The Persecution of a Minority in Hall in Tyrol (1939-1945)

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Lost Lives and Stolen Freedom

Memo (EN) Rudolf Monz

Disenfranchisement and Surveillance in Hall in Tirol: A Persecuted Community under Nazi Rule (1939–1940)​

In 1939, a group of thirteen people lived in Hall in Tirol—then also known as Solbad Hall—belonging to a minority that was systematically persecuted by the National Socialist regime. The group consisted of three men, their partners, and their children. They all worked for a local construction company and had made their homes in Salvatorgasse and Kurzer Graben.
With the onset of autumn 1940, their lives in the small Tyrolean town changed abruptly and dramatically. A report from the Solbad Hall gendarmerie post to the Tyrolean Gau leadership, dated September 23, 1940, which recorded “all persons of foreign origin residing in the town,” marked the beginning of their systematic exclusion. Based on the so-called residence restriction decree (§17), they were prohibited from leaving the municipal area of Hall in Tirol from the end of October 1940 onward.
This measure went far beyond a simple restriction of movement: it cut them off from their work, isolated them socially, and rendered even the most basic everyday activities impossible. A simple outing—such as a train trip to Schwaz to collect mushrooms—was no longer permitted. Their world was reduced to just a few streets; they became prisoners within their own hometown.
Their former addresses—Salvatorgasse 12 and 14, Kurzer Graben 6, and Lendgasse 51—remain as silent witnesses to this history. They stand as reminders of people whose lives were shaped by persecution, disenfranchisement, and exclusion.
The following biographies tell the personal stories of these residents of Hall. They restore names to the victims and make their experiences visible—as a contribution to remembrance culture and as a warning for the present.

The Winter Family: Murdered in Auschwitz 1943

The Fate of Barbara Winter and Her Three Children

Barbara Winter, born on June 4, 1904, lived with her father and her three children in Hall in Tirol. Under the racist laws of the National Socialists, the family was persecuted as "Gypsies."
In January 1943, the Nazi Reich Criminal Police Office ordered the deportation of all people classified as "Gypsies" residing in the Gau Tirol-Vorarlberg to the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, into the so-called "Gypsy family camp."
At the end of March 1943, Barbara Winter was arrested together with her three children – Maria (15), Anna Maria (6), and Josef (2) – and first taken to the police prison in Innsbruck. On April 3, 1943, they were deported from Innsbruck to Auschwitz concentration camp on a transport with 61 other victims.
Her children did not survive the hell of Auschwitz:
·       Josef Winter, born on July 28, 1941, was just two years old when he was murdered in Auschwitz on May 2, 1943.
·       Anna Maria Winter, born on January 27, 1937, died just a few days after her brother, on May 13, 1943. She was six years old.
·       Maria Winter, born on November 26, 1928, died on October 30, 1943, at the age of 15 in Auschwitz.
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Their mother, Barbara Winter, survived the genocide. She returned to Hall after the end of the war. The town that had once been her home was now overshadowed by immeasurable loss. Like the other surviving relatives, she eventually left Solbad Hall forever.

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Memorial Winter children

Martin and Genoveva Herzenberger: Three Generations, One Fate

Martin Herzenberger (1930 – 1943)

Martin Herzenberger was born on April 26, 1930. His short life ended at the age of just 13 in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was one of the youngest companions in suffering on the same deportation train from Innsbruck to Auschwitz that also carried Barbara Winter and her three children to their deaths on April 3, 1943. The exact date of his death is unknown—a silent witness to the systematic brutality of the Nazi regime, which extinguished even the lives of children.

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Memorial Martin Herzenberger

Genoveva Herzenberger (1860 – 1942)

Genoveva Herzenberger, born in 1860, was an elderly citizen of Hall in Tyrol. At the age of 82, she was abducted from her hometown in 1942 and taken to the Niedernhart killing center near Linz. She was murdered on August 31, 1942. Her fate is part of the Nazi "euthanasia" murders, the Aktion T4, in which tens of thousands of sick and disabled people were systematically killed.

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Memorial Genoveva Herzenberger

Action T4: Nazi Euthanasia Program and the Resistance of Bishop von Galen

Introduction

"Aktion T4" was the code name for the systematic Nazi program to murder people who were sick, disabled, or socially "maladjusted." Under the pretext of "euthanasia" ("beautiful death"), over 70,000 people were killed by gassing or lethal injection in specially established killing centers like Niedernhart. The operation is considered a rehearsal for the later Holocaust.

Source: Memorial and Educational Site House of the Wannsee Conference (Ed.): "Aktion T4". URL: https://www.ghwk.de/en/aktion-t4 [Accessed: August 23, 2025].

What was Action T4?

“Action T4” was a state-organized killing program aimed at eliminating so-called “life unworthy of life.” The name derives from the address Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin, where the program’s headquarters were located.
Target groups of Nazi euthanasia:

• People with disabilities
• People with mental illnesses
• Chronically ill individuals
• Those in need of care and socially marginalized

The ideology behind it was based on the inhumane concept of “racial hygiene,” which was radically implemented under National Socialism.
The ideology of so-called “racial hygiene” emerged before the Nazi era in the context of the eugenics movement. Its founder was Francis Galton, who advocated for the “improvement” of the population through selective reproduction. In Germany, Alfred Ploetz and Wilhelm Schallmayer were key figures shaping these ideas.
Even before 1933, eugenic measures had been implemented at the state level. In the United States, the Buck v. Bell ruling allowed forced sterilizations, which were carried out in several states. Similar laws also existed in European countries.
Under National Socialism, these concepts were radicalized and systematically implemented through the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, paving the way for massive persecution and ultimately the Holocaust.

Process and Implementation

Doctors and authorities decided on the lives and deaths of individuals based on questionnaires—often without any personal examination. Victims were then transported to special killing centers.
Central locations of the murders included:

• Hartheim Castle
• Hadamar Euthanasia Centre
• Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre

There, victims were murdered in gas chambers or killed through medication. In total, over 70,000 people fell victim to Action T4, with tens of thousands more dying in subsequent programs.

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Memorial place in Hall in Tyrol

Memorial FR Massäus Stemmeseder

Deception and Secrecy

The Nazi regime attempted to conceal the killings:

• Falsified causes of death
• Standardized death notices
• Secret transport operations

Nevertheless, suspicion grew among the population as death rates became noticeably high.

The Resistance of Bishop von Galen

One of the most significant voices of opposition was the Catholic Bishop of Münster, Clemens August Graf von Galen.
His criticism:
In the summer of 1941, he publicly condemned the “euthanasia” killings in several sermons. His sermon of August 3, 1941, became particularly well known.
He argued:

• Every human being has a right to life
• The killings are unjust—morally and legally
• The state is overstepping its authority

His sermons were secretly distributed and gained wide attention—even beyond Germany.

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Paula Niederwolfsgruber (English)

Consequences of the Protest

Public pressure led Adolf Hitler to officially halt “Action T4” in August 1941.
However, the killings continued:

• Decentralized “wild euthanasia”
• Overdoses of medication
• Systematic starvation

Many perpetrators were later involved in the Holocaust.

Significance of Action T4

“Action T4” is a key example of:

• The beginning of industrialized mass murder in the Nazi state
• The role of medicine and bureaucracy in an unjust system
• The dangers of discrimination and dehumanization

At the same time, the resistance of Clemens August Graf von Galen shows that courageous individuals can make a difference.

Conclusion

“Action T4” remains a deeply disturbing chapter in history. It serves as a warning to protect the dignity of every human being and to critically question state power. Resistance against injustice—like that demonstrated by Bishop von Galen—remains an important symbol of civil courage to this day.