Mauthausen was the centre of the extermination of people by Nazi on Austrian
territory. The Mauthausen camp authority supervised not only the main concentration
camp outside the municipality of Mauthausen but also 49 secondary camps all
over Austria. From 1938 to the liberation in 1945 more than 300,000 people
of both sexes from all over Europe were imprisoned in the main camp. The majority
of the Mauthausen prisoners were taken into�protective custody�on the accusation
of being�pest to the people�. People were branded�pest to the people�because
of their national or their so-called racial origins, because of their political
activities or their religious believes. In the beginning the prisoners were
mainly compelled to forced labour in the quarry, later on mostly in factories
of the armament industry (e.g. Hermann Goering Works in Linz). According to
the record of the SS, 122.000 people were murdered between 1938 and 1945 only
in the main camp.
In summer 1943 an international resistance group developed in the camp. Early
in 1945 they formed an illegal military organisation. Leading members of this
organisation were Soviet prisoners of war and freedom fighters for the Spanish
republic. Based on its military unities the illegal international Mauthausen
committee took control of the camp even before the US army reached the camp.
The liberation of Austria from Hitler fascism is above all the merit of the
Soviet army under the leadership of J.W. Stalin because the then still socialist
Soviet Union bore the brunt of the struggle for destroying the Hitler armies
and therefore for the liberation not only of Austria but of all peoples of
Europe enslaved by the German fascism. Mauthausen concentration camp, as part
of the Nazi fascist system of concentration and death camps, is a symbol of
the extermination policy against the Jewish population in Europe, against the
communists, against democrats, against Roma and Sinti, against POWs and displaced
forced workers, against all who stood up against Nazi tyranny.
Although Austria was annected in 1938 by German imperialism in violation of
international law the then still revolutionary Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
was the only party that fought in an organized way for the reestablishment
of a democratic and independent Austria. So they won fame and historic merit.
On the other side, the Austro-Fascists calling themselves a christian social
party, the forerunners of today's Peoples Party of Austria (ÖVP) contributed
massively to the annexation in 1938 and handing over Austria and its people
to the Nazi criminals by destroying any resistance against the German fascism.
The incident of Mauthausen in February 1945 shows in horrible clarity the degree
of baiting and Nazi influence among the Austria civil population: At that time
419 so-called�K-prisoners�could flee from block 20 (K standing as an abbreviation
for the German word for�bullet�). They were unarmed, miserably dressed and
emaciated Soviet officers who, by the will of the Nazis, should under no circumstances
be allowed to leave the camp alive. The local Nazi leaders mobilized the population
in the region of Mühlviertel from school children to very old people to
chase and catch as many of the Red Army officers as possible. The murderous
mobilisation was such a big success for the Nazis that only 10 of 419 could
flee, all others being caught and murdered. This barbarious incident has entered
history as the�hare hunting of Mühlviertel�.
With the support of the western allies USA, Britain and France after liberation
the bourgeosie ruling in Austria before and after 1945 maintained and restored
the social structures that had opened the way to fascism in 1934 and 1938.
The leading Austrian bourgeois parties, Peoples Party and Social Democrats
unscrupulously courted the former Nazis because both parties did not want to
do without their experience in suppression and ruling. Moreover, around 1950
they contributed in creating a legal reservoir for the old Nazis. Out of that
organisation today's Freedom Party has developed. For a long time in the the
Second Republic, former members of the NSDAP (Nazi) Party were entrusted with
executive positions in the capitalist state apparatus. Several infamous former
Nazis were made ministers e.g. by the Social Democrat chairman and chancellor
Bruno Kreisky in the 1970ies.
Today's black-blue(-orange) government is, without any question, the most reactionary
one of the whole Second Republic. Their methods are substancially more modern
than their green-brown forefathers (i.e. Austro and Hitler fascists). In Sunday
speeches they even find unctuous words of demarcation against Hitler fascism.
During the week, however, Schüssel, Grasser and Co. speak in plain and
open language and act like that. They are experts of�devide and rule�at least
as experienced as their forerunners in the 1930ies and 1940ies. As long as
the exploited and suppressed people do not stand up against them in a firm
and massive struggle the ruling class will be pleased with their parlamentary
form of the dictatorship of capital. But that will never prevent them from
using the fascist rod again if they fear any danger for their paradise of exploitation.
Fascism is advancing again, not only in Europe but world-wide! Racism, anti-semitism,
nationalism and chauvinism are used as political safeguard and stronghold for
imperialist competition, wars and struggle for hegemony.
Fascism is one form of bourgeois rule and will be no more danger only when
the bourgeoisie is overthrown and the working class has got the power.
Don't forgive�don't forget!
Fight fascisation and fascism!
Join us at the liberation celebration on 8 May at Mauthausen!
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Bolshevist Initiative Germany, Bolshevist Party Northern Kurdistan / Turkey,
Communist Action�Marxist-Leninist (Austria), MLBO�Learning to Fight�(Germany),
Marxist-Leninist Party of Austria; all: Stiftgasse 8, A-1070 Wien;http://de.geocities.com/trotzalledem_ta,www.komak-ml.tk,www.geocities.com/bolsevik_partizan,www.geocities.com/mlpoesterreich,
April 2005.