Visiting Mauthausen, even if we have it in our plans, is not an easy visit to make, but as we always say, we must get close to these parts of history to learn, to not forget, to never repeat it again.
The Mauthausen concentration camp is located in Austria approximately 180 kilometers from Vienna and less than 25 kilometers from Linz.
How to get to the Mauthausen memorial
The trip to it in our case was by car, so you could rent one in Vienna to make the tour, parking on arrival is free. We usually rent from Discovercars; we generally get better deals than on other sites.
The other option is by train, which will take you from Vienna to Linz, then from Linz to Mauthausen station and then on to the memorial. You can also take a bus from Linz to Mauthausen Memorial.
And the most comfortable option is perhaps on an excursion to Mauthausen departing from Vienna and returning to Vienna. The tour is audio-guided in Spanish.
We talked and took the distances from Vienna because it may be the city they will be visiting, but the countryside as we said is much closer to Linz, so if you visit that city it will be a better option to do it from there.
To visit Mauthausen they have a bus during some seasons that makes the journey directly from Linz. Anyway, check the information on the memorial website►How to get to Mauthausen
Arrival and visit to Mauthausen
When you arrive, first stop by the visitor center, where you will be given a map of the camp with the distribution of the places you can visit and explanations. This is also available in Spanish, which is appreciated, as there is no entrance fee. You can get an audio guide in Spanish on site or download an audio guide to your mobile phone.
A little of the history of the concentration camp
On August 8, 1938, five months after the annexation of Austria to the Third Reich, the first prisoners arrived from the Dachau camp to Mauthausen.
The political function of the camp – the constant persecution and detention of real and perceived political and ideological opponents – prevailed until 1943. Mauthausen/Gusen was classified at the time as the only “Category III” camp. This meant that the conditions of detention were the most severe among the Nazi concentration camps. At that time, the mortality rate was one of the highest among concentration camps in the Third Reich.
From the end of 1943, prisoners were forced to build underground production facilities that would be protected from air raids. To this end, the Gusen camp was expanded and the large subcamps of Ebensee and Melk were established. The construction of these underground facilities was carried out without any consideration for the health and life of the camp inmates and was the cause of a particularly high number of deaths.
In total, between the opening of the camp in August 1938 and its liberation by the US Army in May 1945, some 190,000 people were deported to Mauthausen.
Most of the prisoners died as a result of their unscrupulous exploitation as labourers, accompanied by ill-treatment, inadequate food rations, poor clothing and lack of medical care. In total, at least 90,000 prisoners died in Mauthausen, Gusen and their subcamps, almost half of them in the last four months before liberation.
►Are you going to spend a few days in Vienna?, check out our post with the options of what to see in Vienna!
Is your tour still in Prague or Budapest?►What to see in Budapest. ►What to see in Prague
NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links
