NAZI FORCED LABOUR

1. Nazi Forced Labour in Austria

During the Second World War (1939-1945), 26 million people were forced to work under the Nazi regime. Of these, 13 million were in the German Reich and a further 13 million in the occupied territories. In Austria – which had been incorporated into the German Reich as the »Ostmark« in 1938 – around one million foreign workers were deployed, the majority of whom were exploited as forced labourers. Additionally, there were smaller groups of Austrian Jews, Romani people, and prisoners of the legal system. These labourers can be divided into four groups:

1. Of the 300,000 foreign male prisoners of war, about 250,000 were used as forced labourers.
2. Of the approximately 580,000 foreign civilian labourers, 30 per cent of whom were women, the majority were forced labourers.
3. Of the 190,000 concentration camp prisoners, 150,000 of them foreigners, being incarcerated in the Mauthausen concentration camp and the subcamps, almost all had to perform forced labour.
4. Between 55,000 to 65,000 Hungarian Jews, a third of them women, were deported directly to eastern Austria for forced labour.

2. Establishment of a Documentation Centre

The Nazi camp »Am Weinberg« was a Nazi forced labour camp complex with an unusual structure in Austria. Prisoners of war, civilian forced labourers and female concentration camp prisoners were interned here at the same time, a rare constellation in this specific form. Around 2,500 people had to perform forced labour for the Hirtenberg cartridge factory. The camp was located in the town of Leobersdorf, about 30 kilometres south of Vienna. It can be understood as a camp complex consisting of three different types of camps. They were structurally separate and built at different times, but were located in the same area. The subcamp holding the concentration camp prisoners holds a special status as it was one of only two all‑female subcamps.

The »Local Initiative Subcamp Hirtenberg Memorial« and the »Local Initiative Nazi Forced Labour Leobersdorf« want to prevent the planned development of the site and instead establish a memorial and a documentation centre to provide information on the history and dimensions of Nazi forced labour. Such a centre does not yet exist in Austria. The site of the former »Nazi Camp am Weinberg« is ideal for this. Close to the Austrian capital, it is located in the middle of Lower Austrias Industrieviertel, which was developed into a major centre for arms production during the Nazi regime. This expansion was accompanied by an extensive network of Nazi forced labour camps. The region is representative of the intertwining of economy, the Nazi dictatorship and forced labour. These efforts are supported by the Mauthausen Memorial, the Mauthausen Committee Austria and the Jewish Community of Vienna. The site has been sold by the real estate company of Leobersdorf's mayor, Andreas Ramharter, to a developer who plans to build a business park on it. Media such as Falter and Wiener Zeitung reported on it.

Remembrance is not only a duty towards the past, it is a prerequisite for a just present.