Mauthausen concentration camp was one of the most terrible death camps. It was located in Austria and was the largest in this country. Over the entire existence of Mauthausen, more than one hundred thousand prisoners died in it. All the prisoners were kept in inhuman conditions, subjected to torture, excessive labor and all kinds of bullying.
The creation of a concentration camp is a crime against humanity. Now there are several memorial complexes in memory of the victims of the Nazi regime.
History of creation
The first concentration camps were created on the territory of the Third Reich in the thirty-third year. Initially, those who disagreed with the Nazi regime were placed there. However, prisons were later reformed. The innovations were made by Theodor Eike, the creator of the SS Totenkopf. By the thirty-eighth year the number of prisoners began to increase sharply. After the "night of broken mirrors", all Jews in the territory of the Third Reich began to be persecuted. Many of those caught were taken to concentration camps. After the Anschluss of Austria, there were almost twice as many prisoners. In addition to the Jews and open opposition, just suspected disloyalty people were sent to the camps.
Expansion
Due to the huge number of SS prisoners, new camps were required. They were built throughout the country on an urgent basis. The Mauthausen concentration camp was built by the prisoners themselves, who were brought from Dachau. They erected barracks and a fence. The place of construction was not chosen by chance. Nearby was a railway junction, which allowed delivering prisoners by train. Also, the area was sparsely populated and flat. For some time there were quarries. Therefore, the local Austrian population did not even know that the Mauthausen concentration camp was located near them. The lists of prisoners were kept secret, so even the Austrian authorities had a vague idea of the prison.
Initial use
On the site of the construction of Mauthausen there were granite deposits. For many centuries it was developed by local quarries. According to all documents, the new buildings were considered state.
However, the development itself was bought by a German entrepreneur. Construction was sponsored from several private accounts. In particular, the German branch of the international organization "Red Cross" allocated a significant amount to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Lists of prisoners initially included only criminals. And the camp itself was designated as labor.
However, by the end of the thirty-eighth orders began to change dramatically. After the arrival of Jews, gypsies and political prisoners, production standards were tightened. Eike began to carry out reforms in all camps. Initially, he completely reorganized Dachau. The discipline was tightened, torture and mass executions began to be used. Security was handled by special elite SS units.
Conversion
In the thirty-ninth year, Mauthausen becomes a separate camp. Now its branches are created throughout Austria. There were nearly fifty support camps in total. They were located on the territory of mines, industrial plants, other enterprises, which required heavy physical labor. The main complex was intended for prisoners. Almost all prisoners from other countries and theaters of war were first brought to the Mauthausen concentration camp. After the attack on Poland, the ethnic composition of the prisoners changed dramatically.
From the east, captured Polish soldiers and members of underground resistance began to arrive. Also a huge number of Polish Jews. The capacity of the camp grew. By the end of the thirty-ninth there were up to 100 thousand people. The outer perimeter was surrounded by a stone wall with barbed wire. At short intervals there were watch towers. After the fence will receive the name "Wailing Wall". Every day the prisoners had to line up three times along the wall and roll call.
At this place brutal demonstration executions were also committed. Due to disobedience, poor health, or without any reason whatsoever, prisoners were shot on the spot. Also often, some prisoners were stripped and watered with cold water in the cold, and then left to die from the cold.
Crimes Against Humanity
It was after torture with cold water that General Karbyshev , brutally tortured by the Nazis in the Mauthausen concentration camp, died . According to eyewitnesses, he, along with other prisoners, was kept in the cold and watered with water from a hose. And those who dodged the jet were beaten with clubs. Now, in the territory of the former camp, the general has a monument.
Directly beyond the territory, in a lowland, was a quarry. Almost all the prisoners worked on it. A long descent down the stairs was called the "staircase of death." On it, slaves raised stones from the bottom up. Bags weighed more than fifty kilograms. Many prisoners died on this ascent. Due to the terrible conditions of detention and hard work, they simply fell on the steps. The fallen were often finished off by SS men.
Punitive atrocities
Prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp forever remembered the cliff gorge. The Nazis mockingly called the high vertical plumb "the wall of paratroopers." Here the prisoners were thrown down. They either crashed to the ground, or fell into potholes with water in which they drowned. Usually people who could no longer endure hellish labor were thrown from the cliff. The number of victims of the "wall" is unknown. Historians have established that only in 1942 several hundred Jews brought from Holland died here.
But the most terrible place in the camp was block number twenty. At first he was no different from other barracks. In it were Soviet citizens who were taken from the Eastern Front to the Mauthausen concentration camp. The list of prisoners of war was sent to Berlin. If there were interesting personalities in him, they were taken away. The rest remained in the camp.
At forty-fourth, hut number twenty was surrounded by a stone wall. There was also a crematorium. Potentially dangerous prisoners were transferred to the block. Most had previously taken part in the escape from ordinary prisoner of war camps. The "death barrack" was used as a place for training new fighters of the "Dead Head" units. They were allowed to run into the block at any time of the day and kill as many slaves as they wanted. Later, such orders were introduced throughout the camp.
