Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

The construction of Mauthausen Concentration Camp began shortly after Austria's annexation by the Third Reich in 1938. Heinrich Himmler announced the stationing of SS Death's Head Units in Upper Austria in March 1938, indirectly hinting at the planned establishment of a concentration camp. In the same month, Gauleiter August Eigruber confirmed that Upper Austria would receive a concentration camp for "traitors to the people." The "Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke, GmbH" (DEST) was founded by the SS in April 1938 to ensure the SS's economic independence. From the outset, DEST used prisoners as cheap labor and acquired quarries near Mauthausen and Gusen, which were crucial for obtaining granite for Hitler's planned "Führerstadt" Linz. In May 1938, the SS began operating the Mauthausen quarry, and on August 8, 1938, the first prisoners arrived from Dachau Concentration Camp. Franz Ziereis became camp commandant in 1939, and Mauthausen developed into the only Category III concentration camp in the Reich, meaning "extermination through labor." By 1945, approximately 200,000 people of various nationalities were deported to Mauthausen and its subcamps, about 100,000 of whom died or were murdered. In June 1942, the first prisoner brothel was established in Mauthausen on Himmler's orders. A significant escape attempt by Soviet officers in February 1945 ended in a massacre. Shortly before liberation in April 1945, the SS attempted to destroy evidence of their crimes. On May 5, 1945, the camp was finally liberated by US troops.

The former Mauthausen Concentration Camp is located in Mauthausen, in the district of Perg in Upper Austria, Austria, at an elevation of approximately 332 m above sea level.

Today, the former Mauthausen Concentration Camp can be visited as a memorial site. It serves as a monument and museum, documenting the history of National Socialist crimes and commemorating the victims.

• Schloss Marbach (Castle), approx. 0.9 km away
• Schloss Pragstein (Castle), approx. 2.1 km away
• Burgruine Spielberg (Castle Ruin), approx. 2.6 km away
• Schloss Grünau (Castle), approx. 3.4 km away