Rosa Stallbaumer
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30 November 1897
Rosa Stallbaumer | |
|---|---|
 Rosa Stallbaumer, circa 1940 | |
| Born | Rosa Hoffman 30 November 1897 |
| Died | 23 November 1942 (aged 44) |
| Occupations | Member of the Austrian Resistance, World War II |
| Spouse | Anton Stallbaumer (1888–1962) |
Rosa (Hoffman) Stallbaumer (30 November 1897 – 23 November 1942) was a member of the Austrian Resistance during World War II. Her name is one of 124 names of women and men from Tyrol, Austria inscribed on the Liberation Monument at The Eduard-Wallnöfer-Platz in Innsbruck in recognition of both her involvement in resisting National Socialism and of her death at Auschwitz, following her incarceration at that Nazi concentration camp as punishment for helping Jewish targets of Nazi persecution escape to Italy.[1]
Born on 30 November 1897 in Sillian-Ahrnbach, Tyrol, Austria as Rosa Hoffman, she was the wife of fellow Austrian Resistance member Anton Stallbaumer (1888–1962), who had made a living prior to the war in the truck transport of various goods.[2][3]
The Anschluss and World War II
Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938 (also known as the Anschluss), Rosa Stallbaumer and her husband became active with the Austrian Resistance movement, hiding Jewish people who had become targets of Nazi persecution during The Holocaust before also helping them to escape from Vienna to Italy by way of Austria's East Tyrol region.[4]
Reported to local officials by Nazi sympathizers in 1942, she and her husband became targets of the Geheime Staatspolizei, the Nazi's Secret State Police known more commonly as the Gestapo. Following the arrest of her husband and several other members of their resistance cell, Rosa Stallbaumer was also taken into custody shortly thereafter. Sentenced with four other members of their resistance unit on 26 June 1942, the Stallbaumers were sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau.[5] According to Dachau records, Anton Stallbaumer arrived at the concentration camp on 10 October 1942, was designated as a "Schutzhäftling" and was assigned inmate number "289406." Translated roughly as "protective custody prisoner," the term "Schutzhäftling" was a euphemism used by Nazis to describe political prisoners or others they deemed to be threats to the Third Reich (many of whom were detained without trial). These records also documented that Anton Stallbaumer had been a resident of Sillian, Austria at the time of his capture by the Gestapo, and was a native of Sillian who had been born in that community on 18 May 1888.[6]
Their two daughters, aged 9 and 14, who had already endured the trauma of losing their parents, were then forcibly separated from each other as they were sent off to different Nazi re-education camps.[7] Nazi officials then sent Rosa Stallbaumer to the Third Reich's concentration camp at Auschwitz, ensuring that she and her husband would remain separated for the duration of their imprisonment. He survived his lengthy, difficult incarceration and was ultimately released from Dachau on 14 December 1943,[8] but she did not.
Rosa Stallbaumer was murdered at Auschwitz on 23 November 1942.[9] Although Nazi officials notified her husband about her death, they provided no details regarding the circumstances of her death.[10]