The Mauthausen concentration camp was one of the worst death camps. It was located in Austria and was the largest in this country. During the entire existence of Mauthausen, more than a hundred thousand prisoners died in it. All prisoners were kept in inhuman conditions, subjected to torture, overwork and all sorts of abuse.
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, later prisons began to be reformed. Theodor Eicke, the creator of the SS Totenkopf detachments, was engaged in innovations. 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, the number of prisoners almost doubled. In addition to Jews and open oppositionists, they sent to the camps and simplypeople suspected of disloy alty.
Expansion
Due to the huge number of SS prisoners, new camps were required. They were built all over the country in a hurry. 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 made it possible to deliver prisoners by train. Also, the area was sparsely populated and flat. For some time there were quarries there. Therefore, the local Austrian population did not even know that the Mauthausen concentration camp was located near them. Lists of prisoners were kept secret, so even the Austrian authorities had a vague idea of the prison.
Initial use
There were deposits of granite at the construction site of Mauthausen. For many centuries it was developed by local quarries. According to all documents, new buildings were considered state-owned.
However, the development itself was bought by a German entrepreneur. The construction was sponsored from several private accounts. In particular, the German branch of the international organization "Red Cross" allocated a significant amount for the Mauthausen concentration camp. The lists of prisoners initially included only criminals. And the camp itself was designated as a labor camp.
However, by the end of the thirty-eighth, the orders began to change dramatically. After the arrival of Jews, Gypsies and political prisoners, production standards became tougher. Eike began to carry out reforms in all camps. Initially, hecompletely reorganized Dachau. Discipline was tightened, torture and mass executions began to be used. Security was handled by special elite SS units.
Transformation
In the thirty-ninth year, Mauthausen becomes a separate camp. Now its branches are being created throughout Austria. There were almost fifty subcamps in total. They were located on the territory of mines, industrial plants, and other enterprises that required hard physical labor. The main complex was intended for the maintenance of prisoners. Almost all prisoners from other countries and theaters of hostilities were first brought to the Mauthausen concentration camp. After the attack on Poland, the ethnic composition of the prisoners changed dramatically.
Captured Polish soldiers and members of the underground resistance began to arrive from the east. Also a huge number of Polish Jews. The capacity of the camp grew. By the end of the thirty-ninth, up to 100 thousand people were located here. The outer perimeter was surrounded by a stone wall with barbed wire. There were watchtowers at short intervals. After the fence will be called the "Wailing Wall". Every day, the prisoners had to line up along the wall three times and conduct a roll call.
Severe demonstrative executions were also carried out at this place. Due to disobedience, poor he alth, or for no reason at all, prisoners were shot on the spot. It was also common for some prisoners to be stripped and doused with cold water in the freezing cold and then left to die fromcold.
Crimes against humanity
It was after being tortured 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 poured with water from a hose. And those who dodged the jet were beaten with clubs. Now there is a monument to the general on the territory of the former camp.
Directly outside the territory, in a lowland, there was a quarry. Almost all the prisoners worked on it. The long descent down the stairs was called the "stairway of death". On it, slaves lifted stones from the bottom up. The bags weighed more than fifty kilograms. Many prisoners died on this rise. Because of the terrible conditions of detention and hard work, they simply fell on the steps. The fallen were often finished off by the SS.
Atrocities of the Punishers
Prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp will forever remember the cliff of the gorge. The Nazis derisively called the high vertical plummet "the wall of paratroopers." Here the prisoners were thrown down. They either crashed on the ground, or fell into ruts with water, in which they drowned. People were usually thrown off the cliff when they could no longer endure the infernal labor. The number of victims of the "wall" is unknown. Historians have established that in 1942 alone, several hundred Jews brought from Holland died here.
But block number twenty was the scariest place in the camp. At first, it was no different from other barracks. It contained Soviet citizens who were taken from the Eastern Front to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Listprisoners of war were sent to Berlin. If there were individuals of interest to intelligence, they were taken away. The rest remained in the camp.
In the forty-fourth barrack 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 conventional POW camps. "Death Barrack" was used as a place for hardening new fighters of the "Dead Head" units. They were allowed to run into the territory of the block at any time of the day and kill as many slaves as they wanted. Later, such orders were introduced throughout the camp.
