Franz Zürni papers Einzelbestand Franz Zürni (1912-)

Franz Zürni (born 1912) was a chauffeur. Zürni worked as a driver for 40 years for the moving firm Welti-Furrer. From 1939 to 1945 he served in the Swiss compulsory military service (“Aktivdienst”). In the aftermath of World War II, Zürni delivered care shipments by truck on behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the Prisoner of War (POW) and former concentration camps. Zürni was part of the first relief convoy under Swiss leadership in May 1945 with ca. ten truck drivers who drove via St. Margrethen towards Germany. The convoy arrived in Mauthausen on May 23, 1945 and, after delivering the relief shipment, continued on to Linz. During the nine months of driving for the ICRC, Zürni transported liberated concentration camp prisoners and drove shipments to the former Theresienstadt camp as well as prison camps in Bavaria, Flotow an der Weeser, Bad Oehnhausen and several other prison camps in the British zone. Afterwards, Zürni continued his employment with Welti-Furrer. During the Hungarian crisis in 1956 Zürni again served as driver for the Swiss Red Cross.

Source of acquisition is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (AfZ), Switzerland; the signature: NL Franz Zürni. The AfZ acquired the collection in 1999. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s International Archives Project in Nov. 2011.