The Steyr-Münichholz concentration camp was one in a number of
subcamps of the
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...
in
Upper Austria
Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...
. Inmates were drawn from the main camp, in order to exploit their labor for producing arms in
Steyr-Daimler-Puch
Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names.
History
Th ...
corporation factories, and to build air-raid bunkers in the town of
Steyr
Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd lar ...
.
Roughly 300 Mauthausen-Gusen inmates had been doing construction work at the Steyr facilities since spring 1941, being transferred back and forth between Mauthausen and Steyr on a daily basis. Because of growing scarcity of workers skilled for the incipient manufacture of aircraft engines and ball bearings, in fall 1941 the Steyr-Daimley-Puch management began lobbying for the allocation of more aptly skilled concentration camp inmates, and the establishment of a local subcamp. On January 5, 1942,
Georg Meindl, general manager of Steyr-Daimler-Puch and
SS Brigadeführer wrote to the
SS and Police Leader
The title of SS and Police Leader (') designated a senior Nazi Party official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police (''Ordnungspolizei''), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the o ...
of the region,
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era, major perpetrator of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a ...
:
''„(...) should be, if possible, workers specialising in the metal trades, or otherwise workers that can be educated on the work with machines. The daily transfer of these inmates to Mauthausen does not only make necessary larger commitment of guarding personnel, but also diminishes the output of the inmates.“''
The establishment of a subcamb on the premises of a detention facility in nearby
Garsten was opposed by the prison administration. Therefore, a makeshift camp was established in the vicinity of the factory premises in spring 1942.
Most inmates originated from Spain, France, Poland, Italy, Greece, Russia, and Czechoslovakia. Their total number varied between 1,000 and 2,000. In April 1945 however, the number rose to 3,090, as several death marches with inmates from the Wiener Neustadt subcamp went through the town.
Many inmates died from malnutrition, working constantly at a fast pace irrespective of weather conditions, and lack of health treatment. A number were also killed in air raids on the Steyr factories in February and April 1944. The exact total number of deaths, however, remains unknown to this day. The names of 226 inmates show on the records of the city crematory. Inmates who went sick were usually sent back to be killed at the main camp at Mauthausen.
The camp was liberated by US troops on May 5, 1945.
The last remaining barracks (which had contained the camp's dining hall) were demolished by the private owner of the premises in 1993, before explorations into setting up a memorial had come to fruition, sparking outrage among concerned locals.
Betrifft Widerstand. Zeitschrift des Zeitgeschichtemuseums Ebensee. Nr. 42, August 1998
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steyr-Munichholz subcamp