Michael Chartschenko was born on 20 February 1914 in Rubanowka (Ukraine). As a prisoner of war he was reassigned from the Dachau concentration camp to Salzburg in November 1944 to defuse delayed-action bombs.
He survived this »suicide mission« but was murdered by two Salzburg SS men just before the liberation of the city by U.S. troops on May 4, 1945. They shot him in Salzburg’s public park [the Volksgarten].
The body with bullet holes in the back, head and heart, of the at that point unidentified prisoner was buried in the local cemetery on 18 July 1945.
The non-partisan Provincial Association of Concentration Camp Detainees held its annual commemoration at the grave of the once unknown concentration camp prisoner (the grave no longer exists).
Translation: Stan Nadel
Stumbling Stone
Laid 22.08.2007 at Salzburg, Volksgarten
Liberation of Salzburg by U.S. troops on May 4, 1945Photo: National Archive Washington
Liberation of Salzburg by U.S. troops on May 4, 1945Photo: National Archive Washington
Memorial on the Salzburger KommunalfriedhofPhoto: Gert Kerschbaumer
Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer