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Hartheim

Filmed December 12, 2005

Hartheim Institute near Linz, Austria was one of the first killing sites for the T4 Program. Over 30,000 human beings were murdered at Hartheim, which was once a castle to the local monarchy. Once the victims were murdered, relatives were given fake death certificates.
The victims at Hartheim were mostly adults, who came from mental health institutions, homes for the elderly, and institutes for those with disabilities.
 

The victims were forced onto buses and brought to Hartheim. They were herded via the rear entrance to the castle, so they would not see the crematorium. The victims were then guided along the path to an outdoor holding area. From that point they were taken to rooms on the first floor to undress and be examined. They were then escorted to killing cells disguised as showers, 150 people per shower. All victims were killed within hours of being taken from their homes and institutions.

     

A Brother Speaks
The victims of the T4 Program left behind families who loved and missed them. Many of the relatives of the T4 victims sought information as to what really happened once they received what were obviously fake death certificates. Although the relatives refused to accept the reasons given for the death of their loved ones, many accepted the ashes given to them…well aware that the ashes were most likely not those of their relatives.

 

Josef Prodinger

Josef Prodinger’s sister was the only girl in a family of five boys. By the age of 27 she was in an institution in Salzburg, Austria because she had schizophrenia. Every week a family member would visit her. One week, a brother found her boarding a bus, along with other patients from the facility. He was told by a nurse that the group was going on a holiday day trip. That was the last time she was seen alive. Years later, the family learned the bus went to Hartheim. She was dead before the end of that day.

 
 

 

    

A Grandson’s Story

Herr Narodoslavski lost his grandmother, who was a patient in a mental health facility in Graz, Austria, at Hartheim.   Herr Narodoslavsky talked about the fact that for many years his family was certain his grandmother had been killed by the Nazis, but they could not get any reliable information. Herr Narodslavski’s mother took comfort in having ashes to bury, yet she never believed the ashes were truly those of her mother’s.

Her name is engraved in a monument to the victims of the T4 Program.