Brief History
Mauthausen/GUSEN Complex
March 13, 1938
Third Reich annexes Austria.
April 15, 1938
Reorganization of police forces in Austria (Waffen-SS and SD).
April 29, 1938
The SS founds the company “Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH (DEST)“ in Berlin.
May 25, 1938
DEST purchases first lots of land for planned concentration camp at Gusen (contract signed for DEST by Mr. Arthur Ahrens).
June 3, 1938
Third Reich leases the “Wienergraben” Quarry (two kilometers east of Gusen) from the City of Vienna.
August 4, 1938
DEST purchases further lots of land at Gusen.
August 8, 1938
First barracks at the “Wienergraben” Valley are built to exploit the stone quarries there. The first inmates came from KZ Dachau. SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Albert Sauer assigned camp commandant.
September 15, 1938
DEST managing director Mr. Arthur Ahrens gives Dr. Walter Salpeter authority to manage necessary further land acquisitions at Mauthausen and Gusen.
February 2, 1939
DEST purchases further lots of land at Gusen. DEST claims reduction of fees as a company founded by the RFSS and Chief of German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior to employ concentration camp inmates.
February 17, 1939
Franz Ziereis, later SS-Standartenfuehrer, becomes camp commander (SS-Stbaf Albert Sauer was released for lazyness).
March 28, 1939
Third Reich starts acquisition of land for the construction of Mauthausen concentration camp.
August 4, 1939
SS-Neubauleitung Mauthausen (new construction directorate) starts to exploit sand for the construction of Mauthausen concentration camp at St. Georgen/Gusen.
August 31, 1939
Foundation of Konzentrationslager-Verstaerkung (KL-V) Mauthausen to ensure sufficient SS-guards at DEST-quarries at Mauthausen and Gusen.
September 20, 1939
SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Karl Mummenthey assigned new managing director of DEST.
October 1, 1939
Start of preparations for supplemental concentration camp at Gusen (called “Mauthausen II” or “New camp at Gusen”).
November 11, 1939
First SS-guards directly assigned to guard company at Gusen.
December 22, 1939
Berlin gives order for construction of supplemental camp (Lager-Erweiterung) at Gusen (start of construction of KZ Gusen I).
January 6, 1940
DEST managing director, Assessor and Hauptabteilungsleiter SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Karl Mummenthey buys first lots land for SS-Hauptamt fuer Haushalt und Bauten (SS-HAHB) to errect KZ Gusen I).
January 9, 1940
1st SS-guard company of SS-Sturmbann Gusen stationed fix at Gusen.
January 18, 1940
DEST (represented by SS-Standartenfuehrer Dr. Walter Salpeter and SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Gerhard Maurer) sell lots of land at Gusen that were property of DEST since May 25, 1938 to SS-Hauptamt fuer Haushalt und Bauten (HAHB) for the construction of KZ Gusen I.
February 12, 1940
The Inspector for Concentration Camps (IKL) assigns 600 SS-guards (4 guard companies) to KZ Gusen I, 460 SS-guards to KZ Mauthausen and 190 SS-men to command staff and administration of for the two concentration camps at Mauthausen and Gusen..
February 13, 1940
St. Georgen is fixed to become the administration center of DEST´s “Granitwerke Mauthausen” with two quarries at Gusen and one quarry at Mauthausen.
March 4, 1940
SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Karl Chmielewski (Schutzhaftlagerfuehrer I of KZ Gusen I) moves from Sachsenhausen to St. Georgen.
March 9, 1940
300 German and Austrian inmates of KZ Mauthausen and 480 Polish inmates of KZ Buchenwald are sent to Gusen to become the first resident inmates there.
April 26, 1940
1st transport of inmates arrives form KZ Dachau at KZ Gusen.
May 1940
Polish prisoners only are allowed to work in the two stone quarries at Gusen and the brick production-plant at Lungitz. Of 5,000 inmates at KZ Gusen, 700 work in the two quarries at Gusen. In May and June, 2,000 additional Polish inmates are transferred form KZ Sachsenhausen to KZ Gusen.
May 25, 1940
KZ Gusen gets independent numbering system for inmates and independent death registry (separated from KZ Mauthausen).
June 1, 1940
1st transport of Polish deportees arrive directly via the St. Georgen railway station. They are marched right through the village until September 1941.
June 5, 1940
1,584 more inmates are transferred from KZ Dachau to KZ Gusen.
June 23, 1940
1st inmate of KZ Gusen is killed at St. Georgen along with the construction of a SS-rifle range.
June 25, 1940
SS-Hauptamt fuer Haushalt und Bauten (SS-HAHB) assigns one mobile crematorium that was planned to be operated at KZ Flossenbuerg to KZ Gusen.
June 26, 1940
“Deutsche Ausruestungswerke (DAW)” (represented by Dr. Hohberg) hold 100% of DEST.
June 1940
DEST starts construction of administration buildings at St. Georgen and of garage building at Wienergraben. Mr. Spichalski, the local director of DEST at St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen is replaced by Mr. Guttchen. All 32 barracks of KZ Gusen I are finished.
August 2, 1940
1,500 Polish inmates are sent to KZ Gusen I.
September 7, 1940
SS-Oberfuehrer Gluecks gives order for apprentice programs in concentration camps like Gusen to educate inmates to stone masons.
September 10, 1940
DEST speeds up the acquisition of land at St. Georgen.
September 1940
DEST delivers 200 tons of gravel per day from its premises at Mauthausen and Gusen for the “Otto-Programm” to make Polish railways fit for the German attack on the Soviet Union.
Autumn 1940
DEST starts project for “Schleppbahn” railway line between St. Georgen station and KZ Gusen I.
October 2, 1940
DEST buys more lots of land at Gusen.
October 7, 1940
Mr. Otto Walther (the later DEST chief at St. Georgen) joins DEST. Planning DEST operations at KZ Natzweiler first, Dr. Salpeter soon sent him to St. Georgen where Mr. Walther buildt up the biggest and most important enterprise of DEST at St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen (starting as a granite industry, DEST of St. Georgen ended as one key conractor for the armaments industry at the end of the war).
October 7, 1940
KZ Gusen I is closed due to epidemics in the concentration camp.
October/November 1940
Mr. Rudolf Ronge moves to St. Georgen to lead the stone mason shops at the Gusen and Wienergraben quarries (Ronge leaves St. Georgen in summer 1943 for “Beneschau” (Benesov) where DEST of St. Georgen operates further quarries in Bohemia).
