Michael Chartschenko was born on 20 February 1914 in Rubanowka (Ukraine). As a prisoner of war he was reassigned from the Dachau concentration camp to Salzburg in November 1944 to defuse delayed-action bombs.

He survived this »suicide mission« but was murdered by two Salzburg SS men just before the liberation of the city by U.S. troops on May 4, 1945. They shot him in Salzburg’s public park [the Volksgarten].

The body with bullet holes in the back, head and heart, of the at that point unidentified prisoner was buried in the local cemetery on 18 July 1945.

The non-partisan Provincial Association of Concentration Camp Detainees held its annual commemoration at the grave of the once unknown concentration camp prisoner (the grave no longer exists).

Author: Gert Kerschbaumer
Translation: Stan Nadel

Stumbling Stone
Laid 22.08.2007 at Salzburg, Volksgarten

<p>MICHAEL<br />
CHARTSCHENKO<br />
JG. 1914<br />
Erschossen von SS<br />
im Volksgarten<br />
4.5.1945<br />
Tag der Befreiung</p>
Liberation of Salzburg by U.S. troops on May 4, 1945
Photo: National Archive Washington Liberation of Salzburg by U.S. troops on May 4, 1945
Photo: National Archive Washington Memorial on the Salzburger Kommunalfriedhof
Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer

All stumbling stones at Volksgarten