Austria Posts
Mauthausen is a town located in north-central Austria fairly close to Linz. From 1938-1945, there was a large group of concentration camps in Mauthausen-Gusen operated by Nazi Germany. This particular concentration camp was one of the largest labor camps and its inmates worked in the nearby quarries and later assembling war planes. About 200,000 prisoners passed through the camp and at least 95,000 died there. The camp was liberated by U.S. forces on May 5, 1945.
On our way back from Hallstatt to Wien, we decided to take a slight detour to stop at the Mauthausen Memorial. As we discovered, it is closed on Mondays during the winter, so we walked along the grounds and about the memorials, but were not able to go inside the Visitor's Center or the museum of horrors past. It's hard to imagine that these atrocities only happened 70 years ago and that there are people still living today that survived this.
It is one thing to read about these places in a history book,
but it is a whole other experience to really see it for yourself.
The history books come alive;
As you walk where others once walked
and gather where others were once lined up,
stripped down, tattooed and tortured.
Walking about the memorials,
seeing the names and the candles lit;
It was powerful.
Powerfully frightening
and powerfully real all at the same time
on this cool, damp fall day,
where the fog rolling about the countryside
made it that much more eerie.
An old tower standing watch at the camp's edge close to the quarry where prisoners worked 12+ hours a day.
The 186 Stairs of Death, where prisoners were forced to carry heavy blocks of stone up the steps, some up to 110 pounds.
Name after name.
Country after country.
This affects all of us in one way or another,
whether personally or far removed.
This was not just Europe's war,
it was a world war.
This war may have ended,
but today, around the world,
persecution is still happening:
religious,
ethnic,
political,
and so on.
May the reminder of these places,
as dark and hellish as they once were,
and the stories of survival, hope and freedom
let us never forget,
and press on to fight
and pray
for justice for the oppressed.
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