November 16, 1940
27 Polish inmates of KZ Gusen work on archeological excavations at nearby Spielberg castle.
December 4, 1940
SS-Obersturmfuehrer Paul Wolfram is assigned DEST works manager of Gusen quarry (later on he became chief of DEST-Betriebsabteilung II (BA II) – armament production – at Gusen and for the assignment of KZ Gusen II inmates to DEST-Betriebsabteilung III (BA III) – aircraft production at St. Georgen-Bergkristall in 1944).
December 19, 1940
Crematorium furnace arrives at KZ Gusen.
December 21, 1940
The capital of DEST is increased to RM 500,000,–
December 11, 1940
With RM 1.807.483,73, DEST of St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen is second largest enterprise of DEST after premises at Oranienburg.
December 31, 1940
Capital stock of DEST (Berlin) is rised to RM 500.000,–. Managing directors at Berlin are: SS-Staf Dr. Walter Salpeter and SS-Stbf Karl Mummenthey (Maurer withdrew as managing director of DEST during 1940). Furthermore, SS-Hstuf Heinz Schwarz and SS-Hstuf Dipl.-Ing. Erduin Schoendorff have power to act an sign on behalf of the firm. Turnover of DEST St. Georgen was RM 840,000,– for 1940. An average of 2,750 concentration camp inmates was employed daily in 1940.
1941
KZ Gusen I has four thousand inmates. Inmates have to sleep like animals on straw on the floors. Beds and straw mattresses were not available to inmates prior to the course of 1941.
January 1, 1941
Mauthausen-Gusen camps become the only category I camps in Third Reich history, meaning “camp of no return”.
January 1, 1941
Third Reich buys Wienergraben Quarry after two and a half years of rent from the City of Vienna for RM 400.000,– (contract of purchase actually delayed until February 2, 1944).
January 29, 1941
Crematorium at KZ Gusen I set into operation (cost: RM 10.635,40).
February 18, 1941
Stone mason apprentice program for 38 inmates started at KZ Gusen.
February 28, 1941
UFA films blasting operations at Gusen stone quarries.
February 1941
1.769 Spaniards and 1,150 Soviet prisoners of war (POW´s) arrive at KZ Gusen.
March 13, 1941
170 Soviet prisoners of war are gassed in barracks 15 of KZ Gusen I.
March 18, 1941
Mr. Otto Walther is assigned director of DEST of St.Georgen. DEST of St. Georgen employs 2,000 inmates of KZ Gusen and KZ Mauthausen and 240 civillians at that time. A maximum is reached in 1943 when 2,800 KZ Gusen inmates work for DEST at the Gusen quarries and 1,200 KZ Mauthausen inmates at the Wienergraben quarry.
March 1941
KZ Gusen inmates start with the construction work for the railway between St.Georgen station and KZ Gusen I (Schleppbahn) and the regulation of the Gusen river at St. Georgen.
April 27, 1941
Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler visits KZ Gusen.
April, 1941
Start of construction of bathroom for KZ Gusen inmates (hygiene is catastrophic in KZ Gusen I; hundreds die of diseases; the bathroom gets operational in June 1941).
May 17, 1941
KZ Mauthausen commandant Obersturmbannfuehrer Franz Ziereis moves to new DEST headquarters at St. Georgen (he moves back to Mauthausen in October 1942 when his new villa becomes available there).
May 22, 1941
Mr. Alfred Grau, the business manager of DEST St. Georgen moves from Berlin to St. Georgen.
May 25, 1941
DEST of St. Georgen (Granitwerke “Mauthausen”) becomes listed by the Reich Ministry for Economics as a war determining enterprise.
June 4, 1941
SS-Stabsscharfuehrer Karl Struller, of the KZ Mauthausen command staff, moves to St. Georgen (he leaves St. Georgen on October 5, 1944 for Mauthausen).
June 1941
DEST of St. Georgen enlarges barracks to accomodate more civillian apprentice boys for its stone industry at Mauthausen and Gusen.
RFSS Heinrich Himmler visits KZ Gusen an gives order for the construction of a brothel for inmates (the brothel of KZ Gusen I becomes operational in autumn 1942).
July 18, 1941
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl requests Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner to help that DEST enterprises of “Granitwerke Mauthausen” get building priority class 0 (or 1).
July 20, 1941
SS-Obersturmfuehrer George Bachmayer, Schutzhaftlagerfuehrer II of KZ Mauthausen, moves to St. Georgen (he leaves St. Georgen on September 28, 1944 for Mauthausen).
August 1, 1941
DEST of St. Georgen starts to operate third quarry at Gusen (“Pierbauer Bruch”).
August 14, 1941
First inmates of KZ Gusen sent for gazation to Hartheim castle.
September 1, 1941
DEST of St. Georgen suffers lack of SS guard personnel to keep pace with launched business projects.
September 16, 1941
“Schleppbahnbruecke” bridge for KZ Gusen railway line finished by inmates in only two days.
October 15, 1941
Inspector of Concentration Camps, SS-Brigadefuehrer Gluecks and SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Kamdl visit KZ Gusen I and KZ Mauthausen.
DEST-quarries at Gusen come to a standstill because of epidemics in KZ Gusen I.
October 16, 1941
The KZ Gusen crematorium furnaces were demolished and bricked up again because of functional problems (the crematorium was available again on October 29, 1941).
October 24, 1941
Barracks 13 to 16 and 21 to 24 of KZ Gusen become a seperate POW camp within the concentration camp. 4,000 POW´s were sent into that POW camp between 1941 and 1943. Only 109 of them survived by 1943. These few survivors were taken over to KZ Gusen when this POW camp was closed in 1943.
Autumn 1941
Hundreds of inmates, up to 100 SS-guards and several people of the local population die due to epidemics in KZ Gusen (up to 6,665 inmates die due to epidemics in KZ Gusen in the period between 1941 and 1942).
“Bathing to Death” starts. Some three thousand victims will die this way by January 1942.
Gas van starts to be operated for gazation of inmates between KZ Gusen and KZ Mauthausen.
November 11, 1941
DEST building projects of “Granitwerke Mauthausen” are assigned building priority class 1 (Stufenkennwort 1 E Wien 78).
November 18, 1941
The dirtrict president of Perg reminds DEST of St. Georgen to take care on necessary building permits for its projects in St. Georgen and Mauthausen.
