Melk concentration camp

Melk concentration camp (also called Melk labor camp and KZ Melk, A.K.Me) was a forced labor unit for men attached to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Mauthausen, Upper Austria. Prisoners there were assigned to construct an underground ball-bearing factory for the Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG company. The camp was established on January 11, 1944. Approximately 14,390 prisoners were transported to Melk, where at least 4,896 perished. The camp was liberated on May 5, 1945. In January 1944, a Kommando of Mauthausen concentration camp was established in Melk, Lower Austria, in the former abandoned barracks of the Wehrmacht pioneers Freiherr von Birago, then located in the Reichsgau Niederdonau, about 100 km east of Linz. An initial detachment of approximately 500 prisoners arrived on April 11, 1944, to prepare the facilities for up to 7,000 inmates. The camp officially opened on April 20 and 21, 1944. The prisoners were housed in 18 blocks, some of which were equipped with military equipment recovered from the Wehrmacht. The Quarz GmbH company, responsible for the forced labor operation, supplied beds, straw bags, and blankets. Initially, the camp had relatively better facilities than many other concentration camps, but this situation quickly deteriorated due to overcrowding and catastrophic sanitary conditions. In total, 14,390 prisoners from at least 26 countries were held in the M

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