The Mauthausen concentration camp was the largest Nazi concentration camp in Austria, the Ostmark. It existed from August 8, 1938 until its dissolution after the liberation of its inmates by US troops on May 5, 1945. Around 200,000 people were imprisoned in Mauthausen and its subcamps, more than 100,000 of whom were killed. A reminder and memorial site of the Republic of Austria has been located on the site of the former concentration camp since 1947.
Death stairs
One of the particularly serious atrocities was the so-called death staircase, a stone staircase that connected the “Wiener Graben” quarry with the actual Mauthausen concentration camp. Several times a day, those involved in the stone girders dragged blocks of granite over the 186 steps of the stairs 31 meters upwards. The “death staircase” was the site of numerous accidents and murders of prisoners, perpetrated by Kapos and the SS guards.
Parachutist wall
The way from the top of the death staircase up to the camp leads in part just past the slope of the quarry. A 50-meter-high, almost vertical rock wall was used by the SS to push prisoners down, where their bodies were either shattered by the impact on the stone or they drowned in the rainwater pond.