Traces of Remembrance 2025
From April 1 to 3, a Remembrance March took place in memory of the death marches from Mauthausen to Gunskirchen.
Relatives of survivors of the Gunskirchen subcamp, together with Austrian participants — including several members of the Gunskirchen-Edt Memorial Initiative — retraced their ancestors´ footsteps
.
On April 1, 2025, around 90 people set out on the journey.
Children and grandchildren of survivors of the Gunskirchen camp had travelled to Austria from Australia, Israel, and the United States, and about 60 people from the surrounding area joined them.
Very few of them knew each other.
Along the way, there was plenty of time to share stories, listen to one another, visit memorial sites, and mourn together. A deep sense of connection emerged.
Upon arrival in Gunskirchen, a plaque was unveiled at the old elementary school to commemorate the concentration camp prisoners who were transferred here from Mauthausen in December 1944.
Approximately 400 prisoners, mostly Polish and Russian, were driven through the town daily to the so-called Hochholz in Edt, where they were forced to build wooden barracks in the forest.
"Arbeitsgruppe Gunskirchen", led by Martin Kranzl-Greinecker, had initiated and designed the plaque.
Many stones bearing the names of victims of the Gunskirchen camp were carried along the way — stones with the names of survivors, as well as names of those who had died in the camp. There were also nameless stones, symbolizing the countless unknown victims.
Upon arrival in the forest, these stones were placed inside a metal Star of David, which will remain there as a memorial to the victims.
The closing ceremony in the forest was accompanied by music, performed by Sabine Nikolic (piano) and Jakob Herndler (saxophone).
Strangers had become friends, and saying goodbye that evening was visibly difficult.
Memorial Path – More Than Just a Path
Along heavily trafficked routes –
filled with noise and not without danger.
Time and again, interruptions –
places of remembrance,
sites of unimaginable horror,
stories of human fate,
but also stories of humanity.
And above all, again and again, encounters,
touching conversations, even songs and dances.
Lasting impressions – and a calling at the same time.
Gerhard Bleimschein
TRACES OF REMEMRANCE 2025:
Along the route and arriving in Gunskirchen on April 3, 2025
The Death Marches
In April 1945, thousands of Jewish people were driven in three stages from the tent camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp and from the Gusen camp to Gunskirchen — passing through Enns and Asten to St. Florian, then through Ansfelden and Pucking to Weißkirchen, and finally through Thalheim and Wels to Gunskirchen.
Many perished along the way. Those who could no longer keep up were shot by the guards and left by the roadside.
Several memorials and graves along the route bear witness to this horrific crime.