December 5, 1941
RFSS orders to train 5000 stone masons and 10000 brick layers in concetration camps to be prepared for the building projects the SS wants to carry out after the war.
End of 1941
KZ Gusen´s planned size of 8500 inmates is reached. This is 1000 inmates more than KZ Mauthausen.
Mummenthey organizes DEST´s director´s conference to take place at St. Georgen under his presidency.
The “Jourhaus” substitutes the old wooden guard house at the main entrance into KZ Gusen I.
KZ Gusen inmates start building a road between DEST headquarters at St. Georgen and KZ Gusen I (Reichsschnellstrasse)
Spring 1942
DEST of St. Georgen starts leasing of premises at Gusen to Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (SDP).
Additional Archeological excavations start at “Koglberg hill”. They were found along with the construction of railway between St. Georgen station and KZ Gusen.
April 30, 1942
DEST directors are subordinated to camp commandants by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl. Commandant Franz Ziereis is appointed works manager (Betriebsdirektor) at DEST St. Georgen (additional salary: RM 300,–)
May 7, 1942
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl and SS-Gruppenfuerher Kaltenbrunner visit KZ Mauthausen/Gusen.
May 1942
RmfBuM stops construction of huge DEST brick production plant at Prambachkirchen (40 km west of St. Georgen). 2,000 KZ Mauthausen inmates work for DEST at Wienergraben quarry. 2,800 inmates of KZ Gusen work for DEST at Gusen quarries.
July 5, 1942
Chief of SS-Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt (WVHA), SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Oswald Pohl visits camps at Mauthausen and Gusen.
July 19, 1942
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner inaugurates SS-Rifling Range at St.Georgen. An SS honorary platoon was sent by the Mauthausen central camp for the occasion.
August 15, 1942
RFSS Heinrich Himmler visits archeological museum in KZ Gusen. SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl assigns Dr. Hohberg as coordinator of new projected DEST slug recycling plant (Schlackenverwertungsbetrieb) at nearby Linz.
August 25, 1942
DEST starts activities for construction of hostel for civillian apprentice boys (Lehrlingsheim) at St. Georgen.
Summer 1942
DEST starts activities for construction of harbour at KZ Gusen with company Stoehr of Hamburg.
September 28, 1942
1350 rabbits were raised to this date in a certain command at KZ Gusen for wool production.
October 3, 1942
Dr. Hohberg of DAW reduces capital supply to DEST and thus slowing down DEST investments also at Gusen.
October 17, 1942
RFSS Heinrich Himmler visits DEST enterprises at Mauthausen/Gusen.
January 21, 1943
SS-Hstuf Karl Chmielwski leaves St. Georgen and Gusen to become commandant of KZ Herzogenbusch (Vought) in the Nederlands.
February 23, 1943
DEST of St. Georgen signs contract with Feldzeugkommando XVII Wien (the Vienna armament authorities) to establish a repair shop for military vehicles and gun carriages for “Heereszeuganstalt (HZA) Wien” at Gusen (the prisoners´command is called “Ruestung Wien” later on).
March 23, 1943
First train uses new railway line between St. Georgen station and KZ Gusen.
March 30, 1943
Reichsminister Speer visits KZ Gusen accompanied by Prof. Porsche and Senior Executives of Steyr-Daimler-Puch (SDP) and Reichswerke Hermann Goering.
March 1943
DEST starts operation of new stone crusher at Gusen.
April 30, 1943
DEST of St. Georgen signs cooperation agreement with Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (SDP).
(SDP produces with 22,000 rifles per months nearly 10% of all-German production – a good deal of it at KZ Gusen.)
May 1943
Stone production is lowered.
May 6, 1943
SS-Brigadefuehrer Dr. Hans Kammler visits KZ Mauthausen-Gusen by order of Speer. A conference is held later on.
May 25, 1943
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Kaltenbrunner, SS-Gruppenfuehrer Querner and SS-Brigadefuehrer Loerner visit KZ Mauthausen/Gusen.
Summer 1943
DEST develops as a sub-contractor of Messerschmitt GmbH, Regensburg.
DEST manufactures fuselages for Me-109 and Me-262 fighter-aircraft in four big barracks at KZ Gusen I.
Construction of bakery for KZ Mauthausen/Gusen started at Lungitz.
August 17, 1943
First Allied air-raid against Messerschmitt GmbH, Regensburg.
August 22, 1943
“Sonderstab Kammler” is established to safeguard German strategic war production.
September 1, 1943
DEST leases the following additional quarries at Beneschau (Benesov), Bohemia: Teletin, Petzerad, Steinueberfuhr (Kammeny Privoz), Stietkowitz (Stetkovice), Amschelberg, Swierotitz (Zvirotice) and Deschtno. This group of quarries at Beneschau/Prag is lead by DEST of St. Georgen too.
November 1, 1943
Regular Allied aerial reconnaissance flights to St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen area start.
November 14, 1943
Twelve year old civilian Alois Klaubauf, a boy from neighboring Langenstein village, is shot by Chief of Staatspolizeileitstelle Linz during a SS hunting party in the forest between river Danube and KZ Gusen. Because the SS rules with absolute power in the area, inside and ouside outside the camps, local civilians are indangered; investigations of local police were forbidden by GeStaPo-Linz.
December 16, 1943
DEST of St. Georgen signs cooperation agreement with Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg.
January 1, 1944
“Jaegerstab” is established to accelerate production of new fighter aircraft to defend the Third Reich against allied strategic bombing.
January 2, 1944
First prisoners arrive for work at “BERGKRISTALL-Bau”, the latest KZ Gusen II underground installations.
January 11, 1944
According to Mummenthey, the monthly turnover of DEST St. Georgen is RM 450.000,–. DEST of St. Georgen comprises the following enterprises: “Granitwerke Mauthausen” with the quarries Gusen, Kastenhof and Wienergraben, the armament plants of Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, Messerschmitt GmbH and Ruestungskommando Wien, the stone works of Beneschau (Benesov) in Bohemia with 17 quarries, the marble quarry near Spital am Pyhrn and the quarry of Grossraming. The following projects that were in start-up: Plant for reinforces concrete parts (Stahlbetonsaitenwerk), plant for production of barracks made out of concrete (Betonbarackenbau) and Oelschiefer Württemberg (Sonderauftrag RFSS – Oelschiefer).
January 11, 1944
Mummenthey requests an additional amount of RM 2.375,000,– to finance new projects of DEST St. Georgen at Dr. Wenner, Chief of “Stab W” at that time.
