One of the sergeants on the first tank took a packet of cigarettes out his pockets and lit one, max garcia recalled sunday. The mauthausen concentration camp 19381945 history kz. Concentration camp of mauthausen list the holocaust. Here ss guards and doctors perfected methods by which human beings could be destroyed, by hanging, flogging, decapitation, shooting, gassing, vivisection, and pseudoscientific. S armored troops rolling into the compound on may 5, 1945. The mauthausen concentration camp complex national archives. Background history of mauthausen, austria subcamps of.
Mauthausen the rock quarry the holocaust history a. This is a chronological listing of deaths at the mauthausen concentration camp indicating each persons number, full name, date and place of birth, occupation, cause of death, day and time of death and comments. We can either tour dachau and then head to hallstatt for the night or drive to mauthausen and then onto hallstatt out of the way i know the book lists mauthausen more powerful and less touristorientated than dachau. Kosiek, arrived at the main camp near the town of mauthausen. The information in these books is arranged chronologically. In scientific articles information is provided on the history of the project and on editorial decisions, historical backgrounds are illuminated and the project is being. The first prisoners came to mauthausen concentration camp from dachau on the 8th of august 1938, just under five months after the anschluss of austria by nazi germany. In a proceeding on the site of the dachau concentration camp, a us military tribunal prosecuted deputy preventative detention camp commandant hans altfuldisch and 60 other defendants associated with mauthausen in the spring of 1946. On arrival at concentration camps prisoners had their clothing taken away, often to be replaced by a uniform now known as striped pyjamas. Contains publication of the mauthausen death books, t990. A visual documentation of the holocaust schiffer history book by matthew l. A relatively large collection of original documents created by the camp administration has survived from the mauthausen concentration camp.
I especially appreciated that the book also covers what these womens lives were like before and after their time in mauthausen. Mauthausen was a nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of mauthausen roughly 20 kilometres 12 mi east of linz, upper austria. This is a list of subcamps of the mauthausen concentration camp. Lying some 20 km east of linz, close to the small town of mauthausen, it was the first concentration camp outside of germanys own territory. The camp utilized heavy labor as a means of breaking the prisoners spirit. Even auschwitz prisoners feared transport to mauthausen. Mauthausen concentration camp photos the holocaust. It is used repeatedly in the mauthausen gusen concentration camp. Mauthausen officials were charged with literally working prisoners to death.
Tens of thousands of prisoners arrived on several large transports. Despite the destruction of these documents of mass murder ordered by the ss, numerous important sources were saved from destruction, primarily by the prisoners themselves. Numerous members of the camp administrative staff and the guard units were prosecuted after the war. According to hans marsalek, an inmate at mauthausen, the first jewish prisoner brought to mauthausen was a vienneseborn man arrested under paragraph 175 of the german penal code, which made it a crime to engage in homosexual acts in public. American military justice in germany tomaz jardim on. T990, mauthausen death books collections search united.
The notorious nazi concentration camp at mauthausen was opened on august 8, 1938, a few months after the anschluss of austria and germany on march 12, 1938, which marked the beginning of hitlers drive to conquer europe. About austria, mauthausengusen concentration camp death record books, 19381945. It became the central camp for austria, from which fortynine permanent sub camps were administered. Mauthausen, located 20 km from linz, austria, was set up in 1938, after the anschluss of austria. A nightmarish place the mauthausengusen concentration camp. The book entitled the 186 steps, written by christian bernadac begins with a description of the stairs of death at the former mauthausen concentration camp which is now a memorial site, visited mostly by teenaged students. The mauthausen concentration camp was located on a leveled hilltop along the danube river in austria, which was part. The gusen branch camp officially went into operation in may 1940. The camp inmate was frightened of making decisions and of taking any sort of initiative whatsoever.
The academic articles introduce readers to the history of the project and editorial decisions, illuminate the historical background and place the project within the. Buchenwald,dachau, flossenberg, nordhausen,and mauthausen. This book covers the experiences of three women that were pregnant at the time they were in concentration camps during hitlers regime. On august 8, 1938 prisoners from dachau were transferred to the wiener graben quarry to build the mauthausen concentration camp. This was the result of a strong feeling that fate was ones master, and that one must not try to influence it in any way, but instead let it take its own course. Mauthausen kaltenbrunner, himmler and camp commandant franz ziereis april 1941 bundesarchiv mauthausen concentration camp was established shortly after the nazi anschluss of austria, in march 1938, near an abandoned stone quarry approximately three miles from the market town of mauthausen, in upper austria. Mauthausen was a nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of mauthausen it. On may 5, 1945, the date usually given for the official liberation of the mauthausen main concentration camp, a platoon of 23 men from the 11th armored division of the us third army, led by staff sgt. Concentration camp mauthausen reconsidered rudolf a. Was the austrian population aware of the existence and role of mauthausen and its many subcamps. Mauthausen survivors recall horrors at 70th liberation. The concentration camp was established in 1938 when prisoners were ordered to move to mauthausen from the dachau camp. Benjamin beryl ferencz describes evidence collected at the mauthausen camp.
