Gestapo- und Gau prison
The building at Putschergasse 2 can look back upon continuous usage: In what is today's State court prison, the second floor housed the Gestapo prison from 1938 to 1945, in which both Jews and political adversaries and supporters of the partisans (also from the area of today's Slovenia) were kept locked up under the most gruelling of circumstances. During the arrest wave following Austria's Anschluss to Nazi Germany, and in the course of the "aryanisation programme" many Jews were imprisoned here. For many prisoners, this was the starting point for deportation to Dachau and other concentration camps. Others were awaiting a trial, the outcome of which was known in advance. Increased fighting by the partisans meant overcrowding at the prison took on dramatical proportions, eventually leading to a directive to "shoot all wounded partisans on the spot". To date, the number of people kept captive here during Nazi rule remains unknown.
The rest of the building served as a Gaugefängnis, a local prison, in which prisoners of the Nazi judiciary were kept. As all too often in Klagenfurt/Celovec, the building carries no visible signs of its horrifying past...