Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Mauthausen, Austria

There were numerous concentration camps in Austria during the Second World War, but most were destroyed soon after the war ended. Some of Mauthausen's satellite camps were also destroyed, but the main camp is an exception and we thought it appropriate to spend the morning of The 4th of July there.

It was somewhat difficult to find the camp. Large brown signs announcing its presence in Mauthausen itself turned into small green ones outside of town. But after a few missed turns, we found the camp, bought our embarrassingly cheap tickets (4.5 Euros for the entire family), received our audio tour headsets (they are free if they are in English which may be a nod to the people who liberated them, but no one said as much), then walked around the camp and listened.

It's hard to know whether to censor or sugar coat something of historic importance for an eight and eleven year old, but we erred on the side of full disclosure, and the kids figured out early on that if they had arrived at the camp 70 years ago, they and their grandmother would be killed immediately in the gas chamber in the basement of one of the barracks while their father and I would work in the quarry nearby until we were too sick or weak to move heavy rocks up the 186 stairs pictured below. At that point, we would either be executed at roll call, executed on the path to the quarry--by bullet or by being thrown off a ledge over the quarry which the SS officers dubbed "parachute ledge"--gassed, or hung from a beam in a room near the gas chamber.

Between 150,000 and 200,000 people died at Mauthausen from 1938 to 1945. If you add the satellite camps, the number reaches above 300,000, however, it is not a camp one knows by name since so many more people died elsewhere and that is a staggering thought.

Up until 1942, victim's families were allowed to view the bodies for up to three days. The bodies were then cremated and families could pay to receive the ashes in an urn. Death notices were also sent to the families with no indication as to the manner of death.

I don't know why I find this part so disturbing. On the surface, it seems like the smallest kindness to inform the family and to allow their goodbyes, but it also indicates a lack of shame on the murderers parts, even a sense of normalcy and I don't know what you do with people like that barring a certain level of violence.

Once it was clear that the Allies were moving in closer to the camp, Mauthausen, like most other camps, increased their execution rate in an attempt to remove evidence of their crimes. However, those complicit in the running of Mauthausen were tried and convicted. Additionally, the US troops which liberated the camp forced SS officers and doctors into a week's hard labor to dig dignified graves for those not yet buried or cremated. One doctor wrote an article complaining about the difficulty of that labor and we, like most rational people, were not sympathetic.

We were asked not to publish any interior pictures of the camp so we only have pictures of the quarry steps (dubbed The Steps of Death), and the memorials to the US Army who liberated the camps in May of 1945.

Below are the inscriptions in case you cannot read them from the pictures:

In remembrance of the soldiers of the 26th (Yankee) Infantry Division, Third US Army who liberated Mauthausen Concentration Camp sites in the vicinity of Linz, Austria in May 1945.
In memory of all Mauthausen victims.

In remembrance of the members of the 11th Armored Division of the Third US Army who liberated the concentration camps at Mauthausen Gusen, Ebensee and others located nearby in upper Austria in May 1945. Their deeds will never be forgotten.

In recognition of the US Army 65th Infantry Division and 131st Evacuation Hospital who provided Humanitarian services for the Mauthausen Survivors at the time of their liberation in May 1945.

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We ended the day at Melk Abbey in Melk, Austria which dates back to the 11th Century, and has been considered a major center of learning since the Middle Ages. (It is mentioned in the book "In The Name of the Rose" for this reason.)

It seemed strange to stand in a great library, surrounded by nearly a millennium of amassed knowledge when the morning began with such an overt display of so much ignorance.

Happy 4th of July to everyone back home and especially to the troops!

© 2012 Nicole Wirth
Author of:  Letters to Salthill