MAUTHAUSEN MEMORIAL

The Mauthausen camp was built in 1938 by prisoners from Dachau. Classified as a "level III" camp, the conditions of detention were particularly harsh and the mortality rate was very high. The prisoners worked on the production of building materials for Nazi Germany. Nearby is the huge granite quarry dug by the prisoners with the so-called "death stairs" with their tiny steps which made the climb very difficult, especially with a 60 kg load on the back.

From 1941 onwards, some 40 annex camps were built around the main camp for the incarceration of Poles, Soviets and Hungarians as well as French, Italians, Spaniards and Yugoslavs. From mid-1944 onwards, many prisoners from the eastern camps, as well as from the annexed camps, were deported to Mauthausen, leading to a terrible overcrowding. In total, 200,000 people were deported to Mauthausen. Half of them died. The camp was liberated in May 1945 by the US Army.

After the war, the Soviets used it as a place of accommodation for their troops, before Austria took it over in 1947. A memorial was inaugurated in 1949. Then many countries erected their own memorial. In 1960, a large cemetery was created to accommodate the victims of the camp and nearly 140,000 bodies were buried there. Finally, in 1970, a museum was opened to preserve the memory of the crimes. A poignant visit. Three permanent exhibitions are visible there:

The Mauthausen Concentration Camp : installed in the former infirmary, it retraces the history of the camp from 1939 to 1945 around three axes : the beginnings of the war and its evolution, the history of the camp from its creation until its liberation and a poignant testimony of the life of the prisoners through objects of their daily life. The exhibition concludes with testimonies from survivors and families of victims, with numerous audiovisual documents and a retrospective on the reconstruction of Austria after the war.

The Room of Names : in this room of names, on geometrical blocks placed like a labyrinth, are inscribed the names of more than 81 000 identified victims.

The Crime scenes of Mauthausen - Searching for traces reveals large photographs of the different sites of the camp. Among other poignant relics: a doctor's syringe or the extraction fan of a gas chamber.