Memorial Plaque for the Victims of the "Euthanasie" at the Salvator Church of the Christian-Doppler Clinic

In the rear area of the clinic grounds, on the main façade of the Salvator Church, there is a memorial plaque for the victims of the NS "Euthanasia". The marble plaque was installed in 1989 and was the first memorial site in Salzburg for the people with disabilities and those suffering from mental and physical illnesses who were systematically murdered by the National Socialists. In this murder machinery, the physician Gerhart Harrer (1917–2011) played a significant role. Already in 1932, he joined the NS Studentenbund, and in 1936 the Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Studentenbund. He became a member of the SS in February 1938. After 1945, Harrer was classified as less culpable, which proved highly beneficial for his career in post-war Austria. He rose to the position of head of the Neurology Department at the Salzburg State Hospitals in the Second Republic. Eventually, he became the Medical Director of the Salzburg-Lehen State Hospital, which is today known as the Christian-Doppler Clinic. Several attempts to remove Harrer from this position and to address his NS past failed. There was also a plaque for the psychiatrist at the site of the Christian-Doppler Clinic for a long time, which was placed on an oak tree in honor of his 90th birthday, but was later removed.