Viktor TODERO was born in Sütto (near Esztergom) in Hungary on May 19, 1891. He was a baptized Catholic and trained cook who had worked in the Oberascher Salzburg munitions factory since October 30, 1942. The factory producing artillery shells was run by Friedrich Thomas from Nuremburg – »an evil youth« – according to witnesses.
TODERO’s previous convictions for homosexuality must have been known to the factory operators, but in any case his work as factory cook there didn’t last long.
In February 1943 Viktor TODERO was denounced for »unnatural sexual activity« by the factory leader Friedrich Thomas. He was thrown into the police jail by the criminal police section K II b, and after a judicial warrant was issued on March 10, 1943 he was transferred to the jail of the regional court.
We now know that during the Nazi rule in Salzburg the Salzburg regional court carried out 338 trials for »unnatural sexual activity with persons of the same sex«, including six women. These trials were for violations of section 129 I b of the Austrian criminal code.
But because of his previous conviction and his having been previously released from a psychiatric institute Viktor TODERO wasn’t brought to trial. Instead, on the advice of the prosecutor, he was transferred to the Regensburg psychiatric facility.
Documents indicate that a year later on the orders of the Regensburg criminal police he was deported to the »Mauthausen labor house«. On March 18, 1944 he was registered as »preventive custody« prisoner number 57845 in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
In 2016 research uncovered the fact that on June 23, 1944 the 53 year old Viktor TODERO was »legally« shot to death by the SS, no reason was given for this execution.
He is one of the homosexuals murdered in prisons and concentration camps who didn’t get included in the 1991 book on Resistance and Persecution in Salzburg 1934-1945.
Sources
- Salzburg City and State archives
- Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial
Translation: Stan Nadel
Stumbling Stone
Laid 29.09.2017 at Salzburg, Söllheimer Straße 16
