Hans Spitzer

Hans Spitzer graduated from grammar school and boys' seminary in Hollabrunn and began studying theology in Vienna after completing his A-levels. On 11 August 1920, he is the founder of the secondary school fraternity Herulia Wolkersdorf. At the beginning of the 1920/21 winter semester, he becomes a member of the student fraternity Kürnberg Wien. He was ordained a priest in 1924 and then initially worked as a co-operator in Groß-Engersdorf, Unteraspang and Ernstbrunn, then as chaplain in Vienna-Lainz from March 1929. Here he assisted the increasingly ill parish priest Anton Schrefel (1882-1945) and gradually had to take over the running of the parish. From September 1930, Hans Spitzer also taught religion at the Steinlechnergasse secondary school. In the meantime, he helps out his parents with farming in Hautzendorf.

Here, after the occupation of Austria by the Third Reich, Hans Spitzer experiences the fate of the expulsion of the Jewish Edelhofer family, with whom he is personally acquainted. The massive persecution of Jews that ensued did not leave him indifferent. His open rejection of National Socialism is attested to by the local Nazi group in Hautzendorf with the assessment of December 23, 1941 in the Gauakt.

The mayor openly threatened to "cut Hans Spitzer's head off" because of his friendliness towards Jews. Hans Spitzer is said to have responded by holding out a vineyard knife to him: "Yes, start right away!"

When the mass deportations to the extermination camps in the east began in 1941, Hans Spitzer, with the support of his relatives at home as well as some initiated Lainz tradesmen, some parishioners and his brothers in the Bund, hid and cared for Jewish fellow citizens in the Lainz vicarage "in a room hidden behind a box" according to his aunt and housekeeper Theresia Gotthard († 1970). There was certainly another hiding place and the number of those rescued was "about twenty", according to Mrs. Gotthard, which was too low. In addition to various initiated parishioners who, among other things, procured forged exit documents and sufficient food, his most important helper in these actions was his confederate brother Dr. Friedrich Schweitzer, who had lost his job as a doctor at the Lainz hospital after the Anschluss. Although Hans Spitzer's pro-Jewish stance was known and he was monitored by the Gestapo, no incriminating evidence could be found that would have led to his conviction. As a result, the Jews he hid were also spared exposure and deportation to concentration camps. Most of the rescue operations probably took place between 1942 and 1944. Reliable data is lacking due to the prevailing silence and the fact that no records were kept for security reasons.

On January 14, 1945, a sudden heart attack put an abrupt end to his restless and helpful work. The requiem in the Lainz parish church was also attended by Theodor Cardinal Innitzer. The fact that Hans Spitzer's courageous actions have not been completely forgotten is demonstrated by the memorial plaque that was unveiled at the old Lainzer vicarage in Vienna-Hietzing in May 2008.