The Mauthausen Concentration Camp, a testament to Nazi Austria history and a sobering reminder of what Adolf Hitler’s terrifying regime was capable of, was found about fifteen miles southeast of Linz. Boasting some attractive and interesting medieval architecture, the town of Mauthausen itself is rather pretty.

The Mauthausen Concentration Camp Austria site first underwent construction in 1938, and prisoners from the German Dachau concentration camp were enlisted to build it.  The Dachau camp was the first Nazi concentration camp to be built in Germany, and new camps were needed to house the growing amount of Nazi prisoners.  As the story goes, funds from Nazi prisoners themselves were used to build the Holocaust Mauthausen complex.  Upon their arrest, the prisoners’ assets, whatever they might be, were assumed by the Third Reich. 

You can see, during your Mauthausen Concentration Camp Austria visit, the rooms, or huts, where condemned criminals were kept. There is the Stairway of Death, which is just as somber in addition to these huts.  It was the last walk that condemned prisoners made. Though it can be quite disturbing to tour the grounds here, the Holocaust Mauthausen experience is a valuable one, depicting a part of history that mankind will never forget.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from October to December, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from May to October.