Franziska V.

Franziska V.* loved to dance. She and her friends would go dancing at the cafés in Vienna’s Prater amusement park. They hung out together in coffee houses and listened to jazz or swing music. Young people like Fanny Vesela were known as »Schlurfs«.

The »Schlurfs« stood out with their casual, American-style clothing and self-penned songs.  Fanny Vesela wore a short, pleated skirt and oversized »American« jacket teamed with a »gentleman’s« hat and a tie. The »Schlurfs« wrote and sang songs that made fun of Nazi society.

Why did the Nazis persecute a teenager like Franziska V.? How did her family react?

Franz Xaver Bremm

Franz Xaver Bremm had spent his whole life on a farm in Regensburg. While his sisters gradually moved away, he continued to live with his parents and helped them out on the farm. They in turn provided care for Franz, who was considered to have a mental disability. Franz’s parents passed away in the mid-1930s. 

Now over 50, Franz Xaver Bremm was left to fend for himself. With no support from his family, he took to roaming the streets and sought work as an agricultural labourer. 

How did Franz Xaver Bremm come to be persecuted by the Nazis as a »habitual beggar«? How did his family react?

Heinrich Schäfer

Heinrich S. lived with his wife and their six children in »Am Krekel«, a settlement of barracks-style accommodation for the homeless in the south of the town of Marburg.

The economic crisis in the late 1920s led to a sharp rise in the number of people no longer able to pay their rent. More and more people had to be housed in communal residences or homeless shelters. The conditions there reflected the economic hardship of residents: families lived together in extremely cramped conditions in row after row of shelters, trying to get by. This was also the case for Heinrich S. and his family.

In February 1934 Heinrich S., then aged 32, was arrested. The Criminal Police wrote that Heinrich S. was a »workshy individual«, who supported himself and his family solely through theft. The police labelled him a »career criminal«. 

Why did the Criminal Police describe Heinrich S. as a »career criminal«? How did Heinrich S. react to these accusations?

Anna Sölzer

At the beginning of World War Two, 22-year-old Anna Sölzer was officially registered as a prostitute in the city of Cologne in the Rhineland. She had to report regularly to the Public Health Authority. She was subject to increasingly stringent conditions. After she repeatedly failed to attend appointments, the Criminal Police issued an order for her to be placed under »systematic police surveillance«. The police files on Anna Sölzer give her profession as »registered prostitute« and define her as »asocial«.

What additional consequences did surveillance by the Public Health Authority and police have on Anna Sölzer? Why was she considered »asocial«?

Georg Tauber

Georg Tauber was an advertising illustrator – and later an illustrator of crimes. At least 60 drawings and watercolours captured the horror of Dachau concentration camp. Tauber’s artwork additionally depicts various aspects of the period directly after the liberation of the camp. The SS camp administration at Dachau registered Georg Tauber in March 1940 as an »asocial« prisoner. After surviving the terror of the camp, Georg Tauber chronicled his experiences. However, he was denied recognition of his persecution under the Nazi regime.

Why was Georg Tauber persecuted for being »asocial« and sent to a concentration camp? And how did being labelled »asocial« affect the rest of his life?

Carl Schrade

On 28 June 1946 Carl Schrade entered the witness box at the Flossenbürg Main Trial of SS personnel and prisoner functionaries, which was conducted by the US military authorities. Schrade was a former prisoner at the concentration camp. On three days of the trial, he gave an insight into the camp system at Flossenbürg, named the perpetrators and detailed their crimes.

Many former fellow prisoners testified in his favour, providing evidence that Carl Schrade had used his influence as a Kapo (prisoner functionary) in the barrack for the sick to benefit prisoners. Nonetheless, the lawyers for the defence challenged him again and again. They attempted to undermine his credibility as a witness and questioned him repeatedly about the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and the colour of the triangle on his prisoner uniform.

How was it that a former prisoner had such a hard time in court? How did Carl Schrade react to the accusations?