Internment camp Steinklamm
The internment camp Steinklamm (also refugee camp Steinklamm ) was located in Steinklamm in the municipality of Rabenstein an der Pielach in Lower Austria .
situation
The logistically favorable location in a distinctive loop of the Pielach Valley was an abandoned industrial site, where brandy and vinegar were produced from 1841 and which was later used by Harlander Coats as a cotton spinning and twisting mill. Steinklammer Gummiwerke took over the site in 1908, but due to its British ownership , the company ceased operations with the outbreak of World War I , after the entire property was confiscated and placed under administrative administration at the beginning of the First World War. The place had been accessible to traffic since 1898 by a station of the Mariazellerbahn , a narrow-gauge railway.
history
The camp was built in 1914 and by September 1914 was already occupied by 1,500 people, mostly refugees from Galicia , but also some people who were suspected of espionage . The hygienic conditions soon led to a typhus epidemic ; the first death was recorded in January 1915. The camp was then extensively expanded and a water pipe was installed, but this did not stop further outbreaks of disease such as measles and smallpox .
With the recovery of Galicia in 1915, many refugees from Galicia were able to return to their homeland and the camp was replenished with Italians . To make room, were internees transferred to other camps. Unfortunately, arriving internees also brought flakes , scarlet fever and dysentery with them to the camp.
After several relocations, up to 8,000 POWs, predominantly of Southeastern European descent, were interned there at peak times . A small church was built and, whether the deaths were frequent, a Friedacker was added.
After the end of the war the main building was rededicated as an orphanage in 1919 .
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 48 ° 3 ′ 13.9 ″ N , 15 ° 27 ′ 11.9 ″ E