Your Visit
27.10.–28.02.
Tuesday – Sunday: 09:00 to 03:45, closed on Mondays
01.03.–26.10.
daily 09:00 bis 17:30
Address
Mauthausen Memorial
Erinnerungsstrasse 1
4310 Mauthausen, Austria
Comparative Questions
Can you identify a narrative that is offered to the visitors?
As already mentioned, different narratives such as audio guides, iWalks and exhibitions with texts, objects and pictures/images are offered to the visitors. But the most important aspects are the iWalks combined with audio texts and video testimonies that are valuable for the approach to the history of the camp.
Is there a person or a group, the narrative is centered around?
Focus of the whole memorial are of course the victims of the concentration camp, especially because there are victims that are mostly Jewish but also from other (former) countries around Europe that became the victims of the Nazi regime.
Are pictures / images important in the construction of the museum narrative?
Like in every memorial of concentration camps, the original pictures and images of Mauthausen play an important role in the narrative of this historical place. Pictures are placed in every barrack that was reconstructed and is found in every part of the exhibition inside the buildings. Even on the website of Mauthausen you can find original pictures.
Pictures tell their own story and because of the advanced technology (at this time) of photography, we are able to reconstruct the “life” of this time and this is precious for, for example, the teaching of history in the schools and next generations.
Pictures and images are in charge of emotional approach to history and evoke feelings such as sympathy, suffering, sadness or anger, which influences the learning of history and their “sustainability” in our memory and have an impact of how the history of a certain topic is going to be told in the future generations.
Are there objects, documents or Testimonies?
Another valuable form of narration are testimonies that are represented in different forms of teaching history in the museum. On the one hand you have the iWalk of erinnern.at which also includes original video interviews and testimonies from former inmates of the camp. They are talking about specific topics, like for example the morning at the “Appellplatz”, “working at the camp” or daily “routines”. Because of the videos you are watching during your “walk”, you not only have a certain story but also a “face” to it, which highlights again the “emotional” aspect of learning/teaching history.
What kind of knowledge?
A former knowledge or background knowledge is not required for visiting the museum. In my opinion, the different tools of telling history like the audio guide or the iWalk of the museum are enough to gain a certain knowledge for the war, the concentration camp and the life of the prisoners. BUT: The approach to history is different if you already have certain knowledge. People who already have visited other concentration camps, like Dachau (usual in the German speaking part of Europe), get another aspect of concentration camp not focusing only on Jewish prisoners but prisoners from all over Europe and the story of how and why they found themselves in the camp. This is an aspect that has to get more importance that the victims of the wars are not only the Jewish population but also Slavs, Sinti and Roma and opponents of the Nazi regime. We get to know more about their lives and their way through Nazi Germany. In my opinion this is a totally new approach compared to other concentration camps.
Further Questions
What approach to war does the museum present?
The memorial of KZ-Mauthausen is divided in different forms of narratives. On the one hand you have the “spirit” of concentration camps that does his work; no matter if there are any other approaches to history and the story. On the other hand, you have a virtual guide of the museum itself and an iWalk from the organization erinnern.at in cooperation with the USC Shoah Foundation.
Even before entering the camp itself you find a lot of memorials dedicated to the prisoners from the different countries. Every country such as Poland, the Soviet Union (Russia), Yugoslavia (Serbia), Italy and more placed a memorial outside and a commemorative plaque (Gedenktafel) inside the area of the concentration camp. With the virtual guide you already receive a lot of information concerning the outside of the camp and what it was during that period of time.
One can imagine the inside of the camp as the usual pictures we see on the internet or when we visit another camp like Dachau or Sachsenhausen. You are received by the usual picture of the empty but still powerful “Appellplatz”. Even though you can’t see anything else but the wide of a gray square in real, you still imagine and feel the suffer of the prisoners heading everyday towards the “Appellplatz” and standing there for hours and hours no matter in summer or winter. Preconditions for this kind of feelings are a certain amount of background knowledge.
What objects represent war in the exhibition?
The memorial itself has also its own war exhibition at the end of the whole construction. In the reconstructions of the barracks, you also find some information and pictures concerning a specific topic such as the map of the whole camp, the division of the people in the different camps and the type of prisoners that were there. It was also highlighted that the Jewish prisoners were the most hated under the guards and Nazis inside the camp and that they weren’t allowed to sleep inside the barracks but in a tent at the end of the whole construction just to have the longest way to the “Appellplatz”.
As mentioned, the memorial has its own museum/exhibition inside a building at the end of the camp. The exhibition is divided into different categories or topics that are treated. Also, objects play an important role for the approach of history to the visitor. The objects presented are not directly connected to the topic of “war” but to the structure of the camp, the “daily business” of the camp, the Nazi regime and the life of the prisoners inside the camp. A lot of objects that are exhibited are personal belongings from former prisoners. For example, the bicycle of a Polish prisoner has found its way to the museum. After the war he didn’t want to wait for a transport to bring him back home but he took a bicycle and rode the whole way back to Poland.
Other objects presented are for example the cloths of the prisoners AND the guards, different instruments of torture, original lists from the camp and of course original pictures before, during and after the camp.
My Impression
Links
https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/de/Wissen/Das-Konzentrationslager-Mauthausen-1938-1945