January 23, 1944
The independent system of numbering inmates at KZ Gusen is ceased. From this late date in the history of KZ Mauthausen/Gusen, the inmates of KZ Gusen were assigned inmate numbers of KZ Mauthausen.
February 2, 1944
The City of Vienna finally sells a certain part of its property at Wienergraben for RM 450.000,– to the SS-WVHA.
February 7, 1944
SS-Gruf Dr. Ing. Kammler reports to RFSS Himmler that Hitler personally gave order to him, Generalbaurat Prof. Giesler and SS-Ogruf Gauleiter Eigruber to safeguard the construction of air raid shelters at nearby Linz.
February 18, 1944
RFSS Himmler reports to Reichsmarschall Goering that he ordered Pohl to fully support underground dispersal of industry.
February 21, 1944
Pohl appoints 10,000 concentration camp inmates for project “Esche II” (=B8 Bergkristall at St. Georgen; R-Nr. XVII 44 Z b 1 Esche I).
February 26, 1944
Upon Gauleiter Eigrubers´ proposal, RFSS Himmler approves additional transfer of production of rifles, anti-tank guns and machine guns for Steyr-Daimler-Puch (ordnance code “bnz s 4?) to DEST premises at Gusen (overall monthly production of Steyr-Daimler-Puch in February 1944: 12,000 carbines K98, 1,850 automatic rifles MP 40, 7,500 pistols and 2,500 machine guns MG 42).
March 3, 1944
“Ruestungslieferamt” reports to “Amt Bau” the realization 20,000 (40,000) square meters of underground plant space at St. Georgen within the first wave of underground dispersal.
March 4, 1944
Reichsmarschall Goering decides “The Reich” to cover expenses for underground dispersal.
March 9, 1944
KZ Gusen II Concentration Camp is officially opened a few hundred meters west of KZ Gusen I. Meeting of “Jaegerstab” takes place at nearby Steyr. Participants: Generalfeldmarschall Milch and Hauptdienststellenleiter (HDL) Saur.
March 13, 1944
“Ruestungslieferamt” proposes “Amt Bau” the extension of the St. Georgen underground plant to 60000 square meters within the second wave of underground dispersal.
March 16, 1944
Oberst Petri (RüIn XVII), Oberst Meissner and Oberstleutnant Wichand (RüKo Linz) participate in a meeting at DEST St. Georgen. Subject: Realization of project “Esche II” and safeguarding of complete Me-262 production in underground plants.
March 1944
Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (SDP) transfers production of rifle barrels from Letten to Gusen. Messrs. Flugzeug- und Metallbauwerke Wels GmbH specializes in the production of Me-262 wing slots (in early 1945, this production is transferred into Bergkristall).
April 5, 1944
General layout for project “Esche” (B8 Bergkristall) at St. Georgen is finished.
April 15, 1944
Dorsch, Chief of “Amt Bau” within RMfRuK inspects underground construction sites at Linz and Gusen upon personal request of Adolf Hitler.
May 8, 1944
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl visits the B8 Bergkristall construction site at KZ Gusen II.
June 2, 1944
RFSS Heinrich Himmler visits Mauthausen-Gusen. Along with this visit he granted the rank of SS-UStuf to Mr. Otto Walther, the managing director of DEST at St. Georgen/Gusen.
June 8, 1944
According to HDL Saur, Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Goering are pleased about the progress of underground dispersal in general.
June 14, 1944
Pohl informs RFSS Himmler that RM Goering congratulated Messerschmitt GmbH of Regensburg for its increase in fighter production. 35% of all aircraft production of Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg are managed by DEST at its premises in Flossenbuerg and Mauthausen (= Gusen).
June 19, 1944
“Stab W” allows Mummenthey to sign contract with Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) for railway lines at St. Georgen and Oranienburg in the benefit of DEST.
July 6, 1944
Reichsminister Speer visits the underground installations at KZ Gusen and Ebensee.
The next day he reports personally to Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden.
July 14, 1944
SS-Gruppenfuehrer Fegelein is informed about problems, the SS encountered with two guard companies with “Luftwaffe” men at Mauthausen (Gusen).
July 25, 1944
Guards of KZ Gusen shoot a seargent of the US Air Force that came down by parachute in the vicinity of the concentration camp.
September 23, 1944
Revenues earned with armament projects at Flossenbuerg and Mauthausen (= St. Georgen and Gusen) allow DEST to reduce dept against “Deutsche Golddiskontbank” form RM 16,000,000,– to RM 5,000,000,–.
September 1944
SDP plants at RADOM and WARSZAWA are evacuated to KZ Gusen. Four hundred fourteen railway-cars and sixty nine trucks are used.
Arbeitsgemeinschaft WNF-Gyoer is evacuated from Hungary to B8 Bergkristall. This factories capacity is five hundred Me-262 jet-planes per month.
September 30, 1944
21,000 square meters of bomb-proof production area in operation at KZ Gusen I and II.
December 7, 1944
Local primary school is closed to accommodate German refugees and German civilians who work in B8 Bergkristall.
December 16, 1944
KZ Gusen III at Lungitz is officially opened.
December 18, 1944
DEST is already renting 800 square meters of underground plant area to Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG at Gusen (750 additional square meters were made available in early January 1945 and further 1,500 square meters in early February 1945).
December 20, 1944
Ruestungsstab (Dr. Petri) reports to RLM (Oberstingenieur Alpers) that HE Hollebronth and the Hungarian Head of State agreed to transfer aircraft production capacitiies of Messrs. “Donauflug, Gyoer” to St. Georgen (Bergkristall). Price: 60 aircraft out of Bergkristall production each months.
January 20, 1945
53 inmates of KZ Gusen II die in bombing attack.
January 21, 1945
Bergkristall construction site temporarily closed due to epidemic typhus in KZ Gusen II.
January 22, 1945
Allied intelligence report assumes production of thermic jet propelled planes at St.Georgen.
January 1945
Allied Combined Intelligence Unit (ACIU) finishes plans for the strategic bombardement of B8 Bergkristall (KZ Gusen I and II).
February 1, 1945
KZ Gusen I & II count 23552 inmates. 93 of them die that day.
February 12, 1945
Me-262 serial production of fuselages at Bergkirstall entered more sophisticated level (“Materialplaene”, “Reihenfertigungsplaene” and “Takte” changed).
