On Wednesday, I set out on a sobering day trip to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. I hopped on a train from Westbahnhof to St. Valentin. Despite WWII having had such a significant effect on Europe, it feels like they want to pretend it never happened. If I was Austrian I would want to pretend that my people were ever capable of such cowardice and cruelty as well. After WWII, Austria painted itself as the first victim of Hitlerite aggression. This is such BS. The majority of Austrian citizens in 1938 supported the Anschluss (union of Germany and Austria). Many Austrians considered themselves to be similar, if not culturally identical to Germans. When the plebiscite was held on April 10, 1938, 99.7% voted in favor of the Anschluss! As was evident during Kristallnacht, Austrian aggression towards Jews was stronger and more virulent in Vienna than in most German-occupied cities. Austria’s most famous person, Hitler, wanted to make the Austrian town of Linz his ideal cultural capital. The concentration camp I visited, KZ-Mauthausen, is located about 20 kilometers away from Hitler’s beloved city.
The Austrian Resistance movement was close to non-existent. Let me take this moment to highlight the Polish Resistance Movement which supplied the Allies with intelligence, disrupted Eastern Front supply lines, and saved thousands of lives of groups persecuted by the Nazis. In contrast, the Austrian populace seemed to be ambivalent if not supportive of their supposed “occupiers.” Let me make clear that I am not blaming modern day Austrians, their national heritage is not their fault as much as the historical mistreatment of Native Americans or African Americans is not my fault. But, after the defeat of the Third Reich, Austria played the victim card and got off with 10 years of Viennese occupation by the Allied Forces and was later allowed to regain their state sovereignty.
My strong feelings towards this subject were stirred up during my visit to KZ- Mauthausen. Finding ended up being an ordeal in itself. The first town we got off at, St. Valentin was still about 30 km away from the camp. We went into the hotel across from the train station and asked for directions. We were told that a cab would be about 25 to 30 euros. We insist that there had to be a train. The concierge looks up a train to the town of Mauthausen, which ended up costing us only 1 euro. (Thanks Hotel zur Post).
On the train, Ethan and I enjoyed a bag lunch of wurstsemmel. My kinder bag lunch had a kitty puzzle inside, which was probably the happiest part of my day. When we get to the Mauthausen train stop, we are told to once again take a cab up to the camp. Me, being stingy, decided to walk the 6 km. It was an abnormally beautiful day for late November. The sun was shining and the temperature was around 21 degrees Celsius. It was so nice outside I got slightly sun burnt. My companion and I walked the containment wall running along the Danube for a few
kilometers until the road turned off to a cute little Maria Hilfer town.
To make sure we were heading the right direction, we walk into a little castle named the Schloss Pragstein. The signs outside advertised an Apothecary museum inside. The doors were open but no one was inside. We walked all the way to the top floor, but could not find anyone in the castle. It was eerie, and possibly trespassing, so we hightailed it out of there and got back on the road. We follow the road signs through beautiful woods and quaint Austrian houses that looked like ski chalets until we reached a 2km uphill turnoff road. At the very top of the hill was KZ- Mauthausen.
We bought our one euro student tickets, got our audio guides and went inside. The camp was nearly devoid of emotion-wrenching exhibits. The audio guide was extremely informative and business like. The information it told us was beyond horrendous. The first stop on o
ur tour was the Wailing Wall. New prisoners brought to the camp were forced to face the wall for hours, if not days, as the first act of dehumanization. Afterwards, their personal possessions were taken and they were forced to be shaved, showered, and deloused. The barracks of the camp were broken up into different sections according to what type of prisoners was held there. One thing that makes Mauthausen unique is that it housed many different enemies of the Third Reich: Soviets, Jews, the intelligentsia, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Spanish Republicans, Polish, homosexuals, and anyone else who disagreed with them. The prisoner’s classifications were displayed on their uniforms. The camp had clear placards throughout the camp which explained what occurred at different stations.
