Jewish Forced Labor in Laa an der Thaya
As it turns out, there were Jewish people retained in Laa and the surrounding during the war, when the Jewish community of Laa was already shattered and its members were either on their flight or deported.
I have known for several years that there were Jewish forced laborers accommodated in the garden of the parsonage. This is indicated in the chronicle of the parish and approved by several eyewitnesses from Laa. You can read the translation of the transcript of the chronicle of the parish and parts of the interviews of Ms. G., Ms. L. and Ms. R. from Laa.
The interviews represent an „outside view“ on what happened. For a long time it was not only unclear what happened to the forced laborers, but it seemed rather unlikely that the veils that cover this part of history would ever be lifted. Considering the forced laborers in the parson, I still do not know anything about their fate. But tanks to the webpage I have got further information, which prove that there was more than this group of forced laborers in Laa and its surrounding. Joe S., whose grandparents, parents and relatives were forced laborers at the Blaustauden farming estate near Laa, contacted me. You can read his testimony at this page.
As you can read in the German essay „Ungarische Jüdinnen und Juden in Niederösterreich 1944/45“ von Eleonore Lappin, his family was among 2567 Jews, which where brought from the ghetto of the Hungarian town Szolnok to Austria, to work as forced laborers there (see page 11). Lappin also mentions forced labor at Blaustauden and the arrival of the forced labor in Terezin Ghetto on April 20th 1945 (see page 44). General information on Hungarian Jewish forced laborers can be found in the German essay „Der Zwangsarbeitseinsatz und die Todesmärsche ungarischer Jüdinnen und Juden in Österreich 1944/45“ by the same historian.
The testimony of Joe S. lightens the historic situation and allows a differentiating point of view. It belies those, who say that any cruel deed can be justified by stating that one felt forced to do them. Humanist ways of treating one’s fellow human and small acts of compassion are almost always possible and it is one’s choice how to behave in a certain situation.