February 13, 1945
331 highly skilled inmates of Gusen are sent to “Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke” at Groeditz – a command of KL Flossenbuerg.
February 27, 1945
Speer reports to the leaders of German aircraft industry that Hitler considered new sophisticated high performance fighters like the Me-262 essential for the war and that he gave order to take all necessary measures to boost their production.
February 28, 1945
Within 3 days, 2937 ill and unfit inmates of KZ Gusen II are sent to the “Sanitary Camp” in the outskirts of nearby KZ Mauthausen for dieing (1,700 of them passed by already in early March 1945).
February 1945
76 railway cars with fully equipped fuselages for Me-262 jet planes leave “Bergkristall” at St. Georgen this month.
According to commandant Ziereis, Pohl gives order to kill all inmates in the case, Nazi Germany becomes defeated.
420 Jewish children in the age between 4 to 7 years that arrived from KZ Auschwitz at KZ Gusen are killed on the day of arrival by heart injections at KZ Gusen.
Gusen receives 500 to 600 unknown and unregistered corpses from an unknown place for cremation.
March 1945
Dir. Degenkolb visits Bergkristall in early March. “T.K. Kottern (WB Kottern)” provides fixtures and gauges to Bergkristall.
March 1, 1945
KZ Gusen I, II & III count 24591 inmates. 72 of them die that day.
1,047 ill and unfit inmtes of KZ Gusen are sent to the “Sanitary Camp” in the outskirts of nearby KZ Mauthausen for dieing.
March 5, 1945
Messerschmitt production expert Mr. Sauter of department F-H/I at “Obb. Forschungsanstalt Oberammergau (OFA O´gau) or (F.A. O´gau)” arrives at “Bergkristall” to optimize serial production until March 24, 1945 (especially hydraulic presses and welding equipment is concentrated bomb-proof at Bergkristall).
March 7, 1945
Messerschmitt production experts Sauter and Muehlberg start reporting from Bergkristall (camouflaged as “SS-Fuehrungsstab Linz” or “SS-Fuehrungsstab Linz BA III”) directly to Dir. Linder, Dir. Bauer, Dir. Degenkolb and Prof. Messerschmitt.
March 10, 1945
“Oberbayerische Forschungsanstalt Oberammergau (OFA O´gau) establishes branch office at Bergkristall. Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg is furnishing assembly lines to Bergkristall.
March 14, 1945
Key personnel of Messerschmitt and OFA O´gau commutes between Bergkristall and “Leo”.
March 15, 1945
Allied aerial reconnaissance flight focuses on KZ Gusen – Bergkristall (Linz/St. Georgen).
March 19, 1945
Marcel Callo – former inmate of KZ Gusen II – Bergkristall dies like thousands of others in the “Sanitary Camp” in the outskirts of nearby KZ Mauthausen. Marcel Callo became beatified by Pope John Paul II. on October 10, 1987.
March 20, 1945
Air Marshall Tedder gives order to Allied air forces to concentrate on bombing production and assembly sites for jet-planes.
The underground spot-welding plant for aircraft parts at Bergkristall is camouflaged with code: “:Punktschweisserei Linz/Donau 2 – DEST”.
March 22, 1945
Me-262 serial production of fuselages at Bergkirstall entered next higher level (“Materialplaene”, “Reihenfertigungsplaene” changed again).
March 23, 1945
Speer reports to the leaders of German aircraft industry that Hitler is extremely delighted by the success of Me-262 fighters in combat.
March 27, 1945
Dr. Kammler is assigned supreme commander with all plenary powers for development, testing and production of jet-planes by Hitler.
Spring 1945
Thousands of Jewish prisoners from KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau (Camp Mexiko) are direct deportated to KZ Gusen II as KZ Auschwitz is closed down.
April 1, 1945
KZ Gusen I, II & III count 23732 inmates. 12892 of them at KZ Gusen I, 10512 of them at KZ Gusen II (St. Georgen), and 328 at KZ Gusen III (Lungitz).
April 2, 1945
Allied aerial reconnaissance flight focuses again on KZ Gusen – Bergkristall (Linz/St. Georgen).
April 4, 1945
Messerschmitt production expert Mr. Sauter of department F-H/I at OFA reports production capacity of 15 Me-262 fuselages daily (=450 units per months) at Bergkristall. Countless logistic problems need to be solved to boost production to planned capacity (of 1250 units per months).
April 7, 1945
Me-262 serial production at Bergkristall is enlarged from 13 cycle system to 30 cycle system.
April 13, 1945
Vienna under Soviet command (150 km east of St.Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen). Personnel of Vienna Fire-Brigades assigned to guard parts of KZ Mauthausen and KZ Gusen.
April 14, 1945
Allied Combined Intelligence Unit (ACIU) finishes “U” report on Bergkristall.
Repatriation of KZ Gusen inmates from France, Belgium and the Netherlands starts.
April 16, 1945
Soviet fighter planes drop twelve bombs on the B8 Bergkristall entrance to the underground railway station at three a.m.
April 17, 1945
A 200-ton hydraulic press for glass products gets operational at Bergkristall.
April 20, 1945
SS-administration of KZ Mauthausen/Gusen starts destruction of documents at KZ Mauthausen and extermination of inmates at KZ Gusen.
April 21, 1945
890 ill and unfit inmates of KZ Gusen I are gassed in barracks No. 31 of KZ Gusen I.
April 22, 1945
600 ill and unfit inmates of KZ Gusen II are beaten to death in KZ Gusen II because of lack of Zyklon-B gas.
Chancellor Dr. Karl Renner forms caretaker government of liberated Austria in Vienna with permission of Soviets.
April 25, 1945
Soviet troops reach Berlin.
April 27, 1945
Austria declares restoration as an independent and democratic republic. Louis Haefliger reaches St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen area.
Evacuation of KZ Mauthausen subcamps in eastern Austria to KZ Mauthausen and KZ Gusen finished.
April 28, 1945
KZ Gusen I, II & III count 20312 inmates. 11059 of them at KZ Gusen I, 8985 of them at KZ Gusen II (St. Georgen), and 286 at KZ Gusen III (Lungitz). 155 KZ Gusen inmates die that morning.
Planned extermination of KZ Gusen inmates by blasting them in tunnel No. 3 of Kellerbau thwarted under guidance of Polish inmate Captain Jozef Wysocki (according to an ICRC report, all other eye-wittnesses – including the population of St. Georgen – should be killed in the tunnels of Bergkristall during the night from May 5 to May 61945).
