Norbert Jokl - Arrest and Death

Arrest and Death

On March 4, 1942, Jokl was arrested by the Gestapo and transferred to the collection camp (Sammellager). Georg Solta, trying to save his teacher, appealed for Jokl's freedom to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the SS Gruppenführer in Vienna who had also been Solta’s schoolmate. However, Kaltenbrunner argued he had no power to save Jokl from deportation.

There is contradictory information as to Jokl's death. It was reported that on May 6, 1942, he was taken to Maly Trostenets near Minsk, where he was murdered. However, according to another version, he died from mistreatment in a barracks in Roßau, Vienna. Still other versions are that he committed suicide out of despair or that he was taken to a camp in Riga.

After Jokl’s arrest, his former employer tried to ensure that Jokl’s library would be given to the University in case Jokl was not allowed to go to Albania. However, the Dean preferred that Jokl be sent to a concentration camp, as that would make acquisition of his works much easier. Paul Heigl, the director general of the National Library of Austria, also applied for custodianship of the collection. Despite Jokl bequeathing the library to Albania, it was confiscated on April 27, 1942 and sent to the National Library. It was believed that there were some three thousand texts in his collection, but only two hundred have been accounted for. The fate of the other works and Jokl’s supplements is unknown.