The camp had several other horrifying ways to kill people: icy showers leading to hypothermia, gas chambers, shooting, medical experiments, hanging, starvation, lethal injection, drowning, beaten to death, pushed into 380 volt electrified fence that took hours to kill someone, and forcing prisoners past the limits of the camp and killing them so it looked like they tried to escape . Once killed, their gold teeth and tattoos would be removed and they would be buried or cremated. Life expectancy once in the camp ranged from 3 to 6 months. Different types of prisoners had better or worse chances of survival. At the top of the prisoner hierarchy were criminals, at the bottom, Soviets and Jews. The Jews were given half the rations that other types of prisoners were given. When a new shipment was expected, the guards would kill all the Jews in the barracks to make room for the incoming transport.
The tour was very matter of fact and had a lot of personal accounts. The most emotional part of the trip for me was in front of the Crematorium. Many personal plaques and memorials to victims were hung on the walls and draped on the oven. This one is my favorite:
Outside of the camp there are lots of sculptures and memorials from the various groups that had members die within the walls of Mauthausen. After our tour, I walked down the Stairs of Death and stood in the quarry. From the time the camp opened in 1938 and when it was liberated on May 5, 1945 between 120,000 and 300,000 victims died at Mauthausen-Gusen camp system.
At the entrance to the camp there is a sign thanking the Americans for liberating the camp. American soldiers said that when they liberated the camp some people were able to only walk a few steps outside before collapsing to their deaths. They held out just long enough to taste freedom one last time. Some who were too weak to speak or stand just propped themselves up and in recognition of their liberators.
If you are interested in learning more about the camp, their website is extremely informative. http://en.mauthausen-memorial.at/index_open.php
The Austrian Resistance movement was close to non-existent. Let me take this moment to highlight the Polish Resistance Movement which supplied the Allies with intelligence, disrupted Eastern Front supply lines, and saved thousands of lives of groups persecuted by the Nazis. In contrast, the Austrian populace seemed to be ambivalent if not supportive of their supposed “occupiers.” Let me make clear that I am not blaming modern day Austrians, their national heritage is not their fault as much as the historical mistreatment of Native Americans or African Americans is not my fault. But, after the defeat of the Third Reich, Austria played the victim card and got off with 10 years of Viennese occupation by the Allied Forces and was later allowed to regain their state sovereignty.
My strong feelings towards this subject were stirred up during my visit to KZ- Mauthausen. Finding ended up being an ordeal in itself. The first town we got off at, St. Valentin was still about 30 km away from the camp. We went into the hotel across from the train station and asked for directions. We were told that a cab would be about 25 to 30 euros. We insist that there had to be a train. The concierge looks up a train to the town of Mauthausen, which ended up costing us only 1 euro. (Thanks Hotel zur Post).
On the train, Ethan and I enjoyed a bag lunch of wurstsemmel. My kinder bag lunch had a kitty puzzle inside, which was probably the happiest part of my day. When we get to the Mauthausen train stop, we are told to once again take a cab up to the camp. Me, being stingy, decided to walk the 6 km. It was an abnormally beautiful day for late November. The sun was shining and the temperature was around 21 degrees Celsius. It was so nice outside I got slightly sun burnt. My companion and I walked the containment wall running along the Danube for a few
kilometers until the road turned off to a cute little Maria Hilfer town. To make sure we were heading the right direction, we walk into a little castle named the Schloss Pragstein. The signs outside advertised an Apothecary museum inside. The doors were open but no one was inside. We walked all the way to the top floor, but could not find anyone in the castle. It was eerie, and possibly trespassing, so we hightailed it out of there and got back on the road. We follow the road signs through beautiful woods and quaint Austrian houses that looked like ski chalets until we reached a 2km uphill turnoff road. At the very top of the hill was KZ- Mauthausen.
