Ing. Benno Geiger
Personalia
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Curriculum Vitae
Benno Geiger was born into a Jewish family in Moravian Ostrava. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth.
In 1920, Benno Geiger married the Viennese Catholic Maria Jungwirth. However, the marriage remained childless. He later found work as a technician at the company 'Ing. Hans Klinkhoff - Apparate Bauanstalt'. After 1934, he became involved with the Vaterländische Front and, together with the company's Vaterländische Front plant manager, Captain (ret.) Josef Traun, helped to expose illegal National Socialists in the company and get them dismissed. Furthermore, he makes no secret of his Austrian-patriotic sentiments and his rejection of National Socialism.
On March 12, 1938, Benno Geiger witnesses the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. With the occupation of Austria, German legislation is adopted and with it the 'Nuremberg Race Laws', according to which Benno Geiger is considered a 'full Jew'.
At your request, madam, I can confirm in no uncertain terms that your husband, my long-time colleague, Mr. Benno Geiger, was arrested in May 1938 because of his political opposition to National Socialism. In the years of struggle preceding the occupation, he had never made a secret of his convictions and had fought against the new political direction, which was not yet dominant in Austria at the time, both verbally and in writing. Immediately after Hitler's invasion, he was denounced to the Gestapo as an enemy of the regime by former illegal colleagues, who first imprisoned him in Vienna and then sent him to the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp, where he met his usual end.
After his release from prison, Benno Geiger decides to leave Austria and moves to Krakow [today: Kraków in Poland]. There he found work as a technician at the Oros company.
After the Third Reich invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Benno Geiger was arrested on September 8, 1939 and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp on October 15, 1939. He was murdered there on 12 November 1939.
His wife Maria Geiger witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. She later became involved in the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.
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Citations
Wiener Stadt und Landesarchiv (WStLA)
Matricula Online
