Michael (1923 - 2002) und Peter (1925 - 2012) Zwetkoff

​Abstract:

Defying Tyranny: The Zwetkoff Brothers’ Resistance in Solbad Hall

Born in Tolbuchin, Bulgaria, and raised in Solbad Hall, Michael and Peter Zwetkoff became key figures in Austria’s Catholic resistance against the Nazis. As teenage members of Dr. Walter Krajnc’s underground group, they met secretly in the sacristy of St. Nicholas Church—until the Gestapo turned their lives into a relentless cycle of arrests, torture, and defiance.
In 1940, Peter was arrested after smuggling anti-Nazi leaflets on a train to Vienna, his home raided and his education sabotaged for refusing to write a pro-regime essay. By 1944, both brothers endured brutal interrogations at Innsbruck’s Gestapo prison and the Reichenau concentration camp. Forced into hiding, they joined Hubert Saurwein’s Ötztal resistance, their ties to Schumacher and Haller’s circle severed by constant surveillance.
After the war, Michael returned to become a village doctor in Tulfes, while Peter pursued music at Germany’s SWR radio—a quiet epilogue to their fearless youth.
(This post expands on earlier blogs about Johanna Wagner and the Haller resistance.)

Photograf Peter Zwetkoff. In Brenner Archive Innsbruck.

Defying the Reich: The Early Resistance Activities of the Zwetkoff Brothers

Michael and Peter Zwetkoff were born in Dobrich (Tolbukhin), Bulgaria, and later moved with their mother (who was from Tulfes, Austria) to Bad Hall (formerly Solbad Hall). Their father owned a nursery (garden center) in Hall in Tyrol, and the family lived at Unterer Stadtplatz 7.
Both brothers were members of the first Catholic resistance group led by Dr. Walter Krajnc. The group's initial meetings took place in the upper sacristy of St. Nicholas Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus) in Hall in Tyrol. Their early activities were already mentioned in an article about young Catholic resisters.

The Zwetkoff Brothers’ Resistance and Persecution (1939–1943)

In 1939, the older members of the resistance group were drafted into the Wehrmacht(German military), while younger members—including Michael and Peter Zwetkoff—continued their resistance activities.
In 1940, Peter Zwetkoff was arrested by the Gestapo on a sports field in Hall after his family home was raided. As a student at the Haller Oberschule (secondary school in Hall), Peter had been smuggling anti-Nazi leaflets on a train to Vienna. Additionally, he was banned from taking the Matura (final high school exam) across Nazi Germany after writing a school essay expressing his opposition to the Nazi regime. The school principal subsequently denounced him to the Gestapo.
In March 1943, Peter Zwetkoff was arrested for refusing to rewrite his Matura essay, tortured, and imprisoned in the "Hotel Sonne"—the Gestapo prison in Innsbruck.

The Arrest and Imprisonment of Michael and Peter Zwetkoff (1944)

The Gestapo kept Michael and Peter Zwetkoff under surveillance, and on November 4, 1944, they were arrested again and brutally mistreated. Peter Zwetkoff was detained in the Gestapo headquarters in Innsbruck until December 16, 1944, before being transferred to the Reichenau concentration camp for four days.

Peter Zwetkoff’s Testimony on His Arrests:

"[...] I was taken to the ‘Sonne’ [Gestapo prison] in March 1943. I was held there for five days before being released. [...]
On the night of November 4–5, 1944, I was arrested again by Gestapo officers N.N. and N.N., along with a third officer whose name I did not know. They were accompanied by the local Nazi group leader (Ortgruppenleiter) of Solbad Hall, the mayor of Bad Hall, Walter Jud, and a Wehrmacht representative. I was taken by car to Herrengasse [Gestapo headquarters]. During the arrest, Gestapo officer N.N. verbally abused my mother, and when my brother Michael Zwetkoff (who lived at Unterer Stadtplatz 7, Bad Hall) intervened, N.N. slapped him. I told N.N. to stop because my brother had previously suffered a skull fracture. When I pointed out the injury, N.N. struck my brother’s head with full force, knocking him to the ground. My brother was also taken to Innsbruck. [...]
On December 16, 1944, I was sent to Reichenau camp, where I was imprisoned for about four days.

Post-War Lives of Michael and Peter Zwetkoff

Following their release, Michael and Peter Zwetkoff joined the Hubert Saurwein resistance group in the Ötztal Valley. Due to ongoing Gestapo surveillance, they were unable to rejoin the resistance circle led by Dr. Viktor Schumacher and Anton Haller in Bad Hall.
By the end of the war, Peter Zwetkoff was in Fiecht near Schwaz, while Michael Zwetkoff participated in the resistance movement in Fieberbrunn. Michael eventually returned to  Hall in Tyrol (Solbad Hall) on May 23, 1945.

After the Second World War

• Michael Zwetkoff resumed his medical studies and later worked as a general practitioner in Tulfes near Hall, Tyrol.
• Peter Zwetkoff pursued music studies and was employed by SWR (Südwestrundfunk/Southwest Broadcasting) in Baden-Baden until his retirement.