Footsteps of WWII · Czechia & Austria
Gusen Memorial
Camp memorial · 25 May 1940 – 5 May 1945
The story
Gusen, 5 km west of Mauthausen, opened on 25 May 1940 as a subcamp but at times held more prisoners than the main camp. Polish intellectuals and Spanish Republicans were among the early inmates, worked in granite quarries under murderous conditions. From March 1944 Gusen II housed prisoners who dug the Bergkristall tunnels at St Georgen, where Messerschmitt built Me 262 jet fighter fuselages underground; 987 were completed before May 1945. Official records list 27,842 deaths, but estimates run to 35,000 or more, since many killed on arrival were never registered. US troops of the 11th Armored and 26th Infantry Divisions arrived on 5 May 1945. Most of the camp was later built over by housing.
What to look for
The memorial built by survivors around the camp's crematorium oven, a small visitor centre with an exhibition, and the surviving gatehouse (the 'Jourhaus', now a private house) among suburban homes. The site is being redesigned as a larger place of remembrance.
Plan your visit
Open daily 9:00–17:00. Admission free, no registration needed; guided tours bookable through the Mauthausen Memorial. The memorial is being redeveloped, so expect changes. The Bergkristall tunnels open only on occasional guided tours. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Mauthausen Memorial · 3 km
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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