Satellite Camp Ebensee

Establishment of the satellite camp

Ebensee Subcamp was established on 18 November 1943. A tunnel network was to be dug in the mountains around Ebensee to provide safety from air raids for the missile testing facility run by the Heereswaffenamt (German Army Weapons Agency) out of the town of Peenemünde in Northern Germany. The prisoners had to dig two tunnel systems with a total area of more than 40,000 square metres. Other names used for Ebensee Subcamp: „Kalk“, „Solvay“, „Zement“, „Dachs II“ (code name for the lubrication oil refinery), „Taube I“ (code name for the crack plant).

Location

The subcamp was in direct vicinity of the town of Ebensee. The initial plan was the construction of a huge tunnel system as well as the development of the anti-aircraft missile “Wasserfall” and the so-called “Amerikarakete”. The missile research centre should have been relocated from Peenemünde to Ebensee, a plan that eventually failed in late 1944. Tunnel system “A”, where crude oil distillation started in February 1945, was almost completed by the time the war ended, and system “B” was 60% completed.

Prisoners

The majority of the prisoners of Ebensee Subcamp had been transferred over from Mauthausen. The first big transport of prisoners from Mauthausen Concentration Camp arrived in Ebensee only one day after the establishment of the camp. In total, about 27,000 prisoners were held captive at Ebensee. The highest number of prisoners present at the same time was 18,509, which was reached on 23 April 1945. As early as May 1944, 5,000 prisoners were held at Ebensee Subcamp; by the end of the year, it was over 9,000. Around 30% of the prisoners at Ebensee subcamp were Jews. Many the prisoners were from Poland, Russia, and Hungary.

Forced labor

Prisoners were assigned to work on digging the tunnels for the missile arming facility. The production of tank transmissions was planned to be carried out inside tunnel system “A”, the completion of which was the most advanced. The project was replaced with the set-up of an underground refinery though, as fuel production became a priority. In tunnel system “B”, the operation of a ball bearings production for Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG was underway. Prisoners had to work between eight and eleven hours every day without any safety precautions inside the tunnels. In the last days before the liberation, all prisoners in the tunnel systems were to be murdered. By refusing to enter the tunnel systems, the prisoners tried to thwart the murder attempt by the SS. The death rate for Ebensee Subcamp was at 31% - by the time of the liberation, more than 8,200 prisoners had died.

Guarding

The prisoners in the labour detachment of Ebensee Subcamp were supervised by civilian workers. Camp leader SS-Hauptsturmführer (Chief Assault Leader) Georg Machmayer, SS-Hauptsturmführer Alfons Bentele, SS-Obersturmführer (Senior Assault Leader) Otto Riemer, and SS-Hauptsturmführer Anton Ganz stood out for their extreme cruelty and brutality.

Liberation

Ebensee Subcamp was liberated on 6 May 1945 by the US Army (3rd Cavalry). Before the US Army arrived at Ebensee Subcamp, and the SS guards had been removed, approximately 52 prisoner functionaries, who had collaborated with the SS, were killed. Hundreds of prisoners died in the weeks after their liberation as a result of their imprisonment.

Commemoration and remembrance

On the former grounds of the camp, a housing development was built after the war, and only part of it became a cemetery for the victims and the actual memorial site. The archway that was the main entrance to the camp can still be found at the entrance of the housing development. Today, there are numerous individual memorial plaques and official monuments on the cemetery, for most of the represented groups of prisoners. In 2011, a monument was erected showing all the names of the 8,412 victims on glass panels. In tunnel no. 5, an exhibition on the topic was launched in 1997, and since 2001, the Ebensee Museum for Contemporary History [1] has been providing information about the history of the camp. The date for the annual International Liberation Ceremony in Ebensee can be found here [2].

Fotos (Aktuell, Historisch, Topografie und Luftaufnahmen)

Cleats 1
Monument "Giving a Name to the Victims"
Site Memorial Ebensee
Site Memorial Ebensee
Memorial Ebensee Guide
Information board Memorial Ebensee
Information board Memorial Ebensee
Site Memorial Ebensee
Site Memorial Ebensee
Site Memorial Ebensee
Site Memorial Ebensee
Site Memorial Ebensee
Information board Memorial Ebensee
former camp gate
former camp gate
former camp gate
Commemorative plaque - Memorial Ebensee
Cleats 1
Cleats 2
Cleats 2
Cleats 3
Cleats 3
Cleats 3
Cleats 3
Cleats 3
Cleats 4
Cleats 4
Cleats 5
Cleats 5
Cleats 6
Cleats 6
Gallery system "B"
Gallery system "B"
Bouquet of flowers in the gallery
Memorial place in the tunnel system
Memorial place in the tunnel system
Memorial place in the tunnel system
Memorial place in the tunnel system
Memorial place in the tunnel system
Exhibition in the memorial gallery
Information board about the exhibition in the memorial gallery
Gallery system
Entrance to the memorial gallery
Entrance to the memorial gallery
Commemorative plaque - Memorial Ebensee
Memorial stone in Ebensee
Memorial stone in Ebensee
Memorial stone in Ebensee
Memorial stone in Ebensee
Monument "Giving a Name to the Victims"
Site - Memorial Ebensee
Ebensee concentration camp: liberated Luxembourgers, May 1945
Survivors greet liberators, May 1945
Ebensee concentration camp: liberated Luxembourgers, May 1945
CC-Ebensee: Crematorium 1945
CC-Ebensee: Crematorium Mai 1945
CC-Ebensee: Crematorium
CC-Ebensee: camp construction, winter 1943-44
Camp fence and watch tower
CC-Ebensee: Plan of the camp
CC-Ebensee: survivors
Liberated Luxembourgers, May 1945
Liberated prisoners on the former roll call square, May 1945
Ebensee concentration camp: survivors greet liberators, May 1945
Survivors leave the camp, May 1945
CC-Ebensee, survivors
CC-Ebensee: liberated children, 8 May 1945
CC-Ebensee: liberated prisoners singing in the Bahnhofstraße
CC-Ebensee: liberated prisoners on 7 May 1945
CC-Ebensee: liberated prisoners on the former roll call square, 7 May 1945
View KZ-Ebensee, May 1945
Ebensee Concentration Camp Memorial Site, cadastral plan - scale 1:1,000; former "B" gallery
CC-Ebensee: Aerial photograph
Ebensee concentration camp memorial site, scale 1:5,000 with GPS data; 1. sacrificial free yard / former camp site; 2. entrances to the "B" gallery; 3. "Löwengang" gallery
Ebensee Concentration Camp Memorial Site, cadastral map - scale 1:5,000; overview of former camp site incl. gallery "B
Ebensee Concentration Camp Memorial Site, cadastral plan - scale 1:1,000; cemetery/formerly site of the crematorium
Ebensee Concentration Camp Memorial Site, cadastral map - scale 1:1,000; former camp gate (across the road)
Memorial service in Ebensee 2003, speech by Klaus-Maria Brandauer and concentration camp survivor Max Garcia © ORF
Interview KZ survivor Max Garcia with daughter Michelle Garcia Winner