Official certificate for Berta Lauscher (née Grubhofer), 1950

Official certificate number “3329”, issued to Berta Lauscher (née Grubhofer) under §4 of the Victims’ Welfare Act of 4 July 1947. From 1947, a small group of people who had been persecuted under the Nazi regime could apply for such an official certificate. Holders of the card were supposed to be given preferential treatment by the authorities when it came to finding housing and work and received financial support in the form of tax relief. Berta Lauscher was already active in the Communist resistance during the Dollfuß-Schuschnigg dictatorship. She was arrested several times because of her political activities. After 1938 she continued to help members of the Communist Party flee the country. She distributed leaflets, collected support for those in prison and their relatives, and was involved in setting up a secret broadcast station in Upper Austria. In 1943 she was arrested by the Secret State Police (Gestapo) and deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Even there she continued on in the resistance. She survived the concentration camp and remained politically active after the war. Her certificate, which she obtained in 1950, officially recognised her imprisonment in a concentration camp and granted her financial support. Berta Lauscher was a lifelong campaigner for education about Nazi crimes and the persecution of women.

Date: 1950

Accession: Donation, 2020