KZ-Verband

The “KZ-Verband” collection of the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) consists almost entirely of applications for membership to this “Alliance of Politically Persecuted” between 1946 and 1948. The forms filled in by applicants include personal data and information on family members as well as information on the reason for their arrest and the length of imprisonment in jails, ghettos and concentration camps. Most files also contain additional copies of documents on “Schutzhaft” (protective custody), confirmation of release or CVs and letters. In many cases photos of the applicant are included. People that were persecuted in this context were: Jews, "Mischlinge", "Geltungsjuden", Politically persecuted persons, Communists, Socialists, Christian Conservatives, Legitimists, Roma and Sinti. The “Concentration Camp Association” was originally founded in 1946 as “Alliance of Politically Persecuted” (Bund der politisch Verfolgten – Österreichischer Bundesverband). It operated as an umbrella organisation of various victim’s associations and soon became the only advocacy group of all resistance fighters and persecuted Austrians. According to the proportional representation of the political system in Austria after 1945 the “Concentration Camp Association” was managed by the three political parties in Austria – The Socialist Party, the Austrian People’s Party (Conservatives) and the Communist Party. Due to conflicts between the parties in the face of the Cold War, the association was dissolved in 1948 and the three parties founded individual associations.