BETTLERLAGER SCHLÖGEN

Prison camp for beggars in the corporative state in "Oberfeld" in Vornwald, municipality of Waldkirchen/W.
Built: 29 June - 20 August 1935 by the FAD (Voluntary Labour Service)
Opening: 02 September 1935
Closure: 16 April 1938

POVERTY IS THE WORST FORM OF VIOLENCE ! (Mahatma Gandhi)

Between 1935 and 1938, the so-called "Schlögen beggars' camp" was located on today's Nibelungenstraße in the village of Vornwald (municipality of Waldkirchen am Wesen). Nothing remains today of this largely unknown historical phenomenon of a "detention centre for beggars", which was set up during the Austrofascist corporative state. It reflects the history of economic misery, political violence and oppression, above all it is the history of poverty and how it was dealt with. Finally, the place is symptomatic of the repressive character of the Austrian corporative state from 1934 to 1938.

The period between the two world wars was characterised by economic instability, great unemployment and, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, a democracy that was by no means firmly established. The irreconcilable antagonism between the two political camps, the ruling bourgeois and the opposition socialist, grew.

Unemployment and a simultaneous reduction in social benefits led to a problem of mass begging. The government therefore considered using police measures to combat this. The declared intention was to protect the population from "begging and vagrancy" and to have a deterrent effect on the impoverished, some through no fault of their own, but also on commercial beggars. This led to the enactment of the Upper Austrian "Detention Camp Act" on 9 July 1935, which created the legal basis for the establishment of the "Detention Camp for Beggars in Schlögen". The location was chosen due to the expansion work on the Nibelungenstraße, which had been planned for several years and required the deployment of many workers.

After the completion of the beggars' camp, so-called patrols took place throughout the province. Those who were not entitled to stay in Upper Austria were deported and the others were imprisoned in the camp in Vornwald for up to six weeks and used for forced labour. Based on the labour lists received, around 3,000 prisoners were registered in road construction

The maximum simultaneous occupancy of the camp was just over 200 people. Of the planned 48 hours of labour per week, only around 42 hours per week were actually worked. In return, the prisoners received a small wage, which was paid out in kind at the end of their imprisonment. Some of them also took part in archaeological excavations in the area of the Roman civilian settlement (now a campsite) between 6 and 20 October 1937.