Anna Hackl

Anna Hackl (1931) is an elderly farmer in Schwertberg. The Langthaler family, living on a farm in Schwertberg, hid two Russian prisoners of war, Michail Rybtschinskij (2008) and Nikolai Zimkolo (2001), who had escaped from the Mauthausen concentration camp, at great personal risk from February 2, 1945, for three months on their farm in Winden, municipality of Schwertberg. The men were not betrayed even when the SS and Volkssturm came to the farm. At that time, more than 500 prisoners had escaped, but only eleven survived the flight in freezing temperatures while being constantly pursued by the SS. A large portion of the escapees was captured and shot on the spot. These events became known in history as the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd.