Linz, Austria

 The morning started out by opening our window and seeing this marvelous view of the city of Linz.  

After breakfast we headed out on a walking tour of Linz.  Linz is where Hitler spent part of his youth.  

The old city center was very pretty and we visited both the old and new Cathedrals.

In the afternoon we visited the Mauthausen-Gusen Memorial.  Mauthausen was the hub of 49 Nazi labor camps--one of the largest complexes in German-controlled Europe and the last to be liberated by the Allies. 

   We saw the prisoners' barracks, and learned how they were forced to work in quarries, mines, and munitions and arms factories--under conditions that resulted in nearly 100,000 deaths. We also saw the gas chamber and crematorium.

  Mauthausen was not a death camp.  It was a concentration camp or labor camp. The intent was to work the prisoners to death not just put them to death. The photos are self explanatory except for the sculptures.  Many countries built their own memorials.  I’ve enclosed photos of the sculpture from Israel (a Menorah) and the Hungarian Memorial.