A few days after the Anschluss of Austria with the German Reich, Gauleiter August Eigruber announced that a concentration camp would be established in the Gau Oberdonau. The choice of the site was dictated largely by the existing granite quarries in Mauthausen and Gusen and their close proximity to the “Führerstadt” Linz. The Granitwerke Mauthausen, (Mauthausen Granite Works) owned by the German Earth and Stone Works (DESt) was established in St. Georgen an der Gusen. Its purpose was to exploit the quarries.1 Even before the Mauthausen concentration camp was opened on August 8, 1938, the DESt had leased the quarries at Mauthausen and Gusen. It would later assume complete ownership.2 The first commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp was SS-Sturmbannführer Albert Sauer. He was commandant until February 1939. He was followed by Franz Ziereis, who held the position until the camp was liberated on May 5, 1945. He reached the rank of SS-Standartenführer. From March 1940, Georg Bac...