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Based on the meaning of "archive" found in the L'archéologie du savoir by Michel Foucault and the interpretations that Giorgio Agamben makes of it in Quel che resta di Auschwitz, we present some considerations on the concept of author that we have called "archives of evil". We use this expression to nominate documentary sets resulting from situations or regimes enabling of dissimilar scenarios of violence. These archives were mostly originated in the exercise of institutional functions. Today they are part of the funds of the commonly called "historical memory centers", regulated by the exercise of democratic rights. The biography of Ildefonso Nalda Nájera, who died in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and the Archiv der KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen, that nowadays holds documents and objects related to the Concentration Camp, constitute the model that has guided this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the interpretation and display of the buildings and other built structures at the Mauthausen concentration camp. After decades of neglect the many standing buildings of the Mauthausen-Gusen complex are now being analyzed as a source of information about the Nazi terror system. This shift is part of a change in what is regarded as important and authentic at such sites and is connected to the educational approach now taking center stage. The archaeological investigation of buildings plays an important role in this process. Through many examples drawn from the killing and cremation area, the kitchen buildings and elsewhere, the article goes on to demonstrate both the explanatory potential of the architecture and how it is being presented in today’s memorial landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prisoners of the former concentrations camps were supposed to be deprived of their socialization by brutal dehumanization. Among other things, the use of blue-and-white striped prison clothes was meant to reinforce a homogeneous and uniform prisoner society. However, studies from a sociological perspective have shown that prisoners’ societies were indeed diverse and structured, allowing individuals to develop strategies of survival within their - albeit limited - scope for action. In this article, prisoners’ possibilities to act are discussed using the example of clothing - an omnipresent and visible medium. Various changes and alterations preserved in prisoner clothing from former concentration camps reveal open or secretive acts of individuals and thus provide insights into the different levels of action inside the camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In concentration camps across Europe, replacing prisoners’ names with numbers was key to Nazi strategies for annihilating the identities of their victims. Number tags issued in the Mauthausen concentration camp are remembered by survivors as materializations of their destroyed identities and bureaucratic means in the murderous camp economy. However, several preserved tags carry prisoner-made decorations which point towards personalization strategies, making these items highly desired objects in current memorial practices for constructing narratives of survival. By taking an object-biographical approach, this chapter traces the ontological shifts the tags have gone through and discusses the relationships of camp life, the post-camp reading of material culture, and memorial practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main objective of the ,Mauthausen Survivors Documentation Project' (MSDP) was to record appr. 800 interviews with or memoirs from survivors of the NS concentration camp Mauthausen and its sub-camps. After 16 months there were 838 audio interviews (91 of them also on recorded on video) were handed over to the memorial Mauthausen This article focuses on the video exhibition ,Memory of Mauthausen'. It describes how oral history methodology has been deployed to choose interviewees, to set up the interview situation and to structure the interviews. Finally, selected examples of survivors' narratives are presented and historically contextualised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report on a panel on history and religion, convened during the Historikertag, the annual congress of the Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (VHD) and Verband der Geschichtslehrer Deutschlands (VGD) professional associations in Göttingen, Germany on September 20-23, 2016. Topics discussed included the alleged secularization of memorial sites including the Mauthausen concentration camp, historical tourism as a version of a pilgrimage, and the reflection of authenticity in museum architecture.

The article examines the Holocaust survivor narrative "Yo he estado en Mauthausen" ("I was in Mauthausen"), by Spanish concentration camp survivor Carlos Rodríguez del Risco, the first by a Spanish author. Focus is given to Rodríguez del Risco's use of rhetoric related to Spanish serialized novels and conversion narratives, as well as his tendencies towards Holocaust denial. His anti-Semitic remarks are evaluated along with his transition from a supported of Spanish republicanism to one of fascism and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

A report is presented from a November 17-20, 2011 conference in Vienna, Austria on the perspectives of immigrants to Germany on the Holocaust. Topics of presentations given included allegedly decreasing awareness among immigrants of World War II and the Holocaust, historical perspectives of black Austrians, and the use of the memorial at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria as an educational tool.

The article reports on a conference on "Gedenkstätten und Museen in den nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslagern. Bestandsaufnahme und Entwicklungsperspektiven" (Memorials and Museums in National Socialist Concentration Camps: Taking Stock and Developing Perspectives) held in Mauthausen, Austria, from September 9-10, 2010. Museum concepts, displays, and visitors were discussed. The concentration camps discussed in detail included Mauthausen in Austria, and Auschwitz and Stutthof in Poland.

In Austria, activities for teaching about and remembering the Holocaust have concentrated mainly on National Socialism and its atrocities. Austria’s history of political anti-Semitism goes back to the 19th century, however, and has been widely and publicly acknowledged. It has always been linked to nationalistic tendencies that are still present today and rarely reflected upon, including the anti-Slavic and anti-Turkish attitudes that right-wing parties use to gain supporters. Vienna’s special place of remembrance, the Heldenplatz, with its monuments and history, is a useful place to begin examining Austrian identities and the course of collective Austrian ways of thinking. Based on that examination, we then consider Austria’s daily politics and treatment of the past. We next turn to Holocaust education after the war, which has had an impressive impact after a late start, and mention some of its drawbacks and problems. We next discuss the lack of serious research about memorials in Austria, as compared with Germany, and present initial results from a project that started in spring 2009 to examine knowledge gains and attitude changes among students after they visit the Mauthausen concentration camp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the musical performance of the Vienna Philharmonic under conductor Simon Rattle to commemorate the performance of composer Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen in Austria. It provides a background on the cruelty of Nazi officials to prisoners at the concentration camp. The selection of performers and the management of the event by an advertising firm are one the controversies faced by concert organizers. The composer uses merrier songs to prevent people from being reminded of despair.

The article reviews the film "KZ," Rex Bloomstein's Holocaust documentary about tourists visiting Mauthausen concentration camp and interviews with the locals.