Escape preparation
Inhuman conditions, hard work, malnutrition, endless torture, demonstrative executions and executions were supposed to break the will of all prisoners. The task of guarding the camp was to deprive prisoners of any hope. And they succeeded. People understood that they were living the last days and could be killed at any moment. However, in addition to fear and despair, there was courage. A group of Soviet prisoners of war started an escape from the camp.
In block number twenty there were prisoners who had already escaped and were recognized by the Germans as dangerous. Their hut was a prison inside a prison. The prisoners were only given a quarter of the meager diet that was intended for others. "Food" was usually garbage and spoiled leftovers. At the same time, they threw her to the ground and, only when she freezes, they allowed her to eat. The hut floor was poured with cold water in the evening so that the prisoners slept in ice water.
Escape from the Mauthausen concentration camp
Unable to tolerate anymore, Soviet officers decide to arrange an escape. The leaders of the rebellion were newly arrived pilots. They discussed the escape in a short interval before going to bed. The Germans allowed the prisoners to run around the yard in order to somehow warm themselves. It was decided to run away as soon as possible. Those who were captured only recently said that the allies were already approaching the Face.
It was pointless to hope for release. Before leaving, the SS men shot prisoners of special units.
It was decided with the help of improvised means to attack the guards, and then run into the woods. The twentieth hut was located right at the extreme wall. Three-meter-high walls were crowned with barbed wire with current flowing through it. Four hundred nineteen people chose hope over fear. About seventy cellmates, who from torture and exhaustion could no longer move, gave them their robes and said goodbye. In addition to Soviet prisoners of war, the uprising in the Mauthausen concentration camp was supported by Polish and Serbian prisoners.
freedom or death
On the night of the second of February, the rebels defeated the laver. Weapons were made from fragments of shells. Also used were pieces of bricks, coal and everything that could be found. I managed to get two fire extinguishers. With a deafening cry of "cheers," the prisoners rushed into the last battle. Surprisingly well-coordinated, the Red Army immediately defeated several spotlights and destroyed the guard post. With the help of fire extinguishers, it was possible to suppress the machine gun nest. Having captured it, the rebels destroyed the guard of two other towers.
To overcome the wall and wire under tension, the prisoners went to the trick. They wet the blankets and parts of the clothes, and then threw them on the fence, which led to a short circuit. After that, more than three hundred people escaped. They ran to a nearby forest. One group attacked an anti-aircraft crew. After hand-to-hand combat, they captured several guns, but were soon surrounded by the SS soldiers who arrived in time.
The reaction of the local population
The Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria was located in the midst of farmland and small towns. Therefore, immediately after the escape, the SS announced the beginning of a special operation to capture the fugitives. For this, local Volkssturm, Hitler Youth and regular units were mobilized. The local population was also notified. More than a hundred people died even at the walls of Mauthausen. And the prisoners remaining in the block were shot on the spot. Forests and plantings were combed around the clock. Every day new runaways came across. At the same time, the local population actively helped in the capture. Often, those caught were brutally dealt with. They scored with sticks, knives and other improvised means, and tortured bodies were put on public display.
Brave hearts
However, some residents still helped the Soviet people, despite the mortal danger. One of the fugitives hid in the house of Austrian farmers. An eyewitness to these events - a 14-year-old girl at that time, recalled that prisoners knocked on the door in the middle of the day. Mother let them in, despite the disastrous consequences.
When asked why they decided to knock on this house, the Soviet soldiers replied that they did not see a portrait of Hitler in the window.
Exemption
By early May, American troops were already approaching Linz. The Wehrmacht hastily retreated. Having learned about the approach of the allies, the SS men also decided to flee. Almost everyone left the camp on the first of May. Some prisoners were going to be evacuated by a "death march." That is, to make walking many kilometers. As practice has shown, due to exhaustion, most of the prisoners died. On May 5, the Americans approached the camp. The prisoners rebelled against the remaining SS men and killed them. On May 7, an infantry division of the American armed forces liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp. Photo camp spread around the world. Many soldiers who were shocked by what they saw never again showed mercy toward captured Germans. A memorial complex was installed on the camp.
Mauthausen concentration camp: prison list
Now the territory of the former death camp is a memorial complex. Tens of thousands of tourists visit it annually. There are monuments in various languages. The most terrible places remained unchanged, as a warning to future generations. Lists of the Mauthausen concentration camp can be requested at the local archive. It contains all the names of the prisoners in alphabetical order. Many Russian descendants of the prisoners were able to find out the fate of their ancestors thanks to these archives.
However, the difficulty is that the Germans did not always correctly transliterate Russian surnames. The memory of the prisoners is also immortalized in the nearby villages.
In 1995, a film was released in Austria telling about the infamous uprising.