This is the entrance of the main compound at Mauthausen.

Right behind this gate is a large courtyard where the entire prisoners were held. http://www.thirdreichruins.com/mauthausen.htm Background information Mauthausen was one of the camps that were called Category Three Camp it was the fiercest category, and for the prisoners It meant return not desired and extermination by work. There were few Jewish prisoners in the camp during the early years.During the summer everybody wake up at 4:45 am and during the winter they have to wake up at 5:15. Everyday everyone had to work from when they woke up until 7 p.m. This time that they spend working includes two rolls call and the distribution of food ratios. The method that they used to kill the prisoner was cruel because the guards would tell them to dig in the mountainside. By 11:30 47 of the 87 who were digging lay dead on the ground. That afternoon 4 more were killed because they were asked to fight. Another killing method that they use By the SS during the winter was to gather a group of prisoners in the garage yard and order them to undress. A guard then sprayed water over the group that was left to freeze to death knowing that the temperature was around minus 10 degrees Celsius. http://www.jewishgen.org/forgottenCamps/Camps/MauthausenEng.html Detail information, (length of operation, Open-closed, number of people)