Helmut ZÖLLNER was born in Salzburg on October 20, 1943. He was baptized as a Protestant and was the first child of an unmarried unskilled worker who lived with her working class parents in the city of Salzburg’s Scherzhauserfeld housing project in the Lehen neighborhood – near what was then the northern border of the city.
Helmut suffered from birth defects and he was sent to the Vienna killing center »Am Spiegelgrund« on the orders of »Gauhauptstadt« [Nazi district capital] mayor Anton Giger.
He was admitted to Pavillon 15 on December 16, 1943 and was evaluated by Dr. Marianne Türk on the 18th.
In her report she wrote:
Insufficient reaction to the environment due to blindness. Made seeking movements with the mouth, sucked vigorously, and made defensive movements during the examination.
Held tight to an adult’s finger when placed in his hand …
A month later, on January 18, 1944 the baby was dead, murdered – the official cause of death was »general debility.«1
1 Waltraud Häupl: Die ermordeten Kinder vom Spiegelgrund. Gedenkdokumentation für die Opfer der NS-Kindereuthanasie in Wien, Vienna 2006, p. 616
Translation: Stan Nadel
Stumbling Stone
Laid 19.04.2013 at Salzburg, Thomas-Bernhard-Straße
Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer
