Austria and German troops crossed the border on 12 March, known opponents of National Socialism were arrested, removed from office, or placed under political surveillance.
The arrests were not arbitrary or unplanned. Local National Socialists had already monitored and registered political opponents before the seizure of power. A report issued by the Innsbruck District Authority concerning the arrests in Hall shows that the stated grounds for detention had been compiled by the local NSDAP group and the Hall branch of the SA. This demonstrates that the persecution was not carried out solely by external Nazi authorities but had also been prepared and supported by local actors.
Those affected included physicians, civil servants, tradespeople, members of the clergy, former municipal councillors, and representatives of different political movements. Some were released after a few days or weeks; others were subsequently arrested again, placed in so-called “protective custody,” or deported to Dachau concentration camp.

Historical Context: The “Anschluss” of Austria

On 9 March 1938, Federal Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced in Innsbruck that a plebiscite would be held to determine Austria’s political future. Under massive pressure from Adolf Hitler, he was forced to cancel the vote and resigned on the evening of 11 March. At the same time, Austrian National Socialists took control of key state institutions.
On 12 March 1938, the German Wehrmacht entered Austria. One day later, the country’s incorporation into the German Reich was formally enacted through the “Law on the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich.” The retrospective plebiscite of 10 April 1938 was held under the conditions of the Nazi dictatorship. Political opponents had been arrested, Jewish people were excluded from voting, and the free formation and expression of political opinion were no longer possible.
In Tyrol, too, the Nazi seizure of power was accompanied by the visible approval of parts of the population. At the same time, terror against political opponents began immediately. Lists of names compiled in advance served as the basis for the arrests.
Source: ERINNERN, Resistance and Persecution in Tyrol.

read more: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss

The Wave of Arrests in Hall in Tyrol

immediately following. Further individuals were detained over the course of the ensuing weeks and months.
The measures targeted people regarded as opponents or potential opponents of National Socialism. They included former officials of the Fatherland Front, Social Democrats, civil servants, police officers, prominent Catholic figures, and people who had taken action against illegal National Socialists before 1938.
The Nazi authorities frequently used the term “protective custody” (Schutzhaft) for such measures. This term concealed their true nature: those affected were detained without proper judicial proceedings and without effective legal protection. “Protective custody” was a central instrument of Nazi terror and could lead to imprisonment in a concentration camp.
Further information: Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW), The Gestapo as a Central Instrument of Nazi Terror.

AI-generated historical reconstruction: Dr Ernst Verdross is brought into a cell of the former municipal prison in Burg Hasegg on 12 March 1938. Friedrich Corazza is already lying on an iron-framed bed. His damaged police uniform indicates that he had been assaulted and that his insignia had been torn off. The pixelated individuals are not intended as accurate portraits. This image is not an original historical photograph.

Documented Arrests in Hall and the Surrounding Area

The following periods of detention are documented in the surviving police records:
Dr Ernst Verdross (1892–1963), Municipal Administrative Director of Hall in Tyrol: arrested in Hall together with Friedrich Corazza on 12 March 1938 and subsequently transferred to the police prison in Innsbruck. He was later placed in “protective custody” and deported to Dachau concentration camp. Following the end of Nazi rule, he was reinstated as Municipal Administrative Director on 4 May 1945.
Dr Viktor Schumacher, physician, born on 30 October 1894, resident at Bruckergasse 1 in Hall in Tyrol: detained from 12 to 24 March 1938.
Herbert Plattner, pensioner, born on 30 May 1879, resident at Absam 316: detained from 13 to 24 March 1938.
Anton Haider, sacristan, born on 30 November 1903, resident at Absam 68: detained from 12 March to 2 April 1938.
Count Christoph von Galen, landowner, born on 28 July 1885, resident in Baumkirchen: detained from 13 to 24 March 1938.
Karl Farbmacher, butcher, Social Democrat, and former municipal councillor, born on 19 June 1907, resident at Wallpachgasse 15 in Hall in Tyrol: detained from 14 to 31 March 1938.
Andreas Weber, senior smelting works foreman, born on 20 April 1878, resident at Münzerhof 3 in Hall in Tyrol: detained from 8 to 16 April 1938.
Karl Durkowitzer, innkeeper at the Gasthaus Post, born on 8 June 1904: detained from 23 July to 1 August 1938.
Pius Reinmayer, school caretaker, born on 13 August 1907, resident at Krippgasse 5 in Hall in Tyrol: detained from 31 January to 1 February 1940.
The staggered chronology shows that the persecution was not confined to 12 March 1938. Rather, the first wave of arrests marked the beginning of sustained political surveillance and repression.

