Commemorative Work in St. Valentin

This current time of rising racist and anti-Semitic tendencies clearly shows the importance of actively remembering the darkest chapter of our history.

Commemorative work in St. Valentin is conducted