Mauthausen Memorial — Attraction in Mauthausen

This concentration camp is highly educational. It has a museum on site, which means plan on adding an extra hour or two to your experience. The education is all self-directed. You can either rent a device which plays audio content for you, or use your smartphone to listen to the audio. I recommend renting the audio device because it frees up your phone for using it for photos and videos. There are 24 information points around the entire camp and memorial sites. If you want to listen to the audio tour at each of the 24 points, you’ll need a minimum of two hours. If you want to read every single plaque and memorial, you’ll need to add even more time onto your experience (especially if you don’t read in German or Hebrew, as you’ll have to use the “translate image” feature in the Google Translate app for every plaque). All in all, if you don’t want to miss a single piece of information in the concentration camp and memorial grounds and also read every single thing in the museum, you will need around 5 to 6 hours to get through everything thoughtfully. This is a very sobering and somewhat dark experience. It’s not something you breeze through. If you’re serious about confronting this dark and painful history, plan for being there for 5-6 hours. Bring food. There’s also a cafe there, so you can take a break to sit down and eat. There are also some very high quality books on the Shoah and concentration camps in the visitor’s building where you purchase your tickets. Some of them are the top books in their field. They’re reasonably...

So hard to put into words, an emotional visit, on a practical level very well curated, so much of the facility is intact, including the cremation ovens and execution areas, very good signage and displays, the memorials very creative and impressive (although the British one seemed a little bland and unloved compared to others, not sure why, and just an observation, not a criticism). Some remarkable personal stories, a memorial recorded how Yugoslav and Russian prisoners risked their lives to bury the ashes of some British prisoners, that astounded me, an incredible act of humanity in such inhumane conditions, it's maybe a bit pointless to say it now, but I recognise and thank them for that act. I've experienced death and tragedy in many forms in my police career, life lost through both carelessness and malice, but when confronted with the 'Room of Names' I became very upset, death on such a scale is utterly overwhelming, and ultimately that room is why you should visit, and when your children are of a reasonable age, take them too, these lessons must never be forgotten. On a positive note, visit the restaurant, they provide opportunities for those with special needs, and the food is great, a wonderful antidote and response to the previous life...

I've been to Dachau in Munich and felt i'd already seen what there was to see about the holocaust. I also didn't want to experience sadness and maybe even depression on my European vacation. However my family begged to go and i'm glad I caved to them. This one of the most powerful historic sites I've ever been to. The exhibits are well executed, the grounds are kept in order, and the camp has an atmosphere of healing and remembrance. Lending to this feeling there are abundant monuments honoring the dead while also showing the sheer pointlessness and hatefully acts of the Nazi regime. When you visit the gas chambers and cremation ovens you'll see personal pictures and tributes to the victims. I left feeling like this place truly a message healing and educating mankind to never letting this happen again. This place will explain to you that the holocaust wasn't just the work of Hitler but there was a countless horde of villains and folks who did nothing to stop this. you're in the area, whatever your feeling may be, do not...