Concetration Camp -- Mauthausen
Trip Start
May 06, 2008
1
7
9
Trip End
Aug 20, 2008
Mauthausen, Austria
Sunday, June 1, 2008
This concetration camp is about 30K from Linz, Austria and is a bit of a challenge to get to. This is how I got there: Wien Westbahnhof station to St. Valentin and transfered at St. Valentin to a small train going to Mauthausen. At the Mauthausen station there are very few things around. The camp is more than 6K away from the train station and we made the (mistaken) choice of walking it. The walk took us over an hour, and we followed the road, which often didn't have a sidewalk to follow. We later found out that there is a footpath that cuts the walk about 20 minutes shorter and is much more scenic.
We took so long getting in there that we only had so much time before we needed to be back in Vienna to join others for our evening plans. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to Mauthausen station, another hour to get there, so a good portion of our time was taken up with that. In the future I would suggest that people get a taxi to the top because busses aren't easily available, especially on weekends. Bikes are supposedly available, but I did not see any bike rental location.
The place was chilling and being in the gas chamber and crematorium left me feeling a sense of claustrophobia that I had never experienced before in my life. I had this intense fear inside me that I could not understand. I knew I was safe, I knew that nothing would happen to me, but yet I felt scared. I marked all exits around me, all the signs are in german but I know what ausgang and eingang are at this point. There were no signs for the ausgang, and there were supposed to be arrows on the ground pointing toward the exits, but after years of wear and tear on the facilities these arrows were hard to see. I just needed to get out and felt I couldnt. It forced me to sit in there and feel it.. just feel the saddness.
I looked around and saw little memorials left by family members who marked the day their loved ones were killed. The dates were marked April 29th, 1945... the liberation of the camp was May 5th, 1945. A mere week before liberation mass killings took place. Heartbreaking.. just heartbreaking.
All in all, I'm very glad I saw this place and experienced its tragedy. I don't know how long such places will exist for. The facilities were so cheaply made and to preserve cheaply made facilities is not only costly but extremely difficult. Only last year, a winter storm destroyed two of the buildings, and they are now no longer available for viewing. I encourage all to donate to preserve facilities like this.
