Gusen Concentration Camp

Gusen was a complex network of Nazi concentration and forced labor camps near Gusen and Mauthausen in Austria during World War II. Established between 1938 and 1940, it housed thousands of prisoners, including Jews, political opponents, and other marginalized groups. Inmates endured brutal conditions, forced to perform hard labor in quarries and factories under severe abuse, leading to high death rates. Gusen was part of the Mauthausen-Gusen system, functioning with the goal of exploiting prisoners' labor for Nazi war efforts while systematically oppressing and exterminating those deemed undesirable.