We bought our one euro student tickets, got our audio guides and went inside. The camp was nearly devoid of emotion-wrenching exhibits. The audio guide was extremely informative and business like. The information it told us was beyond horrendous. The first stop on o
ur tour was the Wailing Wall. New prisoners brought to the camp were forced to face the wall for hours, if not days, as the first act of dehumanization. Afterwards, their personal possessions were taken and they were forced to be shaved, showered, and deloused. The barracks of the camp were broken up into different sections according to what type of prisoners was held there. One thing that makes Mauthausen unique is that it housed many different enemies of the Third Reich: Soviets, Jews, the intelligentsia, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Spanish Republicans, Polish, homosexuals, and anyone else who disagreed with them. The prisoner’s classifications were displayed on their uniforms. The camp had clear placards throughout the camp which explained what occurred at different stations.Mauthausen was the only Grade III camp, reserved for those who were Incorrigible political enemies of t
he Reich. Mauthausen’s purpose was extermination through labor. The labor was exploited for many profitable companies that made prisoners mine at the granite quarry outside of the camp’s stone walls and electrified fences for 12 hours a day. The bottom and top of the quarry are linked by the Stairs of Death. These stairs are extremely steep. Prisoners had to haul huge stone blocks weighing anywhere from 50-100 kg up the 186 stairs. If they made it up the stairs, it was customary for them to be lined up at the Parachute Wall. At this sheer rock face, prisoners would be forced to push the prisoner in front of them off the wall or be shot so they would fall to their deaths. It was named the Parachute Wall because the falling prisoners were like parachutists without parachutes.
he Reich. Mauthausen’s purpose was extermination through labor. The labor was exploited for many profitable companies that made prisoners mine at the granite quarry outside of the camp’s stone walls and electrified fences for 12 hours a day. The bottom and top of the quarry are linked by the Stairs of Death. These stairs are extremely steep. Prisoners had to haul huge stone blocks weighing anywhere from 50-100 kg up the 186 stairs. If they made it up the stairs, it was customary for them to be lined up at the Parachute Wall. At this sheer rock face, prisoners would be forced to push the prisoner in front of them off the wall or be shot so they would fall to their deaths. It was named the Parachute Wall because the falling prisoners were like parachutists without parachutes. The camp had several other horrifying ways to kill people: icy showers leading to hypothermia, gas chambers, shooting, medical experiments, hanging, starvation, lethal injection, drowning, beaten to death, pushed into 380 volt electrified fence that took hours to kill someone, and forcing prisoners past the limits of the camp and killing them so it looked like they tried to escape . Once killed, their gold teeth and tattoos would be removed and they would be buried or cremated. Life expectancy once in the camp ranged from 3 to 6 months. Different types of prisoners had better or worse chances of survival. At the top of the prisoner hierarchy were criminals, at the bottom, Soviets and Jews. The Jews were given half the rations that other types of prisoners were given. When a new shipment was expected, the guards would kill all the Jews in the barracks to make room for the incoming transport.
The tour was very matter of fact and had a lot of personal accounts. The most emotional part of the trip for me was in front of the Crematorium. Many personal plaques and memorials to victims were hung on the walls and draped on the oven. This one is my favorite:
Outside of the camp there are lots of sculptures and memorials from the various groups that had members die within the walls of Mauthausen. After our tour, I walked down the Stairs of Death and stood in the quarry. From the time the camp opened in 1938 and when it was liberated on May 5, 1945 between 120,000 and 300,000 victims died at Mauthausen-Gusen camp system.
At the entrance to the camp there is a sign thanking the Americans for liberating the camp. American soldiers said that when they liberated the camp some people were able to only walk a few steps outside before collapsing to their deaths. They held out just long enough to taste freedom one last time. Some who were too weak to speak or stand just propped themselves up and in recognition of their liberators.
Going to this camp was a profound experience. Everybody knows about the Holocaust, about the evils of the Third Reich, but when you are walking on the Stairs of Death or inside of the gas chamber, or next to the Wailing Wall, it is more than just statistics. Its peoples that needlessly went through hell because go
od men did nothing. People looked the other way, voted for the Anschluss, conceded to tyrants, and millions died.“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Thank you Allied soldiers for taking action against the evil in the world.
Thank you Allied soldiers for taking action against the evil in the world.
If you are interested in learning more about the camp, their website is extremely informative. http://en.mauthausen-memorial.at/index_open.php
I will upload the rest of my picture to Picasa soon.
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