read more: 

🇬🇧 Haider-Anton-Blog (EN)

🇬🇧 Blog (EN) Marian Congregation of the Gentlemen and Burghers of Hall

Opposition Figures Transferred to Innsbruck

Other individuals from Hall or with connections to the town were taken into police custody and transferred to Innsbruck. The records name, among others:

• Dr Ernst Verdross
• Friedrich “Fritz” Corazza
• Director Josef Egg
• DDr Arthur von Reisinger
• Graduate Engineer Herbert Pichler
• Dr Manfred Mumelter
• One further individual whose name is not clearly legible in the document

read more: 

🇬🇧 Josef Egg (EN)

🇬🇧 Blog (EN) Dr. _Manfred _Mumelter

Source Commentary

The names and periods of detention cited in this article are based on police records held by the Municipal Archives of Hall in Tyrol. These documents were produced by administrative authorities or Nazi agencies and therefore often reflect their political and defamatory language. Terms and assessments contained in the records must not be accepted uncritically as statements of fact.
At the same time, the documents are of considerable historical value because they reveal the names of those persecuted, the chronology of the arrests, and the involvement of local actors in the implementation of repressive measures.

From Police Custody to Deportation

For some of those persecuted, their ordeal did not end with temporary detention in police custody. Dr Ernst Verdross, Dr Manfred Mumelter, Graduate Engineer Herbert Pichler, and Friedrich Corazza were subsequently deported to Dachau concentration camp as Nazi persecution intensified.
However, a considerable period of time could elapse between the initial arrest, a possible release, a subsequent rearrest, and the eventual transfer to a concentration camp. The respective dates of deportation—where these can be established from prisoner records or transport lists—should therefore be stated separately in the individual biographies.
Following the “Anschluss,” Dachau concentration camp became a principal place of imprisonment for Austrian political opponents. The first major transport of Austrian prisoners arrived there on 2 April 1938.

Dr Viktor Schumacher (1894-1981)

Portrait of Dr Viktor Schumacher in the 1950s. Private archive of Dr Andreas Schumacher, Hall in Tyrol.

Dr Viktor Schumacher, a physician from Hall, was arrested on 12 March 1938 and detained until 24 March. Following the Nazi seizure of power, he was stripped of his public positions. During the ensuing years, he was repeatedly subjected to persecution by the Nazi authorities.
On 4 May 1945, Schumacher was appointed Mayor of Hall in Tyrol. Thus, a declared opponent of the regime who had been persecuted immediately after the Nazi seizure of power became one of the individuals who helped shape the town’s democratic reconstruction in 1945.

read more:

🇬🇧 Schumacher-Dr. -Viktor- Blog (EN)

Dr Ernst Verdross (1892–1963): Arrest and Removal from Office

Dr Ernst Verdross, Municipal Administrative Director of Hall in Tyrol, in a portrait photograph from the 1950s. Source: Historical Archive, Stockhammer photograph, Hall in Tyrol.

On 12 March 1938, he was arrested together with Hall police inspector Friedrich Corazza and subsequently transferred to the police prison in Innsbruck.
The National Socialists removed Verdross from his senior position in the municipal administration of Hall. Criminal proceedings were initiated against him at the Innsbruck Regional Court on allegations of “abuse of office and other offences.” The proceedings were discontinued on 6 July 1938 pursuant to Section 109 of the Austrian Code of Criminal Procedure. Although the judicial authorities found no grounds for further criminal prosecution, Verdross remained under the scrutiny of the Nazi security authorities.
At the instigation of the Gestapo, he was later placed in so-called “protective custody” and deported to Dachau concentration camp. His fate illustrates how the Nazi regime was able to circumvent judicial decisions: even after criminal proceedings had been discontinued, the Gestapo could still order extrajudicial detention.
On 4 May 1945, the day Nazi rule collapsed in Hall, Dr Ernst Verdross was reinstated as Municipal Administrative Director. His return to office symbolised the restoration of municipal government based on democracy and the rule of law.

read more: 

🇬🇧 Verdross -Dr. Ernst -Biografie - Blog (EN)

🇬🇧 Book -Presentation -Concentration Camp Dachau

Friedrich Corazza (1897–1944) and His Family

Friedrich Corazza with his family in 1943. Standing behind him are his son Albert and his daughter Martha; in front are his daughters Elisabeth and Maria and his wife, Berta Corazza. Corazza family private archive.

