Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach (1880 - 1963)

Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach: An Austrian Jewish Lawyer from Hall in Tyrol

The history of Hall in Tirol, like many towns in Austria, includes a chapter that is often overlooked: the story of its Jewish residents who were persecuted by the Nazi regime. One of these individuals was Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach, a lawyer whose fate serves as a somber reminder of this dark period.

Key Details of His Life and Persecution:

1. Family and Origins: Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach was an Austrian jurist. He belonged to the Kohn family, which originated from Bennisch in Silesia (known as Horní Benešov in the present-day Czech Republic). This area was part of the former Habsburg Empire.
   
2. Life in Hall in Tirol: At the time of the Nazi annexation of Austria (the Anschluss) in 1938, Dr. Kaulbach was living at Wallpachgasse No. 3 in Solbad Hall (now known as Hall in Tirol). His presence there is a significant historical fact, as it is not widely known that Hall in Tirol had Jewish residents who were later deported.
   
3. Arrest and Deportation: As part of the systematic persecution of Jewish citizens, Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach was arrested. The records indicate he was deported to the Dachau concentration camp on August 13, 1943. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in 1933, and was primarily used for political prisoners. His deportation there marks him as a victim of the Nazis' brutal machinery of oppression and genocide.
   

Early Life and Family Background

Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach was born on December 29, 1880, as Bruno Franz Kohn. He was the eldest son of Bernard Kohn (1854-1915) and Hermine Kolban (1861-1939). The Kohn family belonged to a small Jewish community in the town of Bennisch (now Horni Benesov, Czech Republic), which was then part of Austria-Hungary. Bruno and his three brothers, Alfred, Richard, and Oskar, changed their surnames to 'Kaulbach' in the early 1900s. At the same time, they renounced the Jewish faith and converted to Roman Catholicism.

Education, Career, and Marriage

Bruno Franz Kaulbach completed his law degree in 1912 at the University of Vienna. That same year, he married Maria Theresia Hinterholzer Meyer (1886-1972), who came from a prominent business and political family in Innsbruck. Her uncle was the painter and political activist Edgar Meyer (1853–1925).
During World War I, Dr. Bruno Kaulbach served as a First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant) in the Austro-Hungarian Army. For a time, Dr. Bruno Franz and Maria Kaulbach lived in Graz, where Dr. Kaulbach worked as a lawyer and where their children, Martin and Eva, were born.

Life Under National Socialism and Persecution

From 1935 onward, Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach lived with his family in Hall in Tirol. With the rise of National Socialism and because of his Jewish heritage, Dr. Kaulbach realized that his children would be in danger. He did everything in his power to get his children to safety in England, where they eventually became British citizens.
After the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria in 1938, he was persecuted by the Nazis and could no longer work as a lawyer. On August 12, 1943, Dr. Kaulbach was arrested by the Gestapo in Innsbruck. He was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp and held there as a political prisoner until the camp was liberated by American troops on April 29, 1945.

Family Tragedy

His three brothers and their family members were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Only Ilse, the daughter of Richard Kaulbach, escaped to the USA.

Post-War Life and Testimony

Dr. Bruno Franz Kaulbach returned to Solbad Hall after the end of the Second World War and resumed his work as a lawyer.
In December 1948, Dr. Bruno Kaulbach testified before the American war crimes tribunal in Dachau. The "Dachau Trials" took place from 1945 to 1948 in the American occupation zone. They prosecuted those Nazi crimes not covered by the main Nuremberg Trials of the major war criminals. These included the concentration camp trials and flyer trials. In a total of 489 proceedings, 1,672 defendants had to answer for their actions. The 256 acquittals are contrasted with 1,416 convictions, which included 426 death sentences.