US troops reach Regensburg area.
April 30, 1945
Grossadmiral Doenitz announces death of Hitler.
End of April
Most of the SS guards leave the Mauthausen-Gusen complex. The Viennese fire brigades are called up to maintain order. All the underground plants in St. Georgen and Gusen are prepared for demolition.
May 1, 1945
According to Allied intelligence, 987 jet propelled planes (Me-262) were delivered from Bergkristall.
May 2, 1945
Members of the KZ Gusen crematorium command shot in KZ Mauthausen.
May 3, 1945
Production at KZ Gusen underground plants stopped. Destruction of sensible documents in Bergkristall.
May 4, 1945
KZ Gusen I, II & III count 21207 inmates. Anti-tank obstacles removed at St. Georgen. US troops reach Gallneukirchen (10 km north-east of St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen). Soviets reach area between St. Poelten and Amstetten (50 km east of St.Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen). Commandant Ziereis has nervous breakdown. Dr. Kammler leaves Ebensee (80 km south of St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen) for Prague.
May 5, 1945
S/Sgt. Al Kosiek and twenty-three men of the 41st Recon Squad, 11th ArdDiv, 3rd US Army liberate the concentration camps at Mauthausen and Gusen. Some 500 KZ Gusen inmates die after liberation due to lynching by liberated prisoners. KZ Mauthausen inmates remain calm because an international committee of prisoners takes over from American troops.
May 7, 1945
First regular US troops enter the St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen area (11th Armoured Division and 26th Infantery Division). The 260th Infantery Regiment forms military government at St. Georgen. The KZ Gusen death books are handed over by survivors to the US troops.
May 8, 1945
Local population was forced by US-troops to bury the hundreds of corpses the SS guards left behind. The local children were forced to look at these burials in mass graves.
May 9, 1945
The official unconditional surrender of German Army ends WWII in Europe.
May 16, 1945
US troops burn down KZ Gusen II in the days before May 16, 1945 to prevent deseases from spreading out of the camp and start repatriation of former KZ Gusen inmates.
May 21, 1945
US-troops give power to local police (up to this date there had been two weeks of anarchy in the area, resulting in numerous deaths).
May 25, 1945
One hundred and eighty former inmates who had been convicted criminals prior to or during the war and who had functioned as Kapos at KZ Gusen were sent back by US-troops to safeguard the local population. These same men had until this date been terrorizing local people with their machine-guns.
Franz Ziereis, SS-commander of Mauthausen complex, dies in 131st Evacuation Hospital at Gusen after beeing interrogated by OSS agents at Gusen on May 24, 1945. His body is exhibited to the public at Gusen for several days after May 25, 1945.
June 19, 1945
Specialists of the 34th Bomb Squadron, 17th Bomb Group, 1st Tactical Airforce inspect the huge underground aircraft plant (B8 BERGKSITALL) at St. Georgen/Gusen.
July 2, 1945
Bergkristall is still unharmed and under heavy guard of US special forces to allow the immediate startup of aircraft production again.
July 28, 1945
US troops have to move out and leave the whole area to Soviet occupational forces. Key installations of DEST (like the huge kitchen or the hostel for apprentice boys) were devastated by US troops before leaving them for the Soviets.
All remaining former inmates of KZ Gusen are moved from the former concentration camp to field hospitals at nearby Katsdorf and Marbach. After this date, 2,000 Soviet civillians are sent to former KZ Gusen I to receive military training there. Even tanks fired their guns for training purposes in the areas of the adjacent villages of Abwinden and Katsdorf. Prior to this date, installations of former KZ Gusen I were used by US troops to accomodate up to 6000 German refugees from the east.
August 2, 1945
Stalin, Truman and Attlee agree upon the restoration of Austria as a free and independent state with 4 occupational zones at Potsdam.
5,200 Hungarian Jews are marched back from former Gunskirchen camp via St. Georgen.
August 5, 1945
The remaining ill survivors of KZ Gusen are moved from the field hospital at Katsdorf to Marbach.
August 6, 1945
Hiroshima destroyed by US forces with atomic bomb.
August 9, 1945
Soviet Union declares war against Japan.
August 19, 1945
65th Infantery Division replaced by 26th Infantery Division at Linz.
August 20, 1945
25 additional T-34 tanks are stationed by Soviet troops at St. Georgen.
August 28, 1945
Local population receives order to hand all radio receivers of to the Soviets.
August 1945
100 Soviet officers present at St. Georgen to check Bergkristall. Operation of “bakery” at Lungitz (former KZ Gusen III) stopped by Soviets.
September 6, 1945
Soviet forces begin to dismantle the KZ Gusen underground installations and equipment. Local community has to send 25 men each day to assist Soviet specialists.
September 10, 1945
Soviet forces begin to dismantle barracks of “SS-Fuehrungsstab” (SS leadership staff) at St. Georgen.
September 14, 1945
Soviet officer who was killed in accident with T-34 tank burried at St. Georgen.
September 19, 1945
Assessment of DEST installations at Gusen says that this most modern plant is to large as to be operated as a private enterprise. Capacity of the Gusen quarries is as high that full need of gravel stone by the Austrian federal railways could be covered only with the waste products of this quarries.
September 22, 1945
Civillian truck driver from Gusen village killed by falling machine in tunnel No. 6 of Bergkristall.
October 21, 1945
Allied Council approves Austrian government under Chancellor Dr. Renner.
October 28, 1945
Field hospital at Katsdorf liquidated (42 of the 300 ill and unfit survivors died at Katsdorf after the war).
November 11, 1945
First free and democratoc elections in Austria since 1933.
November 1945
Exchange of personnel in Soviet occupational forces. Former DEST property finally seized by Soviet occupational forces. Mayor of St. Georgen arrested by Soviet occupational forces.
December 20, 1945
Elected new Austrian government under Chancellor Figl inaugurated (Dr. Karl Renner beacomes head of state).
February 23, 1946
One key building industry requests payment of 1,330,693 Austrian Schillings for work carried out on “Bergkristall” and “Kalkstein”.
March 3, 1946
Austrian authorities declare “Bergkristall” to be German property without any Austrian responsibility and rejects any claims for payment.
March 12, 1946
Soviet troops continue military training operations with heavy T-34 tanks in the St. Georgen and Gusen area.
April 1, 1946
Several former concentration camp inmates form Vienna are captured in St. Georgen because of lack marketeering.