Historical commentary:

The photograph was taken in 1943, five years after Friedrich Corazza was persecuted following the National Socialist seizure of power in Austria. As a police officer in Hall in Tirol, he was assaulted, stripped of his official insignia, and imprisoned in March 1938. The family portrait shows him once again in uniform and highlights an often overlooked dimension of political persecution: its consequences affected not only those directly targeted but also their wives and children. The photograph is therefore both a personal family memento and an important biographical record of the lasting effects of Nazi persecution.

Friedrich Corazza (1897-1944)

Friedrich Corazza was a police inspector in Hall in Tirol. Before 1938, he had taken official action against illegal National Socialists. Following the Nazi seizure of power, he therefore became a target of persecution himself. Together with Dr. Ernst Verdross, he was initially held in police custody and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was subjected to severe abuse.
During the war, Corazza was conscripted into the Wehrmacht. He was reported missing in 1944. His wife Berta and their children Albert and Martha also participated in the resistance against the Nazi regime in Hall in Tirol. The fate of the Corazza family demonstrates how persecution and resistance could remain interconnected over many years and across generations.

1. Guarded Column through Innsbruck

AI-generated historical reconstruction: In 1938, a guarded column of political prisoners is forced to march from the Innsbruck police prison to the city’s main railway station. Among the approximately 60 men destined for deportation were Dr. Ernst Verdross, Friedrich Corazza, and Dr. Manfred Mumelter. Along the way, the prisoners were insulted and photographed. The people depicted are not intended as accurate portraits. This is not an original historical photograph.

2. Deportation by Train to Dachau

AI-generated historical reconstruction: In 1938, approximately 60 political prisoners are escorted under guard to a waiting train at Innsbruck Main Railway Station and deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Among the prisoners were Dr. Ernst Verdross, Friedrich Corazza, and Dr. Manfred Mumelter. The image does not depict identifiable individuals and is not an original historical photograph.

Local Responsibility

The arrest records are more than documents concerning individual victims. They also reveal how National Socialist rule was enforced at the local level. The new rulers were able to draw upon local knowledge, denunciations, and lists of names compiled by local party officials.
The records of the district authority show that the local NSDAP branch and the Hall SA provided justifications for the arrests. These statements employed the language of political defamation: people were portrayed as dangerous opponents because of their former conduct in public office, their political affiliations, or critical remarks they had made about National Socialism.
This makes clear that the Nazi dictatorship did not operate solely from Berlin or Innsbruck. Its rule was also made possible in towns and municipalities by local officials, supporters, and institutions.

National Socialist rally in front of the Town Hall on Oberer Stadtplatz in Hall in Tirol, April 1938. The square and surrounding buildings are decorated with swastika flags; numerous adults and young people have gathered in front of the speakers’ platform.

Historical Significance

For Hall in Tirol, 12 March 1938 was not only the day on which the German Wehrmacht entered Austria. It also marked the beginning of the systematic elimination of political opponents and a fundamental transformation of public life.
The arrests were intended to intimidate the population, destroy existing opposition networks, and prevent potential resistance from developing. Within a matter of hours, doctors, civil servants, police officers, business owners, and former elected representatives lost the legal protections they had previously enjoyed.
The events also demonstrate that National Socialist persecution targeted different groups of people. Political repression, racist exclusion, economic disenfranchisement, and the enforced conformity of society were all components of a single system of rule.

