Formation
The construction of the Ebensee subcamp began late in 1943, and the first 1,000 prisoners arrived on November 18, 1943, from the main camp of Mauthausen and its subcamps. The main purpose of Ebensee was to provide slave labor for the construction of enormous underground tunnels in which armament works were to be housed. These tunnels were planned for the evacuated Peenemünde V-2 rocket development, but, on July 6, 1944, Hitler ordered the complex converted to a tank-gear factory.
Approximately twenty thousand inmates were worked to their deaths to construct giant tunnels in the surrounding mountains. Together with the Mauthausen subcamp of Gusen, Ebensee is considered one of the most horrific Nazi concentration camps.
Jews formed about one-third of the inmates, a percentage increased to 40% at the end of the war, and were the worst treated, though all inmates suffered great hardships. The other inmates included Russians, Poles, Czechoslovaks, and Gypsies, as well as German and Austrian political prisoners and criminals.
The Commandant was Otto Riemer (born. 19 may 1897, date of death unknown) was a Nazi, a crew member of the German concentration camp Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, and SS-Obersturmführer. Unfortunately, his fate is unknown. Another SS man was Alfons Bentele, who died in a French prison.
Read more about this topic: Ebensee Concentration Camp
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