Mauthausen granite works

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Administration building of the DEST work group management in St. Georgen an der Gusen (2005)

“Granite works Mauthausen” was one of the names used by DEST for the DEST work group in St. Georgen an der Gusen in the vicinity of the Gusen I , Gusen II , Gusen III and Mauthausen concentration camps .

The stone quarries of the Mauthausen concentration camp and the Mauthausen granite works were notorious for the grueling working and living conditions that killed hundreds of thousands.

management

The group management of the “Granite Works Mauthausen” was in St. Georgen an der Gusen from 1940 to 1945 and was also known as the “St. Georgen Field Service” of the W Office in the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA) . Between 1938 and 1945, the St. Georgen group of works was expanded to become the largest DEST company. Companies of the DEST work group St. Georgen were:

  • Gusen-Kastenhof operation (with the Gusen, Kastenhof and Pierbauer quarries near the Gusen concentration camps )
  • Wienergraben operation (quarry operation at Mauthausen concentration camp)
  • Beneschau plant (quarries in the area of Beneschau near Prague)
  • Grossraming operation (stone production for the Ostmärkische power plants)
  • Operations department I (production of infantry weapons in cooperation with Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG in Gusen)
  • Operations department II (series production of fuselages and wings for Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft in cooperation with Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg in Gusen)
  • Operations department III (series production of fuselages and slats for Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter aircraft in cooperation with Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg in the underground production complex B8 Bergkristall in St. Georgen an der Gusen)
  • Construction department (cement goods production in Gusen)

Leading employees of the St. Georgen work group were:

  • Otto Walther (Plant Director in St. Georgen)
  • Alfred Grau (Commercial Director in St. Georgen)
  • Paul Wolfram (Plant Manager of the Gusen-Kastenhof plant)
  • Johannes Grimm (Plant Manager of the Wienergraben company)

Works director Walther reported directly to the WI / 2 office in the WVHA (Schneider, SS-Standartenführer Walter Salpeter , Heinz Schwarz or SS-Hauptsturmführer Assessor Karl Mummenthey ). From 1942 onwards, Franz Ziereis , the commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp, was also operations director of the DEST Werkgruppe St. Georgen.

The operations of the St. Georgen group of works were claimed as German property by the Soviet Union after the end of the war and some of them continued as a USIA operation until 1955 under the name "Granitwerke Gusen" . After 1955, the “Public Administration of Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH Berlin, St. Georgen ad Gusen” was established by the Republic of Austria , which administered the assets of the DEST group of St. Georgen until the 1960s.

literature