Hermann Langbein (18 May 1912 – 24 October 1995) was an Austrian writer, actor, journalist, resistance fighter and historian. Langbein fought in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

with the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

for the Spanish Republicans against the fascist Nationalists under

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

, and was in active opposition to the German Nazi regime. He was a concentration camp survivor and co-founder of the International Auschwitz Committee in 1954.

Life

Hermann Langbein worked as an actor after graduating from the German People's Theatre. In 1933 he joined the KPÖ, and fled the country after

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

in 1938 to fight in the Spanish Civil War for the International Brigades against the establishment of a dictatorship under Franco. Hermann Langbein is the younger brother of Otto Langbein (1910-1988), who was a writer, resistance fighter and editor of

Österreichisches Wörterbuch The (; English: "Austrian Dictionary"), abbreviated ''ÖWB'', is the official spelling dictionary of Standard German in Austria, i.e. of Austrian Standard German. It has been edited since 1948 by a group of linguists under the authority of the ...

. Hermann was interned in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War, and then sent to German

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

after the

fall of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Net ...

in 1940. Over the next few years he was imprisoned in several different camps ( Dachau,

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

and others). Interned in Auschwitz in 1942, Langbein was classified as a non-Jewish political prisoner and he was assigned as clerk to the infirmary, which gave him access to documentation and first-hand knowledge about the medical mistreatment, torture and killings of other camp prisoners - Langbein later used his knowledge to help establish the International Auschwitz Committee and trials at which he testified. His prisoner number in the camp was 60355. At Auschwitz Langbein came into contact with Maria Stromberger, a nurse who was working in the SS infirmary but whose primary purpose was to — illegally — aid the prisoners. In August 1944 Langbein was transferred to the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

and from there to the Neuengamme subcamp Lerbeck near Minden. On the evacuation transport to Fallersleben east of Hannover, he jumped off the train in mid-April 1945 and fled to Austria by bike on 5 May, where he arrived in his hometown of Vienna in May 1945. He was among the leadership of the International Resistance groups in the camps he was held in. After 1945 he was General Secretary of the International Auschwitz Committee, and later Secretary of the "Comité International des Camps".

Post war

Initially, Langbein was a full-time employee of KPÖ and a member of the Party Central Committee. He was involved in the construction of party schools and published his 1947 written-down camp experiences from Auschwitz and other camps under the title ''The Fittest'' in 1949 from his own publishing house. After conflicts with the party, Langbein moved to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, where he edited German-language radio broadcasts in Hungarian broadcasting. He returned to Austria in 1954 with his wife and daughter. Langbein was co-founder of the International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) in 1954, and became its first secretary general. From 1955 to 1960 Langbein was secretary of the Austrian Camp Community Auschwitz. In these functions, Langbein brought the concentration camp crimes to public notice and fought for compensation for former concentration camp victims. In the wake of the

Hungarian Uprising of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

and its Soviet suppression with tanks and brute force, Langbein began to speak up against Stalinism. As a consequence of his critique, he was banned from KPÖ in 1958 and in 1960 was relieved of his post as general secretary of the IAC, also a direct result of his anti-Stalin stance, and excluded the following year also from its management. In 1963 Langbein was asked to become Secretary of the "Comité International des Camps", which, in contradiction to the communist-led IAC was apolitical. On 18 October 1961, the West German Radio broadcast a three-hour feature about Auschwitz conceived by Langbein and H. G. Adler: Topography of an extermination camp. In the mid-1960s, Langbein, along with

Fritz Bauer Fritz Bauer (16 July 1903 – 1 July 1968) was a German Jewish judge and prosecutor. He played an instrumental role in the post-war capture of former Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann, and in bringing about the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials. Early ...

, played an essential part in bringing about the

Frankfurt Auschwitz trials The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, known in German language, German as , was a series of three trials running from 20 December 1963 to 14 June 1968, charging 25 defendants under German criminal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower- ...

where he appeared as a witness. He then worked as a writer and journalist. In 1967 he was awarded by Yad Vashem as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

. From 1989 to 1995 he organized together with Johannes Schwantner the seminar "ideology and reality of National Socialism" for teachers and educators. Moreover, Langbein belonged to the Museum Council of Auschwitz-Birkenau and worked on the redesign of the exhibition. Since 1996, a memorial conference called "Hermann Langbein Symposium" takes place every year in Linz. The author and writer Kurt Langbein is his son, the actor Daniel Langbein his grandson.

Works

He wrote several books about his experiences in the camps. The most important and influential is: * ''People in Auschwitz.'' Translated by Henry Friedlander. University of North Carolina Press, 2003, . Originally published in Austrian German in 1972, followed by multiple editions and translated into several languages.Wallnig, Pia. 2023. Der Nachlass von Otto Langbein. Austrian State Archive. https://www.oesta.gv.at/veroeffentlichungen/archivale-des-monats/Archivale-des-Monats-J-nner-2023.html Also: * ''Die Stärkeren. Ein Bericht.'' Stern-Verlag, Wien 1949, .

References

External links

In Memoriam Prof. Hermann Langbein-German

Hermann Langbein
at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Langbein, Hermann Austrian communists Austrian people of the Spanish Civil War Austrian expatriates in Spain Austrian Righteous Among the Nations People from Vienna Dachau concentration camp survivors Auschwitz concentration camp survivors 1912 births 1995 deaths International Brigades personnel International Auschwitz Committee members