The survivors gave the Gusen concentration camp the nickname “Hell of all Hells”. Formally, the Gusen concentration camp, located a few kilometers northwest of Mauthausen, was a branch camp of Mauthausen, but with up to 72,000 prisoners it was at times larger than the main camp itself. The prisoners were initially used in the quarry, but with the increase in Allied air raids they had to carve huge tunnel systems into the mountain for the Nazi armaments machinery and aircraft construction. Around half of those deported to Gusen were murdered in this camp according to the principle of “extermination through work”.