April 13, 1946
Looting by Soviet soldiers continued in the area.
May 13, 1946
58 former members of SS and DEST sentenced to death by US military court at Dachau.
May 17, 1946
Rudolf Hoess, former commandant of KZ Auschwitz, confirms knowledge about “Me Betr. Bergkristall”.
June 12, 1946
US occupational forces are willing to supply coal for operating the railway line between Linz and Ceske Buejovice again.
June 14, 1946
Soviet military government leaves St. Georgen.
July 4, 1946
Austrian authorities seize former DEST installations at St. Georgen. Up to 16 Austrian criminal police investigators operate in the area.
July 15, 1946
Austrian authorities dissolves former association at St. Georgen that operated rifle-range for SS at St. Georgen.
September 18, 1946
KZ Gusen cemetery is inspected by Upper Austrian authorities. One architect of Wels is ordered to prepare a concept for its permanent cultivation. A granite monument is planned to be errected there.
December 21, 1946
Dismantling of KZ Gusen underground installations by Soviet forces completed.
January 5, 1947
Former DEST stone industries at Gusen are taken over by Soviet business administration to Austria (USIA) as “Sowjetstaatliche Granitwerke Gusen”.
March 27, 1947
Station Complement Unit 7831 HQ Land Upper Austria of Area Command Office of the Real Estate Officer formally give back seized buildings at St. Georgen to owners.
April 21, 1947
German attorney requests registration details of leading St. Georgen DEST staff for Nuremberg Military Tribunal at municipality of St. Georgen.
May 27 to 28, 1947
48 of the 58 former members of SS and DEST who were sentenced to death by US military court at Dachau hanged at “War Criminal Prison No. 1?.
July 1947
Final transportation of dismantled equipment to the Soviet Union occurs.
September 4, 1947
One hundred soldiers of Soviet punishment platoon start demolition of KZ Gusen II tunnels by detonating several tons of aircraft bombs.
September 17, 1947
First part of Kellerbau tunnels at Gusen destroyed by Soviet punishment platoon.
September 27, 1947
Second part of Kellerbau tunnels at Gusen destroyed by Soviet punishment platoon. 2 adjacent houses destroyed by blast and shock-waves.
October 3, 1947
Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG requests whereabouts of its former property at Gusen.
October 23, 1947
Local population is invited by Municipality of Langenstein to attend commemoration ceremony on All-Saints-Day at KZ Gusen cemetery.
November 15, 1947
Soviet forces finish destroying KZ Gusen II “Bergkristall” tunnels at St. Georgen after two weeks of blasting work. 16 private houses heavily damaged. USIA head office of Vienna sold sand contracts in the demolished tunnels later on.
January 1, 1948
USIA “Granitwerke Gusen” officially take over former DEST and SS property at St. Georgen and Gusen.
March 28, 1948
The Soviet High Commissioner to Austria, General Kurasow, inaugurates plaque at nearby Mauthausen camp.
October 20, 1948
The Municipality of St. Georgen is urged by Soviet occupational forces to prepare appropriate celebration for the 31st anniversiary of the Soviet revolution together with USIA “Granitwerke Gusen”.
November 11, 1948
The mayor of St. Georgen thanks Mr. Louis Haefliger in a letter for his humanitarian work in the area at the end of the war and after liberation.
November 21, 1948
The Austrian association of former concentration camp inmates points to the destruction of the former KZ Gusen camps in its first summit at Vienna.
May 18, 1949
French survivors of KZ Gusen visit the vestiges of the camps.
September 2, 1949
Lieutenant Wolf exhumes 7 to 8 French victims at Gusen to send their remains home.
January 1, 1950
General Bethouart, the French High Commissioner to Austria, officially requests conservation of the KZ Gusen crematorium by the Republic of Austria.
February 28, 1950
The Soviet occupation forces reject an Upper Austrian project for a memorial at Gusen to prevent any disturbance of the economic activities, the Soviet occupation forces run via their “Uprawlenije Sowjestkowo Imuschtschestwa Awstrii (USIA)”-administration at the former DEST premises at Gusen.
November 11, 1950
The Community of St. Georgen/Gusen buys the former kitchen of DEST at St. Georgen form the Soviet USIA-administration to adapt it for a secondary school project.
April 1951
Up to 180 workers are employed by the Soviet USIA-administration at “Granitwerke Gusen” until 1955.
Soviets stop operation of former KZ Gusen I stone-production facilities under the USIA-firm “Granitwerke Gusen”.
1955
Soviet Red Army moves out of Austria.
This was the last use of the KZ Gusen I barracks and railway station. After this, the railway was dismantled and all of the former DEST-property was transferred to the Republic of Austria, which later privatized all of it. To administer this, the Republic of Austria founded “Public Administration for the German Earth and Stone Works Berlin at St. Georgen/Gusen” [Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH Berlin – Oeffentliche Verwaltung St. Georgen an der Gusen].
1955/1956
The KZ Gusen cemetary that was built by US liberators in the period between May and July 1945 is removed by the Austrian Government (a good deal of the human remains is transferred to the Mauthausen memorial).
June 8, 1956
A good deal of the premises that were errected at Gusen between 1938 and 1945 by DEST are given back by the Republic of Austria to the stone industrialist that sold the area beginning with May 25, 1938 to the SS-administration.
November 1958
The Provincial Financial Administration at Linz [Finanzlandesdirektion fuer Oberoesterreich (FLD)] is considered to be the owner of Berkgristall, the former “Schleppbahn” railway system and the former DEST housing facilities by regional and state authorities. Several cave-in´s occur at Bergkristall in 1958 due to heavy rain and the damage caused by Soviet activities in 1947.
Spring 1959
Representatives of the Austrian National Electrical Energy Supply Society [Verbundgesellschaft] investigated possibilities to convert parts of Bergkristall into a caloric power plant.
Spring 1961
The Provincial Financial Administration at Linz [Finanzlandesdirektion fuer Oberoesterreich (FLD)] starts to sell former DEST housing facilities to private individuals.
March 1961
During a conference of the International Mauthausen Committee (IMC) at Budapest, Hungary, decission is made by survivors for the construction of a memorial at Gusen.
November 1962
Amicale Francaise de Mauthausen starts to collect private money for the construction of the memorial at Gusen.
May 1963
Dr. Ermete Sordo lays the foundation-stone for the KZ Gusen Memorial along with the 1963 international commemoration at Gusen.
