We went to Mauthausen concentration camp last week. Words cannot even begin to describe the experience. We learn about the Holocaust in school all throughout our education. We see pictures. We watch movies about it and read books. But nothing could prepare me for the feeling of being there in person. I felt as if the entire place was soaked with a terrible mix of sorrow, despair, and horror. The most startling thing though was how beautiful it was there. The camp overlooked pretty countryside and the lakes at the bottom of the quarry reflected the sun's sparkle. Little white flowers were sprinkled all over the grounds that had once seen so much sadness. I don’t know how a place so beautiful could have such a terrible story to tell.
Mauthausen concentration camp was started in 1938, making it one of the first Nazi concentration camps. It is in upper Austria, near Linz. It was one of only two camps in all of Europe that was considered "Grade III" (which meant it was intended to be the hardest camp). The goal of Mauthausen was to exterminate the prisoners through labor. It was the last camp to be freed from the Nazis.
These were the bunks that the prisoners slept on. They would fit 4-5 people on just one of the beds (10 per 1 bunk) because the camp was so full. Our guide had gypsy grandparents that survived the camps. One of the stories she told us from her grandmother was how important it was to sleep inbetween people and away from the windows during the winters to stay warm. The unlucky ones who got stuck by the window usually froze to death by morning.
These were the showers at Mauthausen. They had a separate room used for gassing, but the showers were just as deadly for the prisoners: over 3,000 of the prisoners died from hypothermia after the SS guards forced them to take freezing showers and then made them stand outside in the brutal winter cold.
This was the "Wailing Wall." The SS officers would make the prisoners walk all the way from the train station to the camp (which was about 6 miles up a huge hill) and then they would make them stand at the Wall for days without being able to sit or laydown or eat. The SS named it the "Wailing Wall" to mock the Jews.
These were the Stairs of Death. There were 186 stairs here. I climbed down them and they were so uneven and slanted. The incline on them was so steep! The prisoners were forced to walk up and down these stairs carrying huge rocks (the rocks were sometimes twice as much as the prisoners weighed). Often, people would stumble and fall, creating a terrible domino effect down the stairs. Sometimes the guards would push one of the people at the top of the stairs down so that they would all fall and get crushed by their rocks.
This was the quarry that the Stairs of Death led down to. The SS guards would make the prisoners stand at the top of the cliff in a line and push the person next to them in line off the cliff. They called it the "Parachute Wall," joking that they looked like parachuters without a parachute.
This is the Jewish memorial at Mauthausen.
Each country that lost people at Mauthausen left a memorial after liberation. This is the Slovenia memorial at Mauthausen. I found it particularly moving. All that the skeleton has left is his heart.
