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SUB KL EBENSEE

Photograph of the permanent single muffle Kori oven from Ebensee post liberation. The crematoria was dismantled and disappeared after the war. Nothing remains today.  Photo Credit: Yad Vashem

Until the end of July 1944 dead prisoners were transported back to the parent camp at Mauthausen for cremation. However as in other large sub camps the increasing size of the camp and the death rate made it inefficient to transport bodies to Mauthausen by truck. Ebensee therefore planned and built its own crematorium from the Spring of 1944 which was completed on July 31 1944.

The crematorium was a a single muffle permanent Kori oven. As the number of deaths reached catastrophic proportions: 1700 in March 1945 and over 3100 in April 1945 this single muffle oven was completely inadequate. In addition there was an increasing lack of fuel. The camp commandant therefore resorted to having two mass graves dug both to prevent contagious diseases but also to hide the crimes. Even then over 1000 bodies were found strewn across the camp on the day of liberation of May 6 , 1945.

Sources: Freund, Florian: Concentration Camp Ebensee. Dokumentationsarchiv des Osterreichischen Widerstandes 1998.

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