Rafa Pastor
Visit the horror
Mauthausen concentration camp was established shortly after Germany had annexed Austria in March 1938. It was built near an abandoned quarry on the Danube River, about 5 km from the town of Mauthausen in northern Austria, 20 km SE of Linz. Approximately an hour by train from Vienna we went to O, always with the Danube near. This visit was included in the trip I took with my family to the Bridge of the Constitution of 2007. This time it was bitterly cold. Upon arrival in Mauthausen we had to get a taxi back up to the resort, a few miles up the hill. Fog covered the fields creating a gloomy picture.
Upon arrival, the first thing you see are the garages of the SS prior to this better-known crossing gate. Then you deviate to the right next to the wall where prisoners were shot. In this wall you start to see plates in memory of the fallen: Jews, Spanish, French, American - up to 15 different nationalities. Throughout the different pavilions you can see different ovens, the gas chamber and the "showers". I remember the same empty boats at the infamous Zyklon B. Just outside the courtyard, in the center of the square, an eternal flame burns. On the way out, you can see a lot of monuments dedicated by countries whose citizens were interned here: Spain, Luxembourg, the Jewish people, Holland. I had spent many years trying to visit a concentration camp, not morbid or anything. I came here looking for something and I found it.
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