Mauthausen | |
|---|---|
 Center of Mauthausen; Danube river in the foreground | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Mauthausen Location within Austria | |
| Coordinates:48°14′31″N14°31′01″E / 48.24194°N 14.51694°E /48.24194; 14.51694 | |
| Country | Austria |
| State | Upper Austria |
| District | Perg |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Thomas Punkenhofer (SPÖ) |
| Area | |
• Total | 14.02 km2 (5.41 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 265 m (869 ft) |
| Population (2018-01-01)[2] | |
• Total | 4,936 |
| • Density | 352.1/km2 (911.9/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 4310 |
| Area code | 07238 |
| Vehicle registration | PE |
| Website | www.mauthausen.at |
Mauthausen is a smallmarket town in theAustrian state ofUpper Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometres east of the city ofLinz. The town lies on the banks of the Danube river, opposite the town of Enns, where the major Danube tributary ofEnns joins it. DuringWorld War II, the town was the site of theMauthausen concentration camp.
The area of Mauthausen has been settled for many millennia, as shown by archaeological discoveries dating back to theNeolithic age. During the time of theRoman Empire, it was at the crossroads of twotrade routes.
At the end of the 10th century, it became a toll (Maut inGerman) station for ships, and the name "Muthusen" for the settlement is first mentioned in 1007.
A village that had developed by theThird Crusade was ordered burned on 16 May 1189 byEmperor Frederick Barbarossa when it levied a tax on his army as it marched towardsVienna.[3]
During theFirst World War, aprisoner of war camp existed to the east of Mauthausen.[4] Italian,[5] Serbian and Russian (at times 40,000 men) soldiers were imprisoned there, around 10,000 of whom died in the camp, mostly Serbs and Italians. A war cemetery exists in their memory. The prison had guards especially fromHungary who were known for their barbaric tortures of the soldiers.
During the Second World War, from 1938 to 1945, one of the first massiveconcentration camp complexes in Nazi Germany wasset up to the west of the town. Inmates were subjected to barbaric conditions, the most infamous of which was being forced to carry heavy stone blocks up 186 steps from the camp quarry. The steps became known as the "Stairway to Death". A new museum was opened at the camp in 2003.[6]
Mauthausen experiencedflooding from theRiver Danube in 1954 and 2002.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1869 | 2,485 | — |
| 1880 | 2,808 | +13.0% |
| 1890 | 3,196 | +13.8% |
| 1900 | 3,354 | +4.9% |
| 1910 | 3,545 | +5.7% |
| 1923 | 3,048 | −14.0% |
| 1934 | 3,186 | +4.5% |
| 1939 | 4,378 | +37.4% |
| 1951 | 3,562 | −18.6% |
| 1961 | 3,836 | +7.7% |
| 1971 | 4,432 | +15.5% |
| 1981 | 4,346 | −1.9% |
| 1991 | 4,403 | +1.3% |
| 2001 | 4,845 | +10.0% |
| 2009 | 4,873 | +0.6% |
| 2015 | 4,894 | +0.4% |
Places of interest in and around Mauthausen include:
Media related toMauthausen at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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