Alfred Alt 1913 - 1940

Born 15.8.1913 in Wien
Died 3.10.1940 in Gusen

Biography

The brothers Karl and Alfred Alt were born in Vienna, Karl on 13 July 1910 and Alfred on 15 August 1913. They grew up in the city’s 7th district together with their older sister and their older half-brother Rudolf from their father’s first marriage, which had ended in divorce.

Their mother, Karoline Alt, was born in 1880 in Bratislava and was a housewife. Their father, Julius Alt, was a businessman and ran a clothing store selling ‘Scarves and Shawls’, as the listing in the trade directory put it, at Burggasse 122a in Vienna’s Neubau district. The Jewish family lived in the same building, on the first floor above the shop. We know nothing about the childhood or teenage years of the two brothers. As so often, in this case too the only information we now have concerns their final years and tells of the events that had such a terrible affect on their lives.

At the time of the ‘Anschluss’ (‘Annexation’) of Austria, Karl was studying medicine in Vienna. Shortly beforehand he had been working as a private tutor. He was still unmarried and living in his parent’s apartment. Alfred had trained as a weaver, working first as a manipulator in a silk factory in Vienna’s Neubau district and later as an operations manager at a firm in Lichtenwörth. Following the employment ban on Jews, Alfred was out of work and scraped a living giving private lessons.

On 23 May 1939 their father lost his trading licence, at which point Karl and Alfred were already no longer registered as living in Austria. A few months later all the members of the family had managed to flee Austria, becoming separated in the process. For the father, Julius Alt, the record de-registering his residency in Vienna, dated 6 December 1939, gives ‘China’ as his destination. We do not know whether he actually arrived there or not. Karl and Alfred had also given China as their official destination as early as 30 April 1939, when they de-registered with the authorities. According to their mother’s account, however, they actually fled to Italy. Karoline Alt remained longer in Vienna and, according to her residency files, didn’t leave for Sicily until 1 March 1940.

Alfred and Karl’s sister had left Vienna already at the beginning of May 1939, and their half-brother Rudolf on 15 May. Both also gave China as their official destination.

Karl and Alfred were in Milan in 1940. They were taken into ‘protective custody’ there on 3 August and deported to Dachau concentration camp. A few days later, on 16 August 1940, they were transferred to Mauthausen.

Alfred Alt died on 3 October 1940 at the Mauthausen concentration camp, Karl Alt on 29 October 1940. The death register of the concentration camp lists ‘aggravated colitis’ as the supposed cause of death for both men.

After the imprisonment of her sons, Karoline Alt returned to Vienna from Milan in October 1940. Julius Alt was also back in Vienna from November 1942 onwards. Until after the end of the war, they were both registered as living at Große Mohrengasse 20 in the 2nd district. This was a building which contained what were known as forced communal apartments, the final address for many Jews prior to deportation. In spite of all this, Karoline and Julius Alt survived the Nazi era in Vienna. After the death of her husband in 1947, Karoline Alt emigrated to Brazil and lived there with her daughter. Rudolf Alt had since emigrated to New York. In the 1950s Karoline Alt applied for compensation under the Victims’ Welfare Law. After a long, hard struggle she finally received compensation for the imprisonment of her two murdered sons. It is thanks to this application that today we know something of the fate of Karl and Alfred Alt.

 

Sources:

Archive of the Mauthausen Memorial(AMM), Totenbuch des SS-Standortarztes Mauthausen für Gusen [Death register of the Mauthausen chief camp physician for Gusen], AMM 1.1.6.1.

Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (WStLA), M.Abt. 208, A36 – Opferfürsorgeakten: Entschädigungen: Karoline Alt [Victim Welfare Files: Compensation: Karoline Alt].

WStLA, BPD-Wien: Historische Meldeunterlagen [[Historical residency registration], K3 – D-Antiquariat: Alt Julius, Alt Karl, Alt Alfred sowie Alt Rudolf.

WStLA, BG Innere Stadt, A4/12: 12 A 628/47.

 

References:

 

Wiener Adressbuch. Lehmanns Wohnungsanzeiger für Wien [Lehmann’s Address Book for Vienna], vol. 77 (Vienna 1936), Part 2, p. 378.

 

Translation into English: Joanna White

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