Sr. Alfonsa Brettauer (1893-1994)

Photo Sr. Alfonsa (Josefa) Brettauer memorial portrait. Held in provincial archive of the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis Hall in Tyrol.

Introduction

In 1980, more than three decades after the end of the Nazi regime, Sr. Alfonsa Brettauer (1893-1994) , the Provincial Superior of the Franciscan Tertiary or School Sisters of Hall in Tirol, wrote a significant letter. Her writing to Father Johann Reiter in Innsbruck documented an often overlooked chapter of Nazi injustice: the systematic removal of religious sisters from the teaching profession. In this listing of names and numbers, she not only preserved the memory of her fellow sisters but became an important eyewitness and chronicler of a religious community under persecution and resistance.

Biographical Context and Leadership Role

As Provincial Superior in the 1970s and 80s, Sr. Alfonsa Brettauer led the community of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters in Hall. Her office obliged her not only to provide spiritual and organizational leadership but also to preserve the community's history. The convent in Hall had a long tradition in girls' education and childcare, meaning the sisters played a central role in the social fabric of Tyrol. The Nazi period meant a deep rupture for this work, the extent of which Sr. Alfonsa Brettauer meticulously recorded decades later.

The 1980 Document: An Accounting of Injustice

The central testimony of her work as a chronicler is her letter of July 7, 1980. In it, she precisely listed for Father Johann Reiter the personal and institutional losses suffered by the community during Nazi rule:

• 26 Sisters were dismissed from teaching service or were no longer employed.
• Three kindergartens, each with one kindergarten teacher, were closed.
• Two sewing schools with their directors had to shut down.

These sober numbers encompass personal fates and the targeted campaign of the Nazi regime against denominational educational and social institutions. The sisters lost not only their life's work but also their economic livelihood. Sr. Alfonso Brettauer's list served for clear historical and legal documentation, possibly in connection with later recognition or compensation procedures

The Case of Sister Alfonsa Brettauer: An Exemplary Fate

The fate of Sister Alfonsa Brettauer (1893–1994), documented in the community's records, illustrates the severity of the persecution behind Sr. Alfonso Brettauer's statistical account.

• Dismissal and Reinstatement: On July 20, 1938, she received the dismissal decree from the District School Board of Innsbruck-Land, but was already re-employed as a teacher in Achenkirch in 1938/39 – initially without written notice.
• Forced Transfer and Interrogations: In 1941, she was conscripted to Bremen to work in an armaments factory. After her unauthorized return to Tyrol, she faced 25 interrogations by the Gestapo and two prison sentences (1942 and 1944) before the war's end. Her brave and cunning tactic of "forcing" a work assignment in her homeland by threatening to reveal armament secrets abroad shows impressive spirit of resistance.
• End of War and New Beginning: After the war, she continued her service as a parish sister in Innsbruck-Pradl, where she survived a severe air raid in 1943.

This individual case makes clear that the measures documented by Sr. Alfonso Brettauer were not mere administrative acts, but could lead to existential threat, forced labor, and psychological terror.

Historical Context: The Nazi Campaign Against Religious Schools

The measures recorded by Sr. Alfonso Brettauer were part of a nationwide policy. The Nazi regime aimed to break all denominational influence on youth to educate them entirely according to the National Socialist ideology.

1. Legal Foundations: As early as 1935, religious sisters were banned from teaching in various regions of the German Reich. After the annexation of Austria in 1938, these discriminatory laws and ordinances were implemented there as well.
2. Closure of Religious Schools: Denominational schools were systematically dissolved or converted into state-run "German Community Schools." The closure of the kindergartens and sewing schools in Hall followed this logic.
3. Ideological Motivation: This was driven by the regime's hostility towards the churches, particularly religious orders, which were seen as "anti-state" organizations and bearers of a competing worldview. Their educational work undermined the monopoly of the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls on youth indoctrination.

Significance and Legacy

Sr. Alfonso Brettauer secured the collective memory of her community through her precise documentation. At a time when many eyewitnesses were beginning to fall silent, she preserved the names and scale of the injustice suffered from being forgotten. Her letter is thus more than an internal record; it is a historical document of ecclesiastical resistance and will to survive.
Her work reminds us that Nazi terror occurred not only in the large concentration camps but also in the systematic destruction of established social and charitable structures in everyday life. The Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of Hall, represented by sisters like Alfonsa Brettauer and documented by Sr. Alfonso Brettauer, stood for an attitude that refused to be diverted from their charitable and pedagogical mission, neither by professional bans nor by Gestapo interrogations.