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GUNSKIRCHEN Extermination Camp

by Wiebe van IJken

GUNSKIRCHEN MONUMENTS

Near the crossing of highway no. 1 and he road between Gunskirchen and Saag a monument was reveiled in November 15, 1981 to rember the victims of the Gunskirchen concentration camp.

Gunskirchen monument besides highway No. 1

The text on the monument is:

"Vom 12 Maerz bis zum 5 Mai 1945 waehrend der letzten Tage der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft bestand im gegenueberliegenden Wald das Konzentrationslager Gunskirchen, ein Aussenkommando des Konzentrationslager Mauthausen. Hier werden in diesen wenigen Wochen etwa 15.000 Menschen, zumeist ungarische und rumenischen Buerger juedischen Glaubens gefangen gehalten von denen viele zugrunden gingen. 1227 Opfer, die im Wald in mehreren Massengraebern bestattet waren, wurden im Herbst 1979 in den Ehrenfriedhof der oeffentlichen Gedenkstaette Mauthausen ueberfuehrt."

(From March 12 until May 5, 1945 during the last days of the National Socialist regime in the opposite forest the concentration camp Gunskirchen was located, a sub-camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. In this period of a few weeks about 15,000 people, most Hungarian and Rumanian Jews were kept prison here, of whom many died. 1,227 victims that were buried in the forest in several mass graves, were re-buried at the cemetery of the official memorial Mauthausen in the fall of 1979.)

In 1995, the 71st Infantry Division (the liberators of Gunskrichen Extermination Camp) also placed a monument near the Site of the Gunskirchen camp.

Text on monument of 71st Inf Div Monument dedicated by 71st Inf Div

The text on this monument is:

4 May 1945, at this place, the 71st Infantry Division, United States Army, discovered and liberated the concentration camp Gunskirchen Lager.

A further commemorative plaque is located in the Gunskrichen forest, where the entrance of the former extermination camp had been. The translation of the text on that commemorative plaque is:

Commemorative plaque at the former entrance to Gunskirchen extermination camp Between December 1944 until the liberation by the American forces at May 4, 1945 the Gunskirchen concentration camp was located in this forest. It was one of the 49 satellite camps of Mauthausen. At the time of liberation 15,000 to 17,000 prisoners were located here, most of them Hungarian Jews. They were forced to go from Mauthausen to Gunskirchen by so called death marches in April 1945. Some 6,000 man, woman and children died during these marches. In the camp itself an average of 200 to 300 inmates died daily, due to hunger, dysentery and thyfoid.

At this site the main entrance of the camp was located. The camp stretched from here in south an eastern directions until the land rise.

TO COMMEMORATE THE VICTIMS - TO REMIND THE LIVING
NEVER FASCISM AGAIN !

Switch to:

Location
Construction
Death Marches
Situation in the Camp
Liberation

Map of Gunskirchen Extermination Camp
Statement of Liberator about Conditions at Gunkirchen Extermination Camp
Literature about Gunskirchen
About the Author

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Most recent updates of this page were made on
010518 by Wiebe van IJken, Rudolf A. Haunschmied,
Jan-Ruth White with her students in US-Alabama,
Martha Gammer and Siegi Witzany-Durda