In Memoriam: The Franciscan Fathers of Hall, Victims of Nazi Persecution

Following the violent dissolution of the Franciscan monastery in Hall in Tirol on September 30, 1940, the Nazi regime continued its persecution of the religious community. The six fathers initially permitted to stay for pastoral work were soon arrested. Their brief but harrowing imprisonments stand as a testament to the systematic oppression of religious life under the Nazi dictatorship. This portrait remembers their ordeal and their names.

Father Rupert Dullnig (1894 – August 20, 1964)
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Photograph Fr Rupert Dullnig. Held in: Archive of the Franciscan Province of Tyrol in Hall in Tirol.

Father Rupert served as Vicar in Hall. His arrest began on November 4, 1940, when he was initially held in Hall. On November 11, he was transferred to the Police Prison in Innsbruck and the Regional Court (LG) Innsbruck, where he was detained until November 21, 1940. Following his release, he was expelled from the Gau (Tyrol-Vorarlberg), banished from the community he served.

Father Florian (Dr. Franz) Schachl (November 16, 1901 – August 21, 1985)
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Photograph Fr Florian (Dr. Franz) Schachl. Held in: ​Archive of the Franciscan Province of Tyrol in Hall in Tirol.

A former high school professor (Gymnasialprofessor a.D.), father Florian was arrested in Hall on November 4, 1940. After a week, on November 11, he was moved to the Police Prison in Innsbruck. He was held there for ten days until his release on November 21, 1940. The consequence of his steadfast faith was his expulsion from the Gau of Tyrol-Vorarlberg.

Father Walter Rücker (1911 – 1978)

Photograph Fr Walter Rücker. Held in: ​ ​Archive of the Franciscan Province of Tyrol in Hall in Tirol.

Serving as an auxiliary priest in Hall, father Walter was imprisoned at the District Court (Amtsgericht) in Solbad Hall from November 4 to November 11, 1940. On the day of his release, November 11, 1940, he was issued a Gauverweis, an official order of expulsion, and forced to leave Hall immediately.

Father Otto Matthys (1877 in Hall – 1944)
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Photograph FR Otto Mathys. Held in: ​Archive of the Franciscan Province of Tyrol in Hall in Tirol.

Father Otto, who served as a sick ward father and confessor in the monastery, was among those targeted after the closure. He was imprisoned in the District Jail (Amtsgefängnis) in Solbad Hall from November 4 to November 8, 1940.

Father Gabriel Haider (1872 in Hall in Tirol – 1951)
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Photograph Fr Gabriel Haider. Held in: ​​Archive of the Franciscan Province of Tyrol in Hall in Tirol.

Having worked in the monastery until its suppression, Pater Gabriel was arrested and detained in the District Jail in Solbad Hall from November 4 to November 8, 1940.

Father Epiphan Redhammer (1889 – 1950)

Photograph Fr Epiphan Redhammer. Held in: ​Archive of the Franciscan Province of Tyrol in Hall in Tirol.

A former high school director (Gymnasialdirektor a.D.) and chaplain at the refuge monastery "Heim zum Guten Hirten" in Solbad Hall, Pater Epiphan was also imprisoned in the District Jail from November 4 to November 8, 1940. Upon his release, he too was expelled from the Gau of Tirol-Vorarlberg on November 11, 1940.

A Collective Legacy of Faith

Though their individual sentences varied slightly in length and location—from the local jail in Hall to the feared police prison in Innsbruck—their fate was shared: persecution for their vocation. Expulsion (Gauverweis) was a brutal tool used to tear them from their spiritual home and scatter their community.
We remember these men not only for the injustice they suffered but for the faith they refused to renounce. Their story is an integral part of the history of resistance and resilience within the Austrian Catholic Church during a dark chapter of the 20th century.
Source: Documentation provided to the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW).