Concentration camp uniform jacket with a purple triangle worn by a Jehovah’s Witness inmate

Matthaeus Pibal was born on September 21, 1911, in Tibitsch in the parish of St. Martin am Techelsberg, Austria, to Josef and Barbara Pibal. He lived in Klagenfurt and was a woodworker. In 1938, Matthaeus became a Jehovah’s Witness. He was part of the Techelsburger group and a friend of Johann Stossier. On March 12, 1938, Germany annexed Austria. The Nazi regime actively persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose religious convictions led them to refuse to swear loyalty to a worldly government or serve in the armed forces. The Nazi regime regarded this refusal to pledge loyalty to the state, and their missionary activity, as subversive political acts. On April 8, 1940, Matthaeus was arrested, with Stossier, by the Gestapo for speaking in public about the Bible. He refused to recant or violate his beliefs and, on August 10, was sent to Dachau concentration camp in Germany. He was assigned prisoner number 14307. In late summer 1940, Matthaeus was transferred to Sudelfeld SS-Berghaus and Hotel Alpenrose labor camp, a subcamp of Dachau near Bayrischzell. Jehovah’s Witness prisoners worked in construction and upkeep at the Berghaus, a former restaurant that was turned into an SS rest and convalescent home. The nearby Hotel Alpenrose was turned into a hospital. Jehovah’s Witnesses were a preferred group of inmates for labor camps as they generally were obedient workers who did not attempt to escape. On May 6, 1945, Matthaeus was liberated in Sudelfeld by American forces. Germany surrendered the next day. Matthaeus returned to Austria and settled in Portschach am Worthersee.