Language / Sprache: EN | DEMaria Mair and the Rescue of the Madonna of Maria Waldrast  Maria and Josef Mair with their family, from 1941 to approximately 1980. At top left, Maria holds her son Michael in April 1941; the other photographs show her with children and the family gathered in later years. Photographs: Mair family archive; black-and-white collage: DBANT. Introduction On the night of 17–18 April 1941, Franz Mair and Hans Madersbacher removed the devotional statue from the pilgrimage church of Maria Waldrast, which the Nazi authorities had closed. Maria Mair, née Ghedina (1908–1990), waited for their return at the Glasnhof farm in Schöfens. The mother of five knew the danger and helped conceal the Madonna at first. Her later recollections reveal the part women played in an action often associated primarily with men. Maria and Josef Mair — the people behind the story  Photo collage: Maria Mair, née Ghedina, and her family: photographs of her First Communion, with two sisters, at her wedding to Josef Mair, and with their first three children (1945). The collage also includes a portrait of Josef Mair, Maria’s memorial card and the Ghedina family gravestone inscription. Black-and-white collage based on family photographs. DBANT. Maria Mair, née Ghedina (1908–1990) Maria Mair was born in Hall in Tirol on 12 February 1908. Her parents were Maria Ghedina, née Prantner, and Illuminato Ghedina, a coppersmith. She later lived in Pfons with her husband, Dr Josef Mair. According to their son Thomas’s account, she kept the devotional statue removed from the closed pilgrimage site of Maria Waldrast in the family home. While Josef Mair was in custody, she was responsible for the children. Her role in protecting the statue shows how much the story also depended on her actions. Maria Mair died on 22 December 1990. Dr Josef Mair (1909–1986) Dr Josef Mair was married to Maria Mair and was the father of their children. According to their son Thomas, he was imprisoned several times during the Nazi period and was later called up for military service. Thomas Mair also reports that his father established a resistance group in Landeck. A recorded conversation between the couple, in which they recount the events surrounding the devotional statue, is also important for this article on Maria Waldrast. Josef Mair died in 1986. Source note for the article: The information here about the statue’s hiding place, Josef’s imprisonment and the resistance group is based on statements by Mag. Thomas Mair. The couple’s recorded conversation and other sources should be consulted for more precise statements about the sequence and dates of events. Historical context: Maria Waldrast under Nazi rule Maria Waldrast pilgrimage church and monastery near Matrei am Brenner, photographed in 2006. Black-and-white adaptation of a colour photograph. Photograph: Leonhard Kurenz/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0; adaptation: DBANT. The Servite monastery of Maria Waldrast near Matrei am Brenner was an important Tyrolean pilgrimage site. After the annexation of Austria in 1938, the Nazi authorities increasingly restricted church life. On 8 April 1941, the monastery was dissolved, its property confiscated, and the friars had to leave. The church remained closed; the devotional statue was not permitted to be taken to Matrei. For believers in the region, this was a serious interference with their religious practice. A retrospective account by the Servite Father Innozenz M. Krub, published in the Tiroler Tageszeitung on 10 November 1945, describes the closure, the secret removal of the statue, and subsequent house searches and arrests. Later recordings of Maria and Josef Mair’s accounts are also important for events at the Glasnhof farm. These sources differ in character: the newspaper article looks back from the immediate postwar period, while the recordings preserve personal memories decades after the events.  Photo: Maria Waldrast Mother of God – Mother and father talk about the Waldrast. In: Private archive of Mag. Mair, Hall in Tirol. The plan and the night of the rescueAccording to family recollections, Bishop Paulus Rusch, the clergyman Michael Weisskopf and Josef Mair (1909–1986) discussed how to safeguard the late Gothic Madonna. Josef Mair had already come into conflict with the Nazi authorities because of his involvement in church affairs. His brother Franz Mair (1921–1944) and Hans Madersbacher (1920–1945) undertook the risky task of retrieving the statue from the locked church. They met at the Glasnhof on 17 April. The two young men set off for Maria Waldrast during the following night. Maria Mair stayed at home with her child. She had given birth to her son Michael only a few weeks earlier. In the recording, she describes her physical weakness, her fear for the two men, and her concern that a search might expose the hiding place already prepared in the house. Franz Mair and Hans Madersbacher returned only towards morning and brought the Madonna to the Glasnhof. Maria Mair remembered the statue’s head protruding from a rucksack and details of its clothing. According to her account, Franz decided to hide it in a grain chest in the barn to protect it from damp, instead of placing it in a pit near the hearth. Maria received the men and helped keep what had happened secret. Maria Mair later also explained why their return had been delayed: people were moving around the farm buildings because a calf was being born, so Franz Mair and Hans Madersbacher had to wait in the woods. These details come from family memory; the published article offers no independent contemporary evidence for them.  