Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria)

A Nazi concentration camp established in August 1938 in Austria following the Anschluss. Mauthausen was used primarily for the imprisonment of “asocials” and convicted criminals considered to have little potential for rehabilitation. Political opponents, religious objectors (i.e. Jehovah’s Witnesses), prisoners of war and Jews were also detained at the camp, which operated until May 1945. Approximately 95,000 prisoners were killed at Mauthausen using several different means including gas chambers and Zyklon B gas, asphyxiation in mobile gas vans, shooting, hanging, and as the result of mistreatment.