February 1965
The Republic of Austria sells the Jourhouse to the Community of Langenstein for adapting it as a Kindergarten.
May 8, 1965
The KZ Gusen Memorial is inaugurated along with the 1965 international commemoration at Gusen (the project was developped since 1961 by survivors from Italy, France and Belgium to prevent total destruction of KZ Gusen crematorium).
Spring 1969
Bergkristall is considered by the Republic of Austria as a proper place to deposit radioactive waste (the project was not dropped earlier than 1976. A small environmental protection movement formed at St. Georgen in the early 1970-ties to prevent that nuclear waste is deposited inside Bergkristall at St. Georgen by Austrian State Authorities).
Autumn 1975
Bergkristall is considered by the Republic of Austria as a suitable object to accomodate facilities of Austrian national defence in a cold-war scenario.
Spring 1980
Bergkristall is considered by Upper Austrian authorities as a suitable object to be adapted as a huge shelter to protect enourmous numbers of civillians in the case of a nucelar war or atomic reactor catastrophy.
Summer 1980
Austrian State authorities allow the destruction of a certain parts of Bergkristall for the production of sand.
May 10, 1987
Italian survivors of ANED Piemonte errect the first commemorative plaque at Bergkristall.
February 1988
Austrian State authorities allow the destruction of further parts of Bergkristall for the production of sand.
May/June 1988
Several SS-men, soldiers and civillians that were burried in the years 1944 and 1945 at the St. Georgen cemetery were put into other beds by the Austrian Black Cross at the cemetery of St. Martin near Linz.
1989
The municipal authorities of St. Georgen start to promote research and commemoration of the former Gusen concentration camps.
May 5, 1945
Survivors, local authorities, organisations and residents celebrate the first local-international commemoration at Gusen.
1996
The municipal authorities of St. Georgen start endeavours to develop a commemorative path [Gedenkweg] that should connect St. Georgen, Gusen and Mauthausen to give interested visitors a chance to understand the dimension and complexity of the former KZ Gusen concentration camps.
March 8, 1997
A first twinning between the City of Empoli, Italy, and the Community of St. Georgen, Austria, is signed upon arrangement by survivors. Later on one second twinning is signed between the City of Sesto San Giovanni, Italy, and the Community of Langenstein.
May 3, 1997
KZ Gusen Memorial is transferred by survivors to Republic of Austria.
May 9, 1998
An Austrian State Official (the Federal Minister for Interior Affairs) takes part for the first time at a local-international commemoration at Gusen.
May 5, 2000
Prof. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, the former Foreign Minister of Poland, thanked the local memorial endeavours in a speech given to the Austrian National Assembly.
May 7, 2000
Inauguration of a memorial at the site of the former KZ Gusen III concentration camp at Lungitz, Austria.
August 4, 2000
Delegates of the local communities and the KZ Gusen Memorial Committee are invited by the Federal Minister for Interior Affairs to participate in a conference to define a new approach to the history of the Mauthausen concentration camp system.
December 29, 2000
Together with hundreds of other relics of World War II, the Republic of Austria takes over responsibility for Bergkristall too (in Federal Austrian Act No. 141/2000, Bergkristall´s new name is “Luftschutzsstollen OOe 020? [Air Raid Shelter Upper Austria No. 020].
May 25, 2001
Foundation of the “Gusen Persons´Committee” [Personenkomitee Gusen] in cooperation with the former Polish Foreign Minister Prof. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, the First President of the Austrian National Assembly (Dr. Heinz Fischer), the Austrian Federal Minister for Interior Affairs (Dr. Ernst Strasser) and the Governor of Upper Austria (Dr. Joseph Puehringer).
2001
Renovation of the KZ Gusen Memorial by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Interior Affairs.
2002-2004
Safeguarding and partial fill-up of the Bergkristall tunnels at St. Georgen by “Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG)” (the new state-related owner of Bergkristall due to Austrian Federal Act No. 141/2000).
May 8, 2004
Inauguration of the new Visitors´ Center at the KZ Gusen Memorial by the Austrian Federal Minister for Interior Affairs.
2004-2005
Fill-up of the Kellerbau tunnels at Gusen by Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG).
April 27, 2005
Official request of the KZ Gusen Memorial Committee to Austian Federal Chancellor Dr. Wolfang Schuessel in regard to make Bergkristall accessible to the public (unfortunately with no response yet).
2005
Launch of a project to develop an audio walk [Audioweg] at the former sites of the KZ Gusen I and II concentration camps.
2010
First official visit of KL Gusen survivors to new underground KL Gusen II "Bergkristall" memorial at St. Georgen/Gusen
2020
Opening of House of Remembrance at the former KL Gusen II "Bergkristall" undergorund Messerschmitt plant at St. Georgen/Gusen
2021
Purchase of remnants of former KL Gusen I and of land parcels of the former KL Gusen II "Bergkristall" tunnels at St. Georgen/Gusen by the State of Austria 76 years after the end of World War II
March 8, 2022 Start of the process for the further development of the Gusen memorial sites by Mauthausen Memorial
May 4, 2022 Act of State of Austrian federal government with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Karl Nehammer and other members of the ferderal government at former roll call square of KL Gusen I at Langenstein
Information credit:
- Archive of the KZ Gusen Memorial Committee
- Dobosiewicz Stanislaw, Mauthausen-Gusen oboz zaglady, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warszawa 1979
- Duriez Claire, GUSEN, Camp Annexe de Mauthausen, camp de concentration nazi en territoire autrichien, mai 1940 – mai 1945, mémoire de maitrise sous la direction du Professeur André GUESLIN, Département d´Histoire, Université Paris VII Denis Diderot, Paris, Année universitaire 1997/1998
- Freund Florian, Arbeitslager ZEMENT – Das Konzentrationslager Ebensee und die Raketenruestung, Verlag fuer Gesellschaftskritik, Wien, 1989
- Local Chronicles (Primary School, Parish & Police),
- Marsalek Hans, Die Geschichte des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen
- Marsalek Hans, GUSEN – Vorraum zur Hoelle
- Perz Bertrand, Projekt QUARZ – Steyr-Daimler-Puch und das Konzentrationslager Melk, Verlag fuer Gesellschaftskritik, Wien, 1990
- Vitry Stephanie, Les Morts de Gusen, Maitrise d´histoire, Universite de Paris I, Panteon-Sorbonne, 1994
- For more literature change to Bibliography.
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