We Mourn the Loss of Our Honorary Member, Bishop Emeritus Dr. h.c. Maximilian Aichern OSB

February 7th, 2026

Our long-standing honorary member and ever-active supporter of the Gusen Memorial Committee (GMC), the Bishop Emeritus of Linz an der Donau, Dr. h.c. Maximilian Aichern OSB, passed away on January 31, 2026. The solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated on February 7, 2026, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Linz an der Donau, Austria. The burial of our honorary member will take place on February 9, 2026, at St. Lambrecht Abbey, where Maximilian Aichern served as Abbot from 1977 to 1981.

Bishop Maximilian Aichern made significant contributions to the remembrance work at the former Gusen concentration camp complex:

On March 19, 1995, he personally participated in a spiritual memorial march from Gusen to St. Georgen, led by GMC founding member Rudolf Haunschmied, along with hundreds of participants from the Catholic Workers' Movement (KAB) of the Diocese of Linz. This march commemorated the 50th anniversary of key phases of the martyrdom of Blessed Marcel Callo at Gusen. During this march, Rudolf Haunschmied also drew attention to Dr.  Johann Gruber, the priest from Linz who was murdered in Gusen in 1944.

This personal experience then prompted Bishop Aichern to invite Rudolf Haunschmied to the Bishop's Palace in Linz on May 10, 1995, to deliver a historically significant lecture on the martyrdom of Dr. Johann Gruber in Gusen before his episcopal consistory.

Based on this lecture, Bishop Aichern then commissioned the well-known theologian, historian and at that time university assistant at the Catholic Theological Private University of Linz, Dr. Helmut Wagner, to conduct professional in-depth biographical studies on Dr.  Johann Gruber. On the basis of this scientific work Dr. Wagner subsequently obtained a second doctorate and finally published his research results in 2011 in the important book “Dr. Johann Gruber: Priester – Lehrer - Patriot (1989-1944)”.

For this reason, we remain deeply indebted to Bishop Aichern, Prof. Rudolf Haunschmied, and Prof. DDr. Helmut Wagner for laying the foundations for the current recognition of Dr. Johann Gruber's martyrdom in the Diocese of Linz. These foundations have subsequently led to the development of many other significant commemorative projects through the Johann Gruber Platform such as further publications, art projects and even a much-acclaimed play by Thomas Baum and Franz Froschauer.

In addition to commemorating Dr. Johann Gruber, Bishop Aichern also continued to promote the memory of Blessed Marcel Callo, who suffered a significant portion of his martyrdom in the hell of the Gusen II death camp in 1944 and 1945.

For example, in October 1997, he personally participated in the commemorations marking the 10th anniversary of Marcel Callo's beatification and in 1998 he consecrated a new Catholic parish in the Auwiesen district of Linz to Blessed Marcel Callo.

In 2014, Bishop Aichern once again actively supported the commemorative work for Gusen in St. Georgen, on the 70th anniversary of Dr. Gruber's death. This time,  Johann Gruber was honored at a ceremony attended by the renowned Austrian political scientist, Dr. Anton Pelinka, and Aichern´s successor as bishop, Dr. Ludwig Schwarz, at which the new book "DENK.STATT Johann Gruber – Neue Wege der Erinnerungskultur" was presented. This book was created in connection with the art project "Passage gegen das Vergessen" (Passage Against Forgetting) at the parish church of St. Georgen an der Gusen.

On April 19, 2015, on the 70th anniversary of Marcel Callo's death, Maximilian Aichern personally visited the new underground memorial, “Bergkristall”, in St. Georgen, where Aichern's name is still inscribed on the memorial plaque from that commemoration.

Bishop Emeritus Aichern last visited St. Georgen/Gusen on March 22, 2025, when the new book "Marcel Callo – Christ und Märtyrer" was presented at the House of Remembrance in the presence of the Archbishop of Rennes, France to which GMC founding member, Professor Rudolf Haunschmied contributed significantly by focusing on the martyrdom of Blessed Callo in the hell of Gusen II.

The GMC had already expressed its gratitude to Bishop Emeritus Dr. h.c. Maximilian Aichern in 2010 for his multifaceted and deeply personal commitment to Gusen by awarding him an honorary membership. This honor was bestowed upon him at the commemoration ceremony on May 8, 2010, before participants from around the world, in recognition of his dedicated support and active contribution to bringing the murder of tens of thousands of forgotten inmates of the former Gusen I, II, and III Concentration Camps to the attention of a wider public and to keeping the memory of the victims alive.

Bishop Dr. h.c. Maximilian Aichern was also a founding member of the Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) in 1997, of which the GMC has also been a member since its inception.

We will always remain grateful to Bishop Emeritus Dr. h.c. Maximilian Aichern OSB and will also honor his memory from now on.

R.I.P.

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