{"id":738,"date":"2011-05-04T06:50:03","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T11:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/?p=738"},"modified":"2011-05-04T06:59:42","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T11:59:42","slug":"mauthausen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/?p=738","title":{"rendered":"Mauthausen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, we went to Mauthausen, which is the site of a former concentration camp.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not far away; only a 50 minute bus ride.\u00a0 The weather was nice for a little while.\u00a0 The birds were singing and the countryside out there is actually quite pretty.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a bit weird considering the unspeakable things that happened there.\u00a0 The exhibits we were able to to see included graphic photos and descriptions.\u00a0 A visit to Mauthausen is not recommended for those under 14.\u00a0 And you can really see just about all of the workings of the camp including barracks, gas chambers, dissecting tables, the rock quarry where prisoners were forced to work, and ovens.\u00a0 We took some pictures; mostly of the outside and the general grounds.\u00a0 As usual, click for larger. I&#8217;m sure there are other pictures floating around on the internet if you&#8217;re interested in such things.\u00a0 Here we are walking the country road on the way there.\u00a0 I joked that since we couldn&#8217;t see past the crest of the hill, it could be the end of the world for all we knew.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1893.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"The end of the world\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1893_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is the main entrance into the camp.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1897.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"The Main Gate\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1897_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1899.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"The Inner Courtyard\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1899_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many different nations have erected memorials to those who died here.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1901.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Memorial\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1901_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1903.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Courtyard\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1903_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We decided to explore this path.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1905.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Path\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1905_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"640\" height=\"390\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/9tMDhTJ31SA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" \/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/9tMDhTJ31SA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We left the path for a bit and discovered a dilapidated hut.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1910.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Off the Path\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1910_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is one of the pools in the quarry.\u00a0 You can see where it drops off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1917.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Quarry Pool\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1917_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is the quarry.\u00a0 You can see some people to get a feel for how big it is.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1919.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Quarry\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1919_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1920.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Quarry\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1920_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re on our way back up the stairs.\u00a0 I stopped to get a rock out of my shoe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1931.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"The Death Stairs\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1931_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But I really have nothing to complain about.\u00a0 Like I said in the video, these were called the Death Stairs.\u00a0 Prisoners were forced to carry their stone up these stairs, which in those days were not nearly as evenly shaped and easy to climb.\u00a0 The stones weighed up to 50 kilograms, about 110 pounds.\u00a0 The prisoners would carry these up the stairs on their backs.\u00a0 Often the guards would purposely trip or push the people in front and all of the workers would tumble down on top of each other in a heap.\u00a0 Keep in mind they were carrying huge 110 pound rocks.\u00a0 And if you were injured and couldn&#8217;t work, you would die.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a high wall of the quarry that inmates were sometimes pushed off of.\u00a0 Some also jumped of their own accord.\u00a0 The guards called these &#8220;parachute jumpers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The quarry from above.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1933.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"The Quarry from Above\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1933_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Later, it started to rain.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1938.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Rain\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1938_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1934.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Barbed Wire\" src=\"http:\/\/willz.org\/hosted\/blog\/austria\/mauthausen\/IMG_1934_small.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Austria and Germany are such nice, advanced countries, it&#8217;s so odd to me that such a thing happened here in the last century.\u00a0 However, I think it&#8217;s important that it is remembered and it should remind us of all the innocent people in the world today who are suffering and dying for no good reason.\u00a0 They were simply born in the wrong place, they are the &#8220;wrong&#8221; ethnicity, they fall in love with someone of the &#8220;wrong&#8221; sex, or they have &#8220;wrong&#8221; opinions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, we went to Mauthausen, which is the site of a former concentration camp.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not far away; only a 50 minute bus ride.\u00a0 The weather was nice for a little while.\u00a0 The birds were singing and the countryside out there is actually quite pretty.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a bit weird considering the unspeakable things that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}