Philomena STEINBERGER was born in Munich Germany on February 21, 1896, and was the fifth of the eight children of Johanna and Karl STEINBERGER. The STEINBERGERs were from Salzburg and had local citizenship right here, but they had been living in Munich since 1889 and that’s where their children were born.

They were all baptized Catholic. Karl STEINBERGER, who was a merchant, died in Munich in 1905 and his widow returned to Salzburg with her two unmarried daughters Maria and Philomena. She died in Salzburg in 1923. Maria was a cook in the Salzburg State Hospital while Philomena worked for the Salzburg city government until she became ill. They lived at 23 Markus-Sittikus-Straße with their uncle Paul Daniel who made tile stoves.

After she became ill Philomena STEINBERGER was declared incompetent and she was admitted to the Salzburg State Asylum in November 1925. She was one of 29 patients who were deported from there to the Hartheim Castle killing center near Linz on April 18, 1941 – where they were all murdered.

As with all the other victims of the Nazis’ secret »T4«1 program, the death of the 45 year old Philomena STEINBERGER was not recorded in the Salzburg police registration files.

We know that her younger sister Maria survived the terror years in Salzburg, but we don’t know anything about the fates of her other siblings elsewhere.

1 It was called the »T4« program because its Berlin headquarters were located at Tiergartenstraße 4.
Primarily responsible for the murderous program in Salzburg were: Dr. Friedrich Rainer as Governor, Dr. Oskar Hausner as leader of the regional health office, Dr. Leo Wolfer as director of the State Asylum (now called the Christian-Doppler-Clinic), and Dr. Heinrich Wolfer as head of the hereditary disease section of the State Asylum.

Sources

  • Salzburg city archives
  • Schloss Hartheim Learning and Remembrance Center
Author: Gert Kerschbaumer
Translation: Stan Nadel

Stumbling Stone
Laid 14.07.2015 at Salzburg, Markus-Sittikus-Straße 23

<p>HIER WOHNTE<br />
PHILOMENA STEINBERGER<br />
JG. 1896<br />
DEPORTIERT 18.4.1941<br />
SCHLOSS HARTHEIM<br />
ERMORDET 1941</p>
Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer

All stumbling stones at Markus-Sittikus-Straße 23