Maria GSTÖTTNER was born in Itzling (which was part of Gnigl until they were both annexed to the city of Salzburg in 1935) on November 26, 1896 and was a baptized Catholic.
She was the oldest of the four children of a railroader family that had local citizenship rights in Gnigl.
Maria’s father, Martin Gstöttner, retired from the Austrian National Railways and died in February 1938.
Maria GSTÖTTNER never married and never learned a skilled trade. She worked as a housemaid until she became a patient in the Salzburg State Asylum in August 1932.
She was one of 68 patients who were deported from there to the Hartheim Castle killing center near Linz on April 16, 1941 – where they were all murdered.
As with all the other victims of the Nazis’ secret »T4«1 program, the death of the 44 year old Maria GSTÖTTNER was not recorded in the Salzburg police registration files.
Maria’s mother and siblings survived the terror years in Salzburg.
1 It was called »T4« because its Berlin headquarters were located at Tiergartenstraße 4
Those mainly responsible for the murders of the sick in Salzburg: Dr. Friedrich Rainer as Reichsstatthalter, Dr. Oskar Hausner as head of the Gaufürsorgeamt, Dr. Leo Wolfer as head of the Landesheilanstalt, and Dr. Heinrich Wolfer as head of the hereditary biology department of the Landesheilanstalt (today the Christian Doppler Clinic).
Sources
- Salzburg city archives
- Schloss Hartheim Learning and Remembrance Center
Translation: Stan Nadel
Stumbling Stone
Laid 14.11.2016 at Salzburg, Kreuzstraße 4
Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer