The revelation in Austria of a project for an industrial zone on a site of the Mauthausen Nazi camp sparked indignant reactions this week, with the Mauthausen memorial deploring on Thursday the “rejection” of any discussion to preserve the “historical and moral importance” of the site.
Informed in 2021, the Austrian memorial “tried to draw the attention of decision-makers” to the history of this annex for women of the Mauthausen concentration camp, located in Hirtenberg in the municipality of Leobersdorf (north-east).
But his “telephone and written requests as well as his offers of talks to discuss together possibilities of commemorating the victims” were “ignored or rejected”, spokesperson Valerie Seufert told AFP.
Previously, the Austrian press had revealed the sale for 15.25 million euros (14.31 million francs) by the mayor’s real estate company of land on which the remains of the barracks are still located. Around 400 deportees, mainly Russian, Italian and Polish, were forced to manufacture infantry ammunition there between September 1944 and April 1945.
The buyer wants to build commercial buildings there thanks to changes of use voted by the Municipal Council, for which he paid an additional 1.34 million euros.
For independent mayor Andreas Ramharter, interviewed by the APA press agency, everything is in order, since the private land acquired in 2021 and resold in two tranches immediately afterwards is not classified as a historic monument. It was agreed not to dig the ground in order to preserve the foundations of the barracks.
The Documentation and Archives Center on the Resistance (DÖW) took offense at “an extremely insensitive approach, not only for the victims’ relatives, but also for society in general, which has the right to be informed of the events and crimes of the past,” according to statements to the daily “Die Presse.”
The spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party for the work of memory, Sabine Schatz, also finds it “astonishing that we are still treating areas steeped in history with such casualness in 2024”, with responsibility towards the victims dictating “an approach respectful”.
For the representative of the Greens of the Lower Austria region, Helga Krismer, it is “particularly worrying to note that we always find profiteers in the entourage of mayors”.
The Mauthausen memorial states that in April, “a stele was erected in the center of Hirtenberg”, clearly indicating that the place was once part of the concentration camp system.