Summary

Following the National Socialist seizure of power on 11 and 12 March 1938, the persecution of political opponents began immediately in Hall in Tirol. Local NSDAP and SA officials participated in identifying the individuals concerned and compiling accusations against them. Numerous people were arrested, transferred to Innsbruck, removed from office, or subsequently deported to concentration camps.
Among those arrested immediately after the National Socialist seizure of power were Dr. Viktor Schumacher, Dr. Ernst Verdross, and Friedrich Corazza. Verdross and Corazza were arrested in Hall on 12 March 1938 and transferred to Innsbruck. Both were later deported to the Dachau concentration camp.
The surviving police records restore the victims’ names and identities. At the same time, they document how quickly democratic and legal safeguards can be dismantled when state violence, arbitrary party rule, and local denunciation work together.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What happened in Hall in Tirol on 12 March 1938?

While German troops entered Austria, the National Socialists also consolidated their power in Hall. Political opponents and individuals regarded as opponents of National Socialism were arrested or placed under surveillance.

Were all the people mentioned arrested on 12 March 1938?

No. Some of those affected were arrested on 12 or 13 March. Further arrests followed over the subsequent days, weeks, and months. Pius Reinmayer, for example, was not imprisoned until 1940.

Who ordered or initiated the arrests in Hall?

Both state authorities and National Socialist organisations were involved in the persecution. Surviving records show that the local NSDAP branch and the Hall SA compiled grounds for detention. This provides evidence of local participation in the persecution.

Why is the term “Anschluss” placed in quotation marks?

The term formed part of the language of National Socialist propaganda and conveyed the impression of a voluntary union. In reality, Austria’s incorporation into Nazi Germany took place under intense military and political pressure and under the conditions of an emerging dictatorship.

Was the vote of 10 April 1938 a free referendum?

No. The vote took place only after the Nazi seizure of power, the entry of the Wehrmacht, and the first arrests. Political opponents had been silenced, Jewish people were excluded, and the population was subjected to massive propaganda and intimidation.

What did “protective custody” mean under National Socialism?

“Protective custody” was a euphemistic term for arbitrary detention without due judicial process. It was used to eliminate political and social opponents and could result in imprisonment in a concentration camp.

Which groups of people were persecuted in Hall?

Those affected included former political officeholders, Social Democrats, civil servants, police officers, doctors, prominent figures with strong Catholic affiliations, and people who had taken action against illegal National Socialists before 1938. At the same time, the racist persecution of Jewish people and other groups excluded by Nazi ideology began.

Which people from Hall were deported to the Dachau concentration camp?

Among those from Hall persecuted in this context were Dr. Ernst Verdross, Friedrich Corazza, Dr. Manfred Mumelter, and Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Pichler. Their individual biographies should provide more detailed accounts of their imprisonment and deportation.

Why was Dr. Ernst Verdross arrested?

Dr. Ernst Verdross was the chief administrative officer of Hall in Tirol and one of the senior civil servants whom the National Socialists regarded with political suspicion. He was arrested together with Friedrich Corazza on 12 March 1938 and removed from office. Although the criminal proceedings initiated against him were discontinued, the Gestapo later placed him in “protective custody” and had him deported to the Dachau concentration camp.

What role did Dr. Ernst Verdross play in Hall after 1945?

Dr. Ernst Verdross was reinstated as the city’s chief administrative officer on 4 May 1945. Together with Mayor Dr. Viktor Schumacher, he was among the former victims of persecution who helped rebuild the city’s democratic administration and restore the rule of law after the end of Nazi rule.

What role did Dr. Viktor Schumacher play?

Dr. Viktor Schumacher was a physician and a prominent figure in the public life of Hall. He was arrested on 12 March 1938 and lost his public positions following the National Socialist seizure of power. On 4 May 1945, he was appointed mayor of Hall and contributed to the city’s democratic reconstruction.

Why are the Hall police records historically important?

The records document the names, addresses, occupations, and periods of detention of those affected. They also reveal how political opponents were identified, assessed, and persecuted at the local level.

Did resistance continue in Hall after March 1938?

Yes. Despite arrests, surveillance, and intimidation, various forms of resistance emerged or continued to exist in Hall. Individuals, families, civil servants, clergy, young people, and members of different social groups participated in these activities.

Why is it important to remember 12 March 1938 today?

The events demonstrate how quickly fundamental rights, the rule of law, and political freedom can be abolished. Remembering them honours those who were persecuted and strengthens awareness of democracy, human rights, and individual responsibility.