In The Bag: Walter Tollinger

Even as a lad I wondered how my father was able to build a collection of photos taken while he was a prisoner-of-war. Some were obviously taken by a professional photographer. I learned how this came about when I visited Klagenfurt in 2015.

Walter Tollinger was a guard at the Klagenfurt camp while he and his wife conducted a photography business. Tollinger was born in Klagenfurt on 1 April 1901. He was well-known as an artist and photographer. Between 1921 and 1925, Tollinger was a Marxist and member of the Communist Party. In 1933 though, he switched his allegiance to the Nazis and became a member of the National Socialists Democratic Party. However, he cancelled his membership in 1934. By 1938, Walter Tollinger had become a vocal critic of Hitler and the Nazis. Even in those pre-war times, this was a dangerous pastime. His criticism of the Nazis was sometimes put on display in cafes and taverns, particularly after the effects of alcohol loosened his tongue.

On 4 December 1939, while drinking in a bar in the presence of army personnel, he announced that "the German war in Poland is a swinishness and Hitler is a blackguard and a criminal as well!" This statement, and other information in this article, was taken from the book, Sentenced to Death – Nazi-Justice and Resistance in Carinthia.

The word 'swinishness' could probably be substituted by 'pig-headedness.' Although Tollinger was arrested for his public criticism of Hitler, his punishment was not severe.

In 1944, Walter Tollinger resumed his public criticism of Hitler. On 4 April 1944, after voicing his contempt of the German campaigns in Russia, a sergeant who had been fighting on the Russian front, answered: "coming back home as a wounded man, I have to meet such a swine as you. I won't accept to sacrifice myself for persons like you!" The sergeant then asked Tollinger to go with him to the Gestapo headquarters and challenged him to repeat his remarks. Perhaps Tollinger misjudged the seriousness of the situation – or was intoxicated. In any event, he accepted the challenge, and the Gestapo placed him under arrest. Tollinger was sent for trial on 11 November 1944, charged with "undermining military morale." He was found guilty and received the death penalty. On 8 December 1944, along with eight others charged with similar crimes, Walter Tollinger was executed by firing squad.