The history of mauthausen concentration camp mauthausen. In december 1939 the ss ordered the construction of a second concentration camp just a few kilometres from mauthausen. The first victims of the gas chamber were soviet prisoners of war who had been transferred to the mauthausen concentration camp for execution from wehrmacht camps for political reasons. Collection stephanie soldner sullivan towards the end of the war, the mauthausen concentration camp became the destination for evacuations from camps near the front line.
The camp now has a visitor centre for those wishing to know more about its history credit. Spanish republicans at forced labor in the quarry at mauthausen. It became the central camp for austria, from which fortynine permanent subcamps were administered. As in other camps, the mauthausen authorities began to use gas as a means of killing in 194142. Mauthausen was to become the symbol of the nazi regime in austria. Haunschmied, is a local amateur historian, the second is a graduate student, and third has no publications besides this book. In late 1941, a typhus epidemic broke out, which resulted.
Memorial book for the dead of the mauthausen concentration. Over 40 subcamps had been set up by the liberation of the mauthausen gusen concentration camp. Below are ten things people should know about this camp. The three gusen concentration camps in and around the village of st georgengusen, just a few kilometres from mauthausen, held a. Born survivors by wendy holden goodreads share book. Memorial book for the dead of the mauthausen concentration camp. For most of its history, this exceeding the number of prisoners at the mauthausen main camp itself. After the outbreak of war, people from across europe were deported to mauthausen, which gradually developed into a system of several interconnected camps. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout austria and southern germany. Death books from the mauthausen concentration camp in upper austria. At no place in the camp was this more evident than in the quarry. Mauthausen was the last concentration camp to be liberated by the allies, with u.
Jewish prisoners in the mauthausen concentration camp. We pick up my sister and husband at the munich airport at 8. Liberated prisoners leaving the camp, may 1945 photo credits. Death statistics for mauthausen are typically given for the whole mauthausen complex, including the 49 permanent sub camps, whereas the number of deaths claimed for the other nazi concentration camps usually include only the deaths in the main camp. At the beginning of march 1945, around 64,000 out of a total 83,000 concentration camp prisoners were being held in one of the subcamps.
Mauthausen concentration camp photos, taken near linz, austria, is the focus of the photos by alan jacobs. In an interview in 1990, seibel described how the americans found some stored potatoes and began feeding the starved prisoners a very thin potato soup. This latch is on the entrance gate to the main camp at mauthausen. Seibel was appointed to take command of the mauthausen camp for 35 days, after an american patrol found the camp in april 1945, before the official liberation of the camp on may 5, 1945. This remarkable reprint, originally published just after world war ii, contains two first hand accounts about mauthausen concentration camp, austria where over 100,000 people were killed. The mauthausen concentration camp was the main place where spanish political prisoners were incarcerated by the nazis. The mauthausen camp was one of the most infamous in the entire nazi alternate universe of human destruction. I have read many, if not most of the better books on the holocaust, the concentration camps, the slave labor of the ss, and generally about ww2. Many people, most of whom were innocent of any crimes, were tortured to death in its rock quarry, and in the tunnels of mauthausen gusen, the most infamous of the sub camps.
Like some other concentration camps, mauthausen was equipped with a stationary gas chamber with the capacity to kill up to 80 people at a time. Special death book of men who died at mauthausen and gusen, april. Mauthausengusen concentration camp photographs table of. Liberation of mauthausen concentration camp by american.
Death statistics for the mauthausen concentration camp. A pile of corpses in the mauthausen concentration camp. These harrowing photos show the horror of mauthausen. American soldiers pass through the main gate of the mauthausen camp.
Almost all of the then ostmark became a subcamp of mauthausen. Exclusivepix media the mauthausen quarry is now overgrown with trees and bushes but there is now a museum. Austria, mauthausengusen concentration camp death record. By 1941, three years after the main camp opened, 60% of the prisoners were spanish republicans. In 1940 and 1941, the average life expectancy was six months, and the average weight of prisoners in 19401942 was 40 kilograms 88 lb. In autumn 1941 construction began on a gas chamber in mauthausen and, in march 1942, the ss carried out the first murders using poison gas. Mauthausen the latch the holocaust history a people. The infamous nazi death camp of mauthausen absorbed prisoners of all. History discover inside the nazis infamous mauthausen concentration camps male prisoners are pictured at mauthausen concentration camp, doing levelling work, in preparation for building. The slave labour of the inmates was also used by a variety of companies and farms that accommodated a small number of inmates on their own.
Stairs of death todesstiege the 186 steps at mauthausen. The first account is by franz zieres who narrates his experiences as commandant of mauthausen. Mauthausen and gusen were the only concentration camps rated by the ss as category iii, the highest rating, and conditions in gusen were even worse than at the main camp. In addition, following himmlers order in june 1941, a brothel was opened for them in 1942, in the mauthausen and gusen i camps. Georgen mauthausen area, and does it exceptionally well. The infamous nazi death camp of mauthausen absorbed prisoners of all nationalities jews, gypsies, russians, poles, hungarians, spaniards, yugoslavs, and english. History of the mauthausen concentration camp in austria. Massive wooden door at the entrance to mauthausen main camp. Mauthausen the latch it is always surprising to see the degree of care and meticulous attention to detail, even elegance, the ss exacted in their goal of surrounding, punishing and killing innocent people. A visual documentation of the holocaust schiffer history book.
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