Massacre in Rechnitz

The search for the 180 dead must not stop

On Sunday, the Kreuzstadl memorial in Rechnitz - for all victims of the Südostwallbau - will once again be the traditional venue for the commemoration of the anniversary of the massacre in March 1945, in which around 200 Hungarian-Jewish forced laborers were murdered.

(Bild: Huber Patrick)

In 2021, the search for the mass grave in Rechnitz in Burgenland was discontinued by the Federal Monuments Office. The search for the grave of the 180 Hungarian-Jewish forced laborers murdered near the Kreuzstadl, which began in the 1980s, must continue, according to the memorial initiative RE.F.U.G.I.U.S. However, a new scientific project continues to fail due to the financial hurdle.

It is the darkest chapter in the history of Rechnitz: we are talking about the massacre on the night of March 24-25, 1945, in which around 180 Hungarian-Jewish forced laborers were murdered during the construction of the so-called Südostwall. Despite intensive searches and excavations, the remains of the dead have still not been found. So far, just under 20 percent of the 300,000 square meter area in question has been investigated before the Federal Monuments Office stopped the search and thus the excavations in 2021.