Achievements such as social housing and training programs for workers in the Social Democratic-led “red” Vienna of the 1920s bear the hallmark of Robert Danneberg. The Social Democrat fought for Austria’s independence until the very end. After the “Anschluss,” he attempted to leave the country. His escape failed, and he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp in October 1938. His family and friends fought for his release. Fellow prisoners at least managed to secure him lighter work in the “stocking mending shop.” When the SS sought to make the camp “free of Jews” in October 1942, his name was also on a transport list to Auschwitz. How and exactly when he died there remains unclear to this day.
