Inside of the concentration camps, there were many different methods of execution which
were used to condemn a prisoner.
Many were exterminated through the hard work and labour they were forced to conduct, and
many were also driven into gas chambers, or executed in front of large crowds of people
at roll call.
But the Nazis often utilised the environments around them to create a culture of fear and
terror, and this was the case at Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Mauthausen was a site where over 190,000 people were imprisoned during the almost 7 years
that it was in operation in Upper Austria.
It was a camp close to where Hitler grew up, and the SS forced inmates to work in the brutal
and evil quarries there, in which they were forced to quarry huge blocks of stone which
were used in building projects around Germany.
The conditions here were known to have been incredibly severe, and more than half of the
inmates of MAuthausen would never make it out of the camp alive.
But one aspect of the quarry which was shocking and brutal was the Stairs of Death, and this
stone structure certainly lived up to its name.
Join us today as we look at the Executions of Mauthausen’s stairs of death, to support
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Mauthausen as a camp was opened on the 9th August 1938 when prisoners from Dachau, the
first concentration camp were sent there to construct a new slave labour camp.
It was chosen as it was very close to a granite quarry which was nearby, and also the transport
links as it was close also to Linz, Hitler’s home town.
Before the Nazis created a camp there, the granite mined at the site was used to pave
the streets of Vienna, but Hitler had huge visions for architectural projects, building
a new German, and for these projects a huge amount of granite was required.
This was obviously very expensive, and Hitler would rather have spent money on his army
and preparing for war rather than purchasing stone through fairly mined resources.
So because of this a prisoner of war camp was opened there, and a slave labour site
where inmates were forced to conduct back breaking work mining the stone.
Mauthausen itself grew into a huge complex, with many sub camps being found there, including
the Gusen camps, which held a significant amount of prisoners.
In terms of production, Mauthausen was more productive than Auschwitz and it was the camp
that had the biggest output, but for this the SS guards would have to drive inmates
incredibly hard.
There were other factories that were built around MAuthausen, and 45 companies would
establish themselves there utilising the slave labour.
Some of these companies were part of the war effort, but some were not.
The camp was turning over in profits millions of Reich Marks each year, and inmates were
even rented out to work on other sites including local farms.
As mentioned the main point of the camp was to exterminate prisoners through labour, working
them until they died and could not work any more.
It was one of the most severe camps, with inmates suffering from malnutrition and a
huge amount of overcrowding.
The living quarters were not sufficient so disease also spread quickly around Mauthausen,
and there were also daily beatings administered by the SS guards and also the Kapos.
There was a medical facility established, known as the Krankenlager, however no medication
was offered and only first aid was handed out.
Experiments also occurred at Mauthausen, and the average life expectancy of a newly arrived
prisoner was around 6 months from when they set foot in the camp, and this deteriorated
to just three months by the end of the war.
The situations of inmates got significantly worse, and food rations began to be decreased
each month, leading to prisoners being unable to even stand up.
Those who could not work were often sent to sites such as HArtheim Castle where they were
exterminated inside of the gas chambers.
But the most striking element of Mauthausen was the Stairs of Death.
This was a huge rock quarry which was found at the base of the stairs, and the stairs
were 186 large stone steps in which prisoners carrying as much as 50kg stones were forced
to walk up, one after another up these huge steps.
It was back breaking work literally, and SS guards would whip and beat the prisoners forcing
them up the stairs a lot quicker.
Often accidents were very common, and if an inmate collapsed in front of the other prisoners
in the line, they would often take out the prisoners behind them also, and a domino effect
would be created.
Prisoner after prisoner would fall over, and in the quarry they were forced to carry boulders
all day, from morning until night up the stairs and to the other side.
SS guards would whip and beat them heavily, and driven them quicker up the stairs.
One former French resistance fighter who was held there stated, ‘Those who visit the
Mauthausen quarry today, don't see the same thing, for since then, the steps have been
redone - a real stairway, cemented, and regular.
At that time, they were simply cut with a pick into the clay and rock, held in place
by logs, unequal in height and tread, and therefore extremely difficult, not only for
climbing but also for the descent.
Stones rolled under our wooden-soled sandals, and we were forced to keep moving at a very
rapid pace.
The work consisted of carrying up a stone of considerable size and weight, along the
186 steps, after which there was still a considerable distance to cover.
The man who chose a stone found to be too small was out of luck.
And all of this went on at the rate of eight to ten trips per day.
The pace was infernal, without a second's rest.”
But the large stone steps were also used for executions, and a sadistic game that the SS
guards referred to as the Parachutists wall.
This was an ordeal which was intended to be incredibly brutal and result in the deaths
of prisoners.
The Parachutists wall was when prisoners at the top of the cliff were marched to the edge.
They were held at gun point and then were told to line up on the edge of the cliff.
An SS guard with his gun pointed would then ask the prisoner behind the first if he wanted
to push the inmate in front of him off, or instead be shot dead.
In this sick game, the SS referred to the victims as parachutists, and many would be
thrown off the cliff by their fellow inmates, and they would plunge to their deaths hitting
the bottom of the quarry.
They were thrown from a huge height, and there was no chance of survival.
One former prisoner Edward Mosberg said of the quarry and the stairs, ‘If you stopped
for a moment, the SS either shot you or pushed you off the cliff to your death.’
They did use the cliffs as an execution method also, but some inmates would throw themselves
off as it was so brutal and barbaric.
One Historian stated, ‘For two days the SS drove the Jews up and and down the steps.
On the third day, driven by despair, the remaining Jews joined hands and leaped over the precipice
to their deaths in the quarry below.’
There were more methods of execution used at Mauthausen, including when guards and Kapos
would throw prisoners into the 380 vault electric barbed wire fence which surrounded the boundary
of the camp and the quarry, and some would be shot on sight.
If prisoners could not carry their stones and rocks up the stairs then they were often
shot on sight causing mass panic.
More inmates who were suffering and could not work were thrown into icy showers in cold
weather, and 3000 people died of this treatment.
Mauthausen was liberated by the Americans on the 5th May 1945, and they disarmed the
guards who remained there, but most of them had fled.
There were around 30 who were killed by the prisoners, and the Americans heard of the
brutality and horror from the inmates themselves.
They told of the brutal slave labour, and of the evil of the SS guards who would use
the stairs of death to play disgusting games which resulted in the deaths of prisoners.
The site of Mauthausen today is one which is still intact, and the Stairs of death can
still be seen.
There are many memorials to the stairs around the world, that show prisoners struggling
up them.
The stairs are the iconic but notorious symbol of Mauthausen, and they inflicted so much
suffering.
But it’s believed that hundreds of people, if not thousands were thrown off the side
of the quarry, especially those who were not well enough to work.
The stairs of death, certainly lived up to their name.
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