Overview
- Description
- Consists of reports and newspaper clippings, 1945-1995, pertaining to the rescue of Mauthausen concentration camp inmates. Includes photographs, correspondence, and personal artifacts such as identification papers and certificates. Original archival signature at source archive: NL Louis Haefliger. The other half of the Louis Haefliger papers are held by the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, Austria.
- Alternate Title
- Louis Haefliger papers
- Date
-
inclusive:
1938-1996
- Collection Creator
- Louis Haefliger
- Biography
-
Louis Haefliger (1904-1993) was a Swiss of bank employee. In April 1945, Haefliger volunteers as an ICRC delegate to accompany a transport of food provisions to the Mauthausen concentration camp. From an SS officer he learns that the retreating SS intends to blow up the concentration camp together with all of its 60,000 inmates. Without asking for permission from the ICRC, Haefliger alerts nearby American troops who liberate the camp on May 6, 1945. Haefliger is reprimanded by the ICRC for his independent actions and he loses his job with the Bank Leu. In 1946, Haefliger emigrates to Vienna where he lives on public assistance. In 1955, Haefliger receives the Austrian citizenship. He is honored in Israel and Austria as the “savior of Mauthausen” and is recommended for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 and again in 1988. Finally, in 1990 ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga rehabilitates Haefliger. Louis Haefliger dies in 1993 in Podbrezova, Slovakia.
- Reference
- Alphons Matt. Einer aus dem Dunkel : die Befreiung des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen durch den Bankbeamten H. Zurich: SV international/Schweizer Verlagshaus,1988, ISBN 3-72-636574-5
Hans Marsalek. Der Weg eines Wiener Tschechen ins KZ, in: Zeitgeschichte 16 (1989).
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Extent
-
1,945 digital images : PDF ; 168 MB.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. Users are required to complete a User Declaration in order to gain access to the collection.
- Conditions on Use
- No publication and copies of the records and finding aids to the 3rd party users without the written permission from the Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (AfZ). The Museum may not transfer the materials or duplicate records thereof or any of the finding aids to any third party, except as permitted in the Cooperation Contract, Article II paragraph 5 herein or as otherwise permitted in writing by the AfZ. The Museum may not publish the reproduction material or finding aid on the Internet, World Wide Web, or any publicly accessible on-line network without the written permission of the AfZ. Contact afz@history.gess.ethz.ch.
- Copyright Holder
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Archiv für Zeitgeschichte - Archivleitung
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Archiv für Zeitgeschichte - Archivleitung
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Source of acquisition is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (AfZ), Switzerland; the signature: NL Louis Haefliger. The AfZ acquired the collection in 1996 and 1998. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s International Archives Project in Nov. 2011.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-23 09:29:56
- This page:
- http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn44317
Additional Resources
Download & Licensing
- See Rights and Restrictions
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Requires Research Visit
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD
