Mauthausen entrance gate. In May 1938, Theodor Eicke, Oswald Pohl, and a technical staff chose a site on a high plateau near the small town of Mauthausen, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Linz, Austria, for a new concentration camp. The Mauthausen location was chosen because of the proximity to stone quarries and the need for a facility to hold political detainees in occupied Austria. A detail of several hundred prisoners from Dachau began construction there, and by the end of September, they had completed barracks for prisoners and the SS-guards. On February 17, 1939, SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Ziereis took over as commandant, a position he held until the end of the war.1 Granite walls, built by the prisoners and topped with barbed wire charged with a high-power electric charge, enclosed the “protective custody” camp, a rectangular area 85× 210 meters (279 × 689 feet). The street leading into the camp passed through two massive stone towers at the southeastern corner and led...