Red Bandits: Wilhelmine Goldmann reveals Traisen's forgotten story

Red Bandits: Wilhelmine Goldmann reveals Traisen's forgotten story

In the Volksheim Traisen there was an impressive book presentation in which Wilhelmine Goldmann read from her work "Red Bandits" and discussed with the audience about the 1934 foundation and its significant effects. The historian and writer Dr. Gerhard Zeillinger moderated the event.

Wilhelmine Goldmann, who was born in Traisen in 1948, comes from a politically active family who was committed to social justice and education. Her parents, Franz and Wilhelmine Lettner, campaigned for the Democratic Republic in 1934 and were strongly pursued for their commitment. Franz Lettner, who became mayor of Traisen after the war, experienced a dramatic time during the uprising, which finally culminated in captivity.

memories of the dark past

"My father hardly told me anything about it",

remembered Goldmann during her reading, in which she described her father's bitter experiences. He was arrested together with other political activists, and the then 19-year-old Victor Rauchberger, who was sitting in the same cell, was condemned by a state court a few hours before his execution. Goldmann describes how her father Rauchberger assured that he remembered him and that this accompanied him for a lifetime. In Traisen, street names such as "Rauchbergergasse" are devoted to the memory of the victims of this time.

For the Goldmann family, the February ceremony was a turning point that left deep traces. Wilhelmine's mother, worried about her husband's fate, suffered a nervous breakdown and was instructed to an "mental institution" where she had to suffer from cruel treatment conditions. It was a time full of fear and uncertainty that shaped her parents' CVs.

Wilhelmine Goldmann regrets that in her family there was long silent about these dark chapters of history. It was only after the death of her father that she began to explore the background of her family history. "Every generation has to have its own experiences," was her father's philosophy, which she would like to pass on to the following generations today. With her book, she has the desire to keep the memory of this time alive and thus contribute to historical clarification, which is often difficult today.

commemoration and processing

Mayor Monika Feichtinger emphasized the importance of such events and thanked the lecturers and the audience for their keen interest. She emphasized that the municipality of Traisen also strives against forgetting. In the future, commemoration tables should help to make the history more visible.

Goldmann's stories and the discussions Following the reading testify to the relevance of historical reappraisal today. Many participants commented on the important topics addressed by Goldmann's book. "If you don't deal with the past, you cannot understand the present," says Goldmann her credo.

More details on the event and the topics treated are in a detailed report on www.meinbezirk.at read.