ID :
180652
Sun, 05/08/2011 - 09:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/180652
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Ceremonies to be held at site of former Nazi camp in Austria
MAUTHAUSEN, Austria, May 8 (Itar-Tass) - Ceremonies dedicated to the
liberation of a former Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen, Austria,
will be held Sunday on the territory of the once ominous "death factory".
It was liberated in May 5, 1945, by American troops that were moving
forward on the Austrian territory from the North.
Sunday will see church services in memory of Mauthausen's victims.
Former prisoners will lay wreaths at monuments and memorial plaques on the
territory of the camp and will take part in "a march of remembrance".
The Nazis kept about 335,000 prisoners in Mauthausen and 122,000 of
the latter were executed. Of that number, 32,000 were Soviet citizens.
One of the Soviet POWs was the famous General Dmitry Karbyshev, a
65-year-old career officer who was an active leader of resistance movement
in the camp.
He met his death February 17, 1945, when a group of several hundred
POWs including himself were taken out into the street naked, showered with
water and then left to die in the cold.
Gen Karbyshev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
posthumously.
Another important POW who was kept in Mauthausen was Dmitry Osnovin,
the organizer of guerilla movement in Eastern Slovakia who became the
national hero of former Czechoslovakia.
Activists of Austria's rightwing and radical organizations are going
to have a torch march in Vienna's Square of Heroes /Heldenplatz/.
Activists of leftwing and anti-Fascist organizations will have
meetings in Heldenplatz, too, but they will be unable to impede the
procession with the torches, as the rightwingers have secured police
protection in advance.
The fact that the memorial events at Mauthausen and the torch
procession in downtown Vienna are held at the same time this year may be
purely coincidental but the Mauthausen Committee views it as a "reason for
serious concern over a sizable increase in the number of neo-Nazi actions"
In the past two years alone, the amount of criminal cases related to
encroachments on the law banning the propaganda of Nazism has grown by
almost a third in Austria.
Anti-Nazi activists point out in this connection that the authorities
are in no hurry to punish the malefactors.
.
liberation of a former Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen, Austria,
will be held Sunday on the territory of the once ominous "death factory".
It was liberated in May 5, 1945, by American troops that were moving
forward on the Austrian territory from the North.
Sunday will see church services in memory of Mauthausen's victims.
Former prisoners will lay wreaths at monuments and memorial plaques on the
territory of the camp and will take part in "a march of remembrance".
The Nazis kept about 335,000 prisoners in Mauthausen and 122,000 of
the latter were executed. Of that number, 32,000 were Soviet citizens.
One of the Soviet POWs was the famous General Dmitry Karbyshev, a
65-year-old career officer who was an active leader of resistance movement
in the camp.
He met his death February 17, 1945, when a group of several hundred
POWs including himself were taken out into the street naked, showered with
water and then left to die in the cold.
Gen Karbyshev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
posthumously.
Another important POW who was kept in Mauthausen was Dmitry Osnovin,
the organizer of guerilla movement in Eastern Slovakia who became the
national hero of former Czechoslovakia.
Activists of Austria's rightwing and radical organizations are going
to have a torch march in Vienna's Square of Heroes /Heldenplatz/.
Activists of leftwing and anti-Fascist organizations will have
meetings in Heldenplatz, too, but they will be unable to impede the
procession with the torches, as the rightwingers have secured police
protection in advance.
The fact that the memorial events at Mauthausen and the torch
procession in downtown Vienna are held at the same time this year may be
purely coincidental but the Mauthausen Committee views it as a "reason for
serious concern over a sizable increase in the number of neo-Nazi actions"
In the past two years alone, the amount of criminal cases related to
encroachments on the law banning the propaganda of Nazism has grown by
almost a third in Austria.
Anti-Nazi activists point out in this connection that the authorities
are in no hurry to punish the malefactors.
.
