Mauthausen Concentration Camp and on to Grinzing, Austria. October 10, 1999

The day starts off rainy again as we leave Hallstatt. We go through the mountains and it is a beautiful drive up to the A1. The rain stops by noon. We drive to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. “As at other Nazi concentration camps, the inmates at Mauthausen and its subcamps were forced to work as slave labour, under conditions that caused many deaths. Mauthausen and its subcamps included quarries, munitions factories, mines, arms factories and plants assembling fighter aircraft. In January 1945, the camps contained roughly 85,000 inmates. The death toll remains unknown, although most sources place it between 122,766 and 320,000 for the entire complex.” (Wikipedia) There are barracks and a museum. We see a short film on the horror. There is a gas chamber. Many memorials from different countries are represented on the grounds. It is a somber and difficult visit.

John at Mauthausen
View approaching the camp
Jewish memorial

Then we drive to the Kendalls, buying a map along the way. They have a lovely apartment in Grinzing, a suburb of Vienna. We have a wonderful time visiting and eating Eileen’s great dinner. They will be putting us up for the next couple of days.

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