EUROPE INSIGHT
Christian Dürr Historian , Mauthausen Memorial
Democratising the Memory of Gusen : The
Participatory Process for the Creation of a New Memorial Space in Austria
The Gusen Camp
The Gusen concentration camp began construction in December 1939 and officially opened on 25 May 1940 , with the arrival of over 1,000 Polish prisoners . From the start , it was part of the SS ’ s plans for the economic exploitation of the granite quarries in the region through the forced labour of concentration camp prisoners . The camp held a special position within the system of concentration camps named after its main camp , Mauthausen , which included over 40 subcamps . More than a subcamp , Gusen was considered a twin camp to Mauthausen .
Especially between 1940 and 1942 , Gusen also functioned as an extermination centre within this system . For certain groups , such as members of the Polish intelligence , Spanish Republicans or Soviet prisoners of war , transfer to Gusen often meant a death sentence . Of the over 4,700 Spanish victims of the Mauthausen / Gusen camp complex , more than 3,800 died in Gusen .
Starting in the summer of 1943 , the quarry industry lost importance in favour of arms production . Most prisoners were used as slave labour for the construction of factories and armament production . The company Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG ( SDPAG ) manufactured rifle parts , and the aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt began producing the Me 109 in Gusen . In response to increasing Allied air attacks , in early 1944 the SS built the tunnel complex known as “ Bergkristall ” in the neighbouring village of St . Georgen , one of the largest underground armament factories in the Reich .
Prisoners transferred to Gusen for construction work were housed in a new barracks camp known as Gusen II . On 27 and 28 February 1945 , the Gusen complex , including subcamps Gusen I and II , as well as Gusen III in Lungitz , which had just opened in December 1944 , reached a peak of over 26,000 prisoners .
26
Observing Memories Issue 8