Mauthausen

   The Mauthausen concentration camp was located near Linz, Austria. It was constructed in 1938, soon after the Anschluss, and consisted of two main camps as well as 49 subcamps. Mauthausen was both a forced labor camp and a death camp, inasmuch as it also included a gas chamber and a crematorium. The camp also used the gassing facilities in the nearby Schloss Hartheim to supplement its own killing process. The camp was the hub of the Schutzstaffel (SS) industrial empire in Austria. Those engaged in forced labor consisted of both Jews and non-Jews who were employed in the construction of subterranean tunnels to house factories for rocket assemblies and the production of plane parts. Approximately 120,000 prisoners were murdered or worked to death at Mauthausen. This included approximately 38,000 Jews. The camp was liberated by American forces on 5 May 1945.