Database of the Czech Inmates in the Concentration Camp Mauthausen 1938-1945

Author: Miroslava Langhamerová

The concentration camp Mauthausen was designed for the arch enemies of the Reich and had the strictest regime. As early as in 1939 inmates from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were sent there. But mass deportations of Czech prisoners did not begin until October 1941 when the Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich gave the order. In actual fact, women and men sentenced by martial courts were deported to Mauthausen to be liquidated. Prisoners coming in those transports were killed either immediately on arrival or within a few days. Often, however, they were put into a bunker where they waited for execution, sometimes for a long time. The same fate was meted out for those arrested in connection with the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, as well as members various resistance organizations and people who helped them, and later members of partisan groups. The Czech Jews evacuated from Auschwitz came to the Mauthausen camp complex at the end of 1944 and in 1945.

The aim of the database is provide to researchers and the general public on-line access to the list of inmates of the camp.. It is based on the original documentation from the time of the German occupation and the early post-war period. In total, about 20 main sources were used for its compilation.

As a starting source for the project processing served The so-called Pankrác Prison Books and a book of the Prague Gestapo´s regional offices (Aussendienststellen-Buch), followed by the book listing "unnatural" deaths and camp registration cards of Czech prisoners kept in the National Archives in the collection named Okupační vězeňské spisy (Occupation Prison Records) Since between 1941 and 1943 many transports came to Mauthausen also from the Gestapo Police Prison in Terezín, the data were taken from the database "Gestapo Prison in Terezín Small Fortress 1940-1945". Another important source was the original camp book of arrivals (Liste der Zugang-Nummernbuch) kept in the Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej - Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu) in Warsaw.

The resultant database is the product of long-standing analytic work during which the individual sources were compared and the most credible data were sought. The database includes even those who passed only through the Mauthausen camp's branches (for example the Czech Jewish women deported to the women camp in Lenzing). Currently, the database contains information about the fate of more than 5,800 inhabitants of the Czech lands. In the next stage, the database will be continuously updated and supplemented with newly obtained information.

Problems encountered when working with the database

With respect to the kind and origin of sources, which are often contradictory, there are no precise data available for all the prisoners. The amount of data about each inmate may , therefore, substantially differ. The available data come exclusively from historical sources.

• Name and Surname: there is a considerable variability in the spelling of names in the sources, which makes it difficult to determine the correct form of the names and, above all, to identify individual persons; when searching for a specific name, only the word root with the symbol * may be used (for example Vala, Valčík, Valčíková, Valda, Valdman, Valenta etc. – Val*, or Darieux, Lax, Marx, Prymux, Sax, Urx - *x)
• Date of Birth: if the date varies in different sources, the alternative one is given under "Date of Birth 2"
• Length of Imprisonment: if available, the date of inmate´s arrival and departure is given
• Reasons for Termination of Imprisonment: transport – inmate´s transfer to another camp (branch of the Mauthausen camp); death – due to illness or for unknown reasons; execution – death penalty executed under the so-called "special treatment" (Sonderbehandlung); beaten to death – murdered by a guard or auxiliary camp staff; discharged – released before the camp´s liberation; liberated – survived the war
• Transport to: name of the repressive facility (mainly concentration camp) to which inmate was taken
• Final Termination of Imprisonment: last known place of detention with the date and reason for its termination (died, liberated/survived, discharged)
• Note: gives different information about the given person

Contact: databaze@pamatnik-terezin.cz