The Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp was located north of Linz, Austria. It was one of the first large concentration camps established in Nazi Germany and was fully used during World War II. Concentration camps used heavy physical labor to destroy the spirit of the prisoners. It's really brutal. Here are ten things people should know about this camp.
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The camp was founded in 1938, when prisoners were ordered to transfer from the "Dachau" concentration camp to "Mauthausen". There were no real concentration camps there at that time, so these prisoners were used to build everything, it had 32 barracks and several officer buildings, surrounded by barbed wire. There is also a stone wall.
The camp was close to the quarry, and although the camp was technically under German control, it was originally started as a new business by the company that owned the quarry.
The two camps were built relatively close together and were named "Mauthausen" and "Gusen" respectively.
Highly profitable slave labor
The camp's greatest attraction was its slave labor, and at first, it was a gathering place for criminals. In the spring of 1939, the situation changed, and it became a ** battalion for political prisoners. The labor strategies employed made it the most lucrative camp in the Nazi regime.
They can do a lot in the camp, it has its own quarry, which not only has a high profit margin, but also a high yield. It accomplishes more work than any other ** battalion.
The entrance to the camp seen during the war.
Companies that employ camps as laborers
Companies could hire slave laborers, and many did, some of which still exist today. A few big names:
Bayer- Still in business, a pharmaceutical company. They have the original trademark for aspirin.
Sig Sauer – still in business and known for its **.
Steyr Corporation- No longer in business since 2001. He has been involved in a variety of fields, including ** and vehicles.
Work to death
Labor is not just for work, it is also a means to achieve a big goal. The idea is simple: let them work until they can't stand it anymore. Working hours can last from four or five in the morning to seven or eight in the evening. Once a prisoner was too weak, too tired, or too sick to work, they were sent for execution.
Popular means of killing
Many prisoners were taken away to die, and some died on the spot. At first, the facility did not have gas chambers. Things changed in 1940 when they began to use mobile gas chambers. A hose is attached to the exhaust pipe of a wagon with an engine running. Carbon monoxide fumes can flow down the hose into the prisoners at the back of the van, causing poisoning and suffocation.
Eventually, that changed when the camp built a gas chamber capable of killing 120 people at once.
Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide gas) was often used by the Nazis to kill prisoners.
Another form of killing is beating. Prisoners were mistreated for anything deemed wrong and were often beaten to death. Prisoners were also asked to do useless Xi designed to wear them out, such as playing a game of frog jumping for hours.
Prisoners were seen forced to play frog jumping.
Other popular ways to die include drowning, scientific experiments, and many more. It is believed that there are more than 60 massive** ways within the camps.
Most are men, some are women and children
At first, only men were sent to the ** camp, but as the camp began to expand, all were sent to Mauthausen. In 1943, there were 2,400 people under the age of 20 in the camps. By 1945, that number had increased to more than 18,000.
In the first months of 1945, many women began to be transferred to the camps, where an estimated 2,500 women arrived. Some female guards were also transported to the camp.
There was no food
Hard labor, pointless exercise, and no food. Prisoners sometimes consume less than 1,000 calories per day. As with everything else, this was done to exhaust the prisoners. In the early 40s of the 20th century, the average weight of a prisoner in this concentration camp was only 88 pounds.
Death Ladder
The death ladder is another popular way to kill. Prison guards would have prisoners carry granite rocks weighing up to 100 pounds in droves, up the death ladder, exhausted, and if one person fell, then all would fall like dominoes. Those who are "lucky" to survive the death ladder will be taken to the edge of the cliff. Standing on the edge of the muzzle, they have the option of either being shot or pushing the person in front of them off a cliff.
Deaths
Before the liberation, the Germans destroyed many archives that could tell us the exact number of deaths. It is estimated that between 50,000 and 300,000 people died in the camp.