Secret Nazi Cold Test Station

A broad spectrum of almost forgotten events comes together to form a widely ramified family history. Memories and research give rise to a personal, sometimes ironic, yet contemporary historical reappraisal of fascist threats to the Kupelwieser and Wittgenstein dynasties, all the way to Nazi networks and their secret military projects in the Alps (How do tanks roll at minus 52°?).

„Secret Nazi Cold Test Station“ is an exciting reappraisal of the Nazi past in the beautiful vacation region of Lunz am See, which for many Lower Austrians is one of the most beautiful spots in their province. It is hard to imagine that this idyllic small region was one of the most highly militarized areas in Austria. For „a thousand years“, the citizens were not to set foot on their familiar alpine pastures, mountain lakes and peaks – first and foremost the almost 1900-meter-high Dürrenstein with its interesting karst formations. The reason for this was a top-secret project of the National Socialists: the testing of tank engines in the middle of an area where parts of the Kupelwieser and Wittgenstein dynasties had settled. But how had the massive presence of the SS in the Dürrenstein area come about in the first place? His great-grandfather Carl Kupelwieser had been the „originator“ of the misery, Geisslhofer reports with a twinkle in his eye. He had indulged in a passion: natural science. Meteorological data surveys in the biological research station he had implemented brought amazing results to light: A depression of the Dürrenstein turned out to be a cold pole. Here, minus 52 degrees Celsius were measured in the winter of 1932. For the Nazis it was clear: Nowhere could the cold suitability of the tanks that were to overrun Norway and the Soviet Union be tested better than at Dürrenstein.

Exciting, ironic, but also well-founded in contemporary history, it reappraises the narrow survival of the formerly rich and famous Kupelwieser family between Hitler and Mussolini, secret military projects, and their Jewish ancestry. It exposes abstruse racial theories, fascist frauds and scandalously delayed restitution proceedings. Last but not least, it also explains the connection of the Kupelwieser dynasty to Tito’s former summer residence Brioni.