Photograph: Maria and Michael Mair (1941). Held in private archive Mag. Thomas Mair Hall in Tyrol. Pilgrimage, persecution and the statue’s return On 20 April 1941, pilgrims went to Maria Waldrast despite the closure. Their pilgrimage was a visible act of religious self-assertion. The secret rescue of the statue and the public pilgrimage were connected but distinct actions. The Nazi authorities responded to the Madonna’s disappearance with investigations, house searches and arrests. The specific measures taken against particular individuals should in each case be supported by the relevant files or testimony. The statue did not remain at the Glasnhof permanently. According to accounts cited in the earlier version of this article, it was later taken to the Lower Rhine region and hidden in various places. After the war, it returned to Tyrol; on 11 November 1945, a procession brought it back to Maria Waldrast. Franz Mair and Hans Madersbacher did not live to see its return: both died during the war. Maria Mair’s role and the state of the sourcesMaria Mair was more than a bystander. She knew the plan, kept the Glasnhof ready as a refuge during a threatening night for the family, received the Madonna and the men who brought it, and kept the secret. Her actions can be described as religious self-assertion and support for a prohibited rescue operation. Whether every detail of the planning and the authorities’ response unfolded as later recalled requires examination against further contemporary sources. The ten recordings entitled “Mother and Father Tell the Story of Waldrast”, made in the 1980s, and Elisabeth Walder’s transcript are particularly valuable for Maria’s perspective. Recollections recorded many years later convey personal perceptions and may compress dates, wording or the sequence of events. The accounts should therefore be read alongside the 1945 press report and the archival and historical works listed in the sources.  : Pilgrims approaching the Maria Waldrast pilgrimage church in Tyrol. AI-generated black-and-white illustration based on a 2006 photograph of the pilgrimage site; the people were added. Source photograph: DBANT. Conclusion The rescue of the Madonna of Maria Waldrast was the work of several people. Franz Mair and Hans Madersbacher removed the statue from the closed church; Maria and Josef Mair provided the Glasnhof as a place where it could initially be hidden. Maria Mair’s voice shows that the danger also extended to those who waited at home and protected the hiding place. Her story broadens our understanding of resistance to the Nazi regime’s interference in religious life in Tyrol. Frequently asked questions (FAQ) Who was Maria Mair?Maria Mair, née Ghedina (1908–1990), lived at the Glasnhof farm in Schöfens with her husband Josef Mair and their children. Her recorded recollections describe the night the devotional statue of Maria Waldrast was brought there. When was the Madonna of Maria Waldrast rescued? Franz Mair and Hans Madersbacher removed the statue from the locked church on the night of 17–18 April 1941. Why was the statue hidden?After the Servite monastery was dissolved on 8 April 1941, the statue remained in the closed church. Those involved wanted to keep it out of the Nazi authorities’ hands and preserve it. What role did Maria Mair play? She knew about the action, waited through the night for the two men to return, received them at the Glasnhof and helped keep the hiding place secret. Her account records the fear and responsibility she bore. Was Maria’s account recorded at the time? No. The surviving audio recordings were made in the 1980s. They preserve her later recollections and should be compared with contemporary sources. When did the Madonna return to Maria Waldrast? After the war, the statue was brought back and carried to Maria Waldrast in a procession on 10 November 1945. Sources and further reading Maria and Josef Mair, “Mother and Father Tell the Story of Waldrast”, ten audio recordings from the 1980s; transcript by Elisabeth Walder, Hall in Tirol, 2026, pp. 1–24. Private archive of Mag. Thomas Mair, Hall in Tirol. P. Innozenz M. Krub, “Maria Waldrast. Ein Gang durch fünf Jahrhunderte”, Tiroler Tageszeitung, 10 November 1945, p. 2 (via ANNO, Austrian National Library). Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes, ed., Widerstand und Verfolgung in Tirol 1934–1945. Eine Dokumentation, vol. 2, Vienna/Munich, 1984. Page references cited in the original article should be checked separately for individual claims. Anton Walder, “Maria Waldrast – ein Wallfahrtskloster des Serviten-Ordens”, in Polizei Tirol 2/2023, pp. 99–103. Further reading on DBANT:Bishop Dr. Reinhold StecherThe Tyrolean Pilgrimage 1941Maria Waldrast 1941Msgr. Dr. Franz KolbDr. Josef MairMsgr. Dr. Michael Weisskopf
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Author
|
RSS Feed
