Memorial Mair Innsbruck

On 27-1-2024 a Zeitpunkt was placed here for Franz MAIR

Franz MAIR, born 29-10-1910 in Niederndorf, died 6-5-1945 in Innsbruck.

Franz Josef Maria Mair studied English and German at the University of Innsbruck and taught at the Akademisches Gymnasium.
He wanted to teach the students more than just the English language. With his liberal attitude, he introduced them to an intellectual and cultural world that would otherwise have remained hidden from students living in isolation during the Nazi era.
His apartment was a second classroom. There he discussed English literature and philosophy with the young people in a relaxed atmosphere. Over time, the topics of these meetings became more political, he taught them to think critically.
Mair was reported once after publicly criticizing the behavior of Nazi officials and the Hitler Youth, as well as the regime's anti-Semitic policies. By good luck he escaped the threatened death sentence at the People's Court in Berlin.
Mair joined the resistance with selected young people. They contacted other resistance groups, supported deserters and an Allied agent. The highlight of the activities of the "Franz Mair Group" were the first days in May 1945, when the Allies crossed the border into Tyrol and resistance fighters took over the barracks and eventually the country house.
There were about ten members of the group and Franz Mair himself present. While securing the mansion on May 3, 1945, he was shot and immediately taken to the sanatorium, but the injuries were so severe that he died three days later.

The city of Innsbruck has taken a new path when it comes to commemorations.
On January 27, 2024, International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust, the new project "Zeitpunkte" was presented.
A hand-made bronze disc with a diameter of approximately eight centimeters and a thickness of three centimeters is mounted at eye level on light poles or posts in the immediate vicinity of the last freely chosen place of residence of the victims of the Nazi dictatorship. The person's name is on the round plaque, the "Zeitpunkt".
The inscription is engraved and sealed.
The attached QR code refers to the website www.zeitspitzen.at, where information about the biographies and locations can be found in several languages.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Wim Wouters