Picto Diary - 11 May 2016 - Mauthausen
Above: American tanks enter the main gate to liberate concentration camp prisoners. Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Austria. 05 May 1945.
Above: TIMDT stands in the silence at the main gate. Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Austria. 11 May 2016.
1938-1939: The construction of the Concentration Camp.
* The National Socialists take over of power marked the beginning of the persecution of political opponents, marginal social groups and Jews
* Following the annexation of Austria, Mauthausen was chosen as the site for a concentration camp. The first prisoners arrived on 08 August 1938 from the concentration camp in Dachau.
* They were robbed of their names and turned into numbers. Every day life in the camp was characterized by deprivation, violence and death.
1940-1942: Internationalization and Mass Murder
* The Second Word War and the occupation of large parts of Europe by the German army influenced the further development of Mauthausen concentration camp.
* Thousands of people were deported to Mauthausen and Gusen from the occupied countries. The SS began the systematic mass murder of certain groups of prisoners.
* While some prisoners rose in the camp hierarchy, others remained isolated. Work in the quarry cost many prisoners their lives.
1943-1944: Arms Industry and Sub Camps
* In view of the increasing shortage of skilled workers, forced labour became crucially important for the German war economy.
* A network of sub-camps was established so that concentration camp inmates could be put to work in the arms industry. Mauthausen concentration camp evolved into a camp system.
* For some prisoners living conditions improved, while others who were sick or unable to work were murdered or left to die.
1945: Overcrowding, Mass Death and Liberation
* The advance of the Allied armies and resistance efforts throughout Europe put an end to the National Socialist regime.
* In the final months of the war, thousands of people were forcibly removed from concentration camps elsewhere that were being disbanded and were brought to Mauhausen.
* The prospect of liberation gave many prisoners new hope. At the same time, however, they lived in a constant state of uncertainty and fear of being killed by the SS.
Circle of Silence
Amongst the general German populace knowledge the atrocities committed by the SS at the concentration camps was wide spread. Word of mouth, letters, photographs etc. filtered back to the German citizenry from soldiers assigned to the camps.
Notwithstanding, the subject (atrocity) was never discussed amongst the people. Goebbels, at first worried that a PR campaign to paper over what was going on at the camps might be necessary, later backed off, calling the non-talk about happenings at the concentration camps a "circle of silence."
Is the political correctness seen in our time is another form of the same phenomenon - circle of silence?
Above: Melk Abbey as seen through Melk lock on the Danube River. Melk, Austria. 11 May 2016.
Image captured from observation deck of Tauck river boat, Savor.
Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey above the Austrian town of Melk. It sits on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube River. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg, Austria's first ruling dynasty. The abbey was built in 1089.
The best images of the abbey, taken from the river, are from just up river from the lock. Once the ship is lowered some 30 feet in the lock to the down river level, sighting of the abbey from the river is occluded.
Melk lock is one of ten Danube locks in Austria.
The Danube is Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. The river flows south from the Black Forest in Germany through, or touching the borders of, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea.
When linked with the Rhine Main - Rotterdam canal, it is possible for river traffic to go from the Atlantic Ocean (Rotterdam) to the Black Sea (Constanta, Romania), a distance of 2,200 miles. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) were in Constanta two years ago while on a Black Sea/Aegean Sea cruise on Seabourn.
Down river from Melk lock is the Wachau Valley, one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria. The valley is known for its high-quality wines and apricot digestifs. Wachau Valley, cut by the Danube River, is 25 miles long. It has been settled since prehistoric times.
The Danube formed the northern border of the Roman Empire.
Beyond, to the north? ... us barbarians.
Addendum:
I read with special interest your notes on the organ at St. Stephen's Cathedral. Of course you shed tears..the sound coming from such an instrument is powerful enough to move your spirit right up to the very edge of God's touch. Wish I could have been there, but reading your account of the experience was good enough for today.
Magnolia,
Miami, FL
How very appropriate.
Jack Aroon,
Mahwah, NJ