Dr. Walter-Porges-Straße, Spittal an der Drau

Walter Porges, born as the child of Jewish parents on October 23, 1887, studied medicine and served as a military doctor on the Isonzo front. In 1919, he was among the Carinthian defenders who were active in the area of Bleiburg-Völkermarkt. He practiced as a doctor in Spittal and was involved in the municipal council, where he especially engaged in the care of the poor. In 1924, he married and became the father of three children. After the "Anschluss" to the German Reich, Walter Porges lost his medical license and had to relocate to Vienna as a so-called "nurse for the Jews." After his arrest in the autumn of 1943, he was deported to the extermination camp Auschwitz on June 22, 1944, where he was murdered.

In May 2010, the ÖVP, at the suggestion of Karl Anderwald, proposed in the municipal council to name a street in Spittal/Drau after Dr. Walter Porges. On December 29, 2010, the street between the cemetery and Neukauf in the east of Spittal was dedicated to the Jewish doctor and defender.