Before the construction of the first Gusen Camp the
prisoners of the Mauthausen
Concentration Camp hat to march every day some 4km to reach the
stone-quarries at Gusen. Because the death of more than 150 prisoners
in winter 1938 to 1939 due to that everyday-march, decision was made
in December 1939 to build a sub-camp of Mauthausen at Gusen. 400 German
and Austrian prisoners from Mauthausen marched every day from Mauthausen
to Gusen to construct some prisoners´ barracks, a few SS-barracks
and an electric fence at Gusen until March 1940. At first, both camps
(Mauthausen and Gusen) were under the command of the SS-Standartenfuehrer
Franz Ziereis. In March 1940, SS-captain Karl Chmielewski came from
KZ Sachsenhausen to be commander of the KZ Gusen Camp until 1943.
The first group of inmates was composed of German
and Austrian political
opponents and priests. These first prisoners had to work in the stone-quarries
or had to build new installations in the camps. Due to the conditions
of works and the incredible brutalities of the guards, this first group
of inmates died after only some weeks. After the invasion of Poland
by the Nazis, hundreds
Polish Intellectuals and civilians were sent to Gusen and exterminated
in the stone-quarry. The first group of Polish inmates arrived on March
9th, 1940. Within one year the population of Gusen grew from 800 to
4,000 inmates in spring 1941. More than 1,522 of them died in 1940 due
to the heavy work in the stone-quarries of Gusen and the brick-production
plant at Lungitz (became later Gusen III). End of 1941, the next group
of inmates to be exterminated at Gusen by heaviest work had been Soviet
Prisoners of War. This group of inmates was also the first to be gassed
in 1942.
Several Spanish republican prisoners
were sent also sent to Gusen and exterminated. More than 2,000 of
them had to work in the stone-quarries and very few of them survived.
Several atrocities were committed by the SS
and the kapos at Gusen.
One of the "specialities" of this camp "Todebadeaktionen"
(death bath action). This method of murder was the idea of SS sergeant
Jentzsch. The SS captain Chmielewski was enthusiastic and decided to
apply this new form of execution to the inmates. The inmates were selected
to the "bath" during the appeal: inmates unable to work or
ill. They were then sent to the "bath room" and had to stay
naked under the showers. Then icy water under high pressure fell from
the showers. The temperature of the bodies was falling down and caused
a long and painful agony. Often, the inmates died only after a half-hour...
During his trial, SS captain Chmielewski declared that the life of ill
inmates and Jews had absolutely no value for him...
Two other camps were established
later at Gusen: Gusen II (St Georgen) and Gusen III (Lungitz). The
conditions of life in these two camps were incredible. The inmates
had a surname for Gusen II : "The Hell of the hells"...
The three camps at Gusen were liberated on May 5,
1945, by the rec.squadron of sergeant Albert J.Kosiek. More than 37,000
inmates died at Gusen. This is more than 1/3 of all the victims of all
the other camps located in Austria.
