Search and Research 42 - Anatomy of a Camp - The Lenzing Concentration and Labor Camp in Austria, 1944-1945

This study of Lenzing, a women’s subcamp of Mauthausen that was established in October 1944 and operated until its liberation in May 1945, sheds important light on the lives of Jewish female concentration camp prisoners in the final stage of the Holocaust. Most of the approximately 600 female prisoners in the camp, the majority of them Jews, had survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and were transported to Lenzing bereaved, starving, and bereft of hope.

Applying a combination of historical tools and a gender perspective, this article analyzes the extremely harsh conditions in Lenzing, the forced labor in the viscose factory, hunger, physical violence, sexual abuse, and the dramatically deteriorating conditions. Few studies have examined the lives of the women who were interned in Lenzing, and even fewer have analyzed a significant range of primary sources. Based on an examination of survivor testimonies, this study opens a window onto everyday life in the camp and sheds light on the prisoners’ relationships, the labor they were forced to perform, the punitive system, and living conditions, creating a multifaceted picture of human survival in an untenable situation.