Preparing the escape
Inhuman conditions, hard work, malnutrition, endless torture, demonstration executions and executions were supposed to break the will of all prisoners. The task of guarding the camp was to deprive the prisoners of all hope. And they succeeded. People understood that they were living their last days and could be killed at any moment. However, in addition to fear and despair, there was also 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 barrack was a prison within a prison. The prisoners were given only a quarter of the meager ration that was intended for others. "Food" was usually garbage and spoiled leftovers. At the same time, they threw her on the ground and, only when she freezes, was allowed to eat. The floor of the barracks was watered with coldwater in the evening, so that the prisoners could sleep in ice-cold water.
Escape from Mauthausen concentration camp
Unable to take it anymore, the Soviet officers decide to make an escape. The leaders of the rebellion were the newly arrived pilots. Discussed escaping in the short space before bedtime. The Germans allowed the prisoners to run around the yard to somehow warm up. It was decided to run as soon as possible. Those who were captured only recently said that the allies are already approaching the Face.
It was pointless to hope for release. Before leaving, the SS shot the prisoners of the special units.
It was decided to use improvised means to attack the guards, and then run into the woods. The twentieth barrack was located right at the extreme wall. Three-meter walls were crowned with barbed wire with a current carried through it. Four hundred and nineteen people chose hope over fear. About seventy inmates, who could no longer move because of torture and exhaustion, 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 smashed the washstands. Weapons were made from fragments of shells. Also, pieces of bricks, coal and everything that could be found were used. Managed to get two fire extinguishers. With a deafening shout of "hurrah" the prisoners rushed into the last battle. Surprisingly well-coordinated, the Red Army immediately broke several searchlights and destroyed the guard post. With fire extinguisherssucceeded in suppressing the machine-gun nest. Having captured it, the rebels destroyed the guards of the other two towers.
In order to overcome the wall and the live wire, the prisoners resorted to a trick. They wet blankets and pieces of clothing and then threw them over the fence, causing a short circuit. After that, more than three hundred people escaped. They ran to the nearby forest. One group attacked the anti-aircraft crew. After hand-to-hand combat, they captured several guns, but soon found themselves surrounded by SS men who came to the rescue.
Local reactions
The Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria was located in the middle of farmlands and small villages. Therefore, immediately after the escape, the SS announced the start of a special operation to capture the fugitives. For this, local detachments of the Volkssturm, the Hitler Youth and regular units were mobilized. The local population was also notified. More than a hundred people died at the walls of Mauthausen. And the prisoners who remained in the block were shot on the spot. Forests and plantings were combed around the clock. Every day there were new fugitives. At the same time, the local population actively helped in the capture. Often, those caught were de alt with brutally. They were beaten with sticks, knives and other improvised means, and the tormented bodies were put on public display.
Bravehearts
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 the prisoners knocked on the door in the middle of the day. Mother let them in despitedisastrous consequences.
When asked why they decided to knock on this particular house, the Soviet soldiers replied that they had not seen Hitler's portrait in the window.
Liberation
By the beginning of May, American troops were already approaching Linz. The Wehrmacht hastily retreated. Upon learning of the approach of the Allies, the SS also decided to take to flight. Almost everyone left the camp on the first of May. Some prisoners were going to be evacuated by a "death march". That is, to force you to walk for many kilometers. As practice showed, due to exhaustion, most of the prisoners died. On May 5, the Americans approached the camp. The prisoners rebelled against the remaining SS and killed them. On May 7, an infantry division of the American armed forces liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp. Photos of the camp spread around the world. Many soldiers, who were shocked by what they saw, never again showed mercy to captured Germans. A memorial complex was erected on the territory of the camp.
Mauthausen concentration camp: list of prisoners
Now the territory of the former death camp is a memorial complex. Tens of thousands of tourists visit it every year. 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 from the local archives. It contains all the names of the prisoners in alphabetical order. Many Russian descendants of the prisoners were able to learn the fate of their ancestors thanks to these archives.
However, the difficulty lies in the fact 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 about the infamous uprising was released in Austria.
