A Memorial as a Place of Learning

Students visit the former concentration camp in Mauthausen-Gusen

Wolfgang Schmutz talks with the students about the remnants of the brick factory in which the concentration camp prisoners made bricks for new buildings in the Linz area (Photo: Ernst Langthaler)
Wolfgang Schmutz talks with the students about the remnants of the brick factory in which the concentration camp prisoners made bricks for new buildings in the Linz area (Photo: Ernst Langthaler)

As part of a seminar titled "Kanonen statt Butter! Wirtschaft und Politik im Nationalsozialismus", students studying history and political education under Ernst Langthaler also focus on how concentration camp prisoners were forcibly put to work. A recent outing to Lungitz brought them to the former satellite camp, "Gusen III".

Accompanied by Holocaust educator Wolfgang Schmutz, the students learned about the prisoners' working and living conditions as well as the camp's relations to the local community. Historical texts and images document the bridges constructed in the past between the camp remains and present company buildings by using forced labor. The outing gave the students ideas on how to effectively teach the topic of National Socialism as part of the school curricula.