Drive to Vienna - August 23, 2011

 Another driving day…this time through Austria en route to Vienna.  Last year, we just barely scratched the surface in Austria when we went to Salzburg.  This time we felt like we should tend to some unfinished business here.

Highlights:

• Mondsee:  I finally fulfilled a childhood dream…walking down the aisle of The Collegiate Church of St. Michael just like Maria did in the Sound of Music!  What a beautiful Church…no wonder they filmed the movie here!  Quaint town too that we would have poked around in if we had more time.

• Mauthausen Concentration Camp: During our travels, we’ve always said we would like to visit a concentration camp.  This is not a tour for everyone as it was one of the most disturbing experiences we’ve ever had.  Mauthausen was built next to a quarry in 1938 and functioned as a labor camp until 1945.  

Upon arrival, all possessions were taken away from prisoners, and they were dressed in prison uniforms.  


Prisoners were given little food and forced to work in the quarries, often carrying huge slabs of stone on their back up the “Stairway of Death.”  Many died of exhaustion and disease, while others were shot or gassed.  

 

The 45 min. film about the history of the camp was difficult to watch especially when there were scenes of beyond skinny prisoners starving to death and a former American soldier talking about the condition of survivors and the piles of dead that he witnessed when the camp was liberated in 1945.  Afterwards, we took an audio tour through some of the original barracks of the camp, and through the gas chamber and crematorium…horrible sites.  We also walked down to the famous stairway at the quarry and past many memorials honoring former prisoners.  Although it was an emotionally draining visit, we were glad we visited so have a better understanding of what happened here.