Mauthausen Memorial

Visiting this camp was educational, but mostly very surreal and heartbreaking. To think that man could, and still can harbor such hatred for those they deem “flawed”, is so hard for many of us to comprehend. Thankfully this camp is being used to memorialize the victims and give their families, and others, a place to remember.

In spring 1949, the ‘Public Mauthausen Memorial’ was opened and has undergone many changes and additions over the years. On the roll call area, the Republic erected a central memorial, a sarcophagus bearing the inscription ‘May the living learn from the fate of the dead’. On top of this and many other memorials in the camp, you find small stones placed as a way to let others know they haven’t been forgotten. In autumn 1949 France unveiled the first national memorial. A memorial park grew up in the area where the SS barracks had stood and numerous nations and victim groups have erected further monuments.

In the 1960s the memorial site underwent further changes. Cemeteries were laid out in Camp II and the area where barracks 16, 18 and 19 had stood. Over 14,000 victims are buried in the cemeteries at Mauthausen.

The memorial site continues to grow for historical and political education.

Most recently, in 2013, a ‘Room of Names’ commemorating the dead of the Mauthausen concentration camp and its subcamps was opened.Baca selengkapnya