A special grave in a cemetery in a town in the north of the Czech Republic bears witness to the life and death of a young Kaiserjäger who fell on the Southern Front in 1916 as an officer for “Emperor, People and Fatherland”. Militär Aktuell knows his tragic story.
The northern Bohemian town of Jablonec nad Nisou can look back on a long and traditional history that is closely linked to that of Austria. For centuries, the town, which until 1945 was predominantly inhabited by German-Bohemian (old) Austrians, the so-called Sudeten Germanswas an important center of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy’s glass and jewelry industry. The coveted costume jewelry products from Gablonz were even exported all over the world by ship – including on board the steamer “Gablonz”, which was launched in Trieste in 1912 and sailed from Trieste mainly to India, Pakistan and the Far East. The “Gablonz” belonged to Austrian Lloyd, the largest shipping company in the monarchy and the Mediterranean region in general.
After the First World War and the end of the k.u.k. Monarchy, she sailed for Lloyd Triestino from 1921 under the name “Tevere”. From 1940, she served as a hospital ship, ran into a mine in 1941 and was badly damaged. She sank in 1943 during the battles for Tripoli. After the Second World War the wreck was salvaged and eventually scrapped. The Vienna Technical Museum owns a model of the “Gablonz”. But back to the protagonist of this report, a German-Bohemian Kaiserjäger. On November 18, 1894, a boy was born in Gablonz, a town steeped in history in the middle of the Jizera Mountains, which was honored by Emperor Franz Joseph’s visit three times (1866, 1891 and finally 1906). His name: Eduard Alexander Neuwinger. As the “Association of Sudeten German Genealogists”to whom the author is greatly indebted for their support in his research, the boy was not born in hospital but, as was customary at the time, at home – in the house with the number 846.
The pride and joy of a respected family of foresters
Although his mother Anna gave birth to four more siblings, all available chronicles suggest that these offspring of the family died in infancy. At this time, infant mortality was still very high due to inadequate medical care. Numerous children’s graves in the region’s cemeteries, which have been preserved to this day, bear eloquent and distressing witness to this. “What is certain is that this son of the family grew up as an only child,” explains Christa Schlör, an expert in Sudeten German family research.
As the only descendant of a long-established and respected family of foresters, the boy called “Edi” certainly went on extensive forays through the forests and up the nearby Jeschken (Czech: Ještěd), the striking local mountain of the neighboring town of Reichenberg (Czech: Liberec, -> New edition of the book: “From Reichenberg to Sydney”), which is clearly visible even from Gablonz. The young man from Gablonz did his military service in the 1st Tyrolean Kaiserjäger Regiment, which had been stationed in the Tyrolean capital of Innsbruck since the 19th century. Together with his comrades, he will probably often have seen the 1914
Military bandmaster Karl von Mühlberger composed the soldiers’ song “Mir sein die Kaiserjager, Heeresmarsch II, 141”, better known today under the short form “Kaiserjägermarsch”sang cheerfully. The striking march, the first verse of which (the lyrics are older than the melody and were written by Lieutenant Max Depolo as early as 1911) reads “We hunters let a joyful, powerful song resound, and it should be sung to all scattered in the north and south. In the East and in the West, where our flag flies: We are among the best as long as loyalty lasts!” is still one of the traditional marches of the Austrian Armed Forces and is part of the standard repertoire of local military bands. As an ordinary soldier, “Edi” Neuwinger took part in the heavy fighting of the First World War and proved himself in many a tough battle. He was decorated early on for his outstanding bravery in the field. “According to the available documents, his promotion from cadet to ensign took place in December 1915. Neuwinger first appears in the ‘Boten für Tirol’ on February 9, 1916 as ‘Lieutenant of the Reserve’,” wrote the Tyrolean family researcher Hans-Peter Haberditz found out. Haberditz is professionally involved in genealogical research and is also chairman of the traditional association “Tyrolean Kaiserjäger 1st Regiment, Schwaz“. https://militaeraktuell.at/bundesheer-beschafft-embraer-c-390m/ Only a few months after his promotion to officer, fate struck cruelly: on July 2, 1916, the Kaiserjäger from Gablonz successfully stormed an Italian position on the southern front at Monte Pasubio (Italy) at the head of his men from the 7th company. What happened afterwards was described by a comrade, platoon commander Ensign of the Reserve Anton Amann, in his dramatic report, which he recorded for posterity: “The indescribable joy of every soldier standing in a stormed position, which only those who have been in the same position can feel, was not to last long. Like a wedge, we had bounced too far forward and were hanging in the air with both wings. Italian machine-gun fire was pouring down on us from all sides and the artillery fire didn’t stop either. The few stones provided more moral than real cover and many a brave fighter was hit by a treacherous projectile. Among others, Lt. i. d. Res. Neuwinger fell here. In order to get a better view of the situation, he straightened up several times despite the rapid fire until he collapsed, hit right in the heart. With him, the company lost an extremely popular comrade and the regiment lost one of its bravest officers.”
The last verse of the Kaiserjägermarsch became the fate of Lieutenant Neuwinger: “Even if some fall down, the bullet burns in his heart: he dies as an Kaiserjäger from the first regiment!” Lieutenant Neuwinger fell just a few months before his 22nd birthday. The bold Kaiserjäger was posthumously awarded the “Signum Laudis – For Brave Conduct before the Enemy” medal and the “Cross of Military Merit 3rd Class with War Decoration” – even the prestigious “Prager Tagblatt”the largest liberal-democratic German-language daily newspaper in Bohemia, reported on this – and initially buried in a local military cemetery.
His family, however, tormented by the pain of losing their only offspring, decided to have the mortal remains of their beloved son repatriated to his Bohemian homeland, where they had a magnificent tomb erected for him, the inscription of which reads (spelling in the original): “In the holy battle with gleaming bright armor, To which loyalty and duty and right sent you, On the blood-fertilized field of honour, Heroic death for the fatherland.”
This grave at the Jablonec Central Cemetery (today in Czech: Hlavní hřbitov Jablonec nad Nisou) survived the collapse of the Danube Monarchy in 1918 as well as the turmoil of the Second World War and the subsequent expulsion of the old Austrian German-Bohemian population from the town in 1945. What became of the parents of this Gablonzer Kaiserjäger, whether they lived to see the expulsion in 1945 or whether they had already died beforehand, unfortunately remains hidden in the darkness of history. The available chronicles provide no information about this. The resting place of Lieutenant of the Reserve Eduard Neuwinger is thus, in addition to the memorial erected in 2018 by the town of Gablonz restored by the town of Jablonec in 2018 for the sons of the town who fell between 1914 and 1918, it is probably the last reminder of this brave Tyrolean Kaiserjäger from Jablonec, whose young life ended so abruptly and bloodily on the battlefields of the First World War more than 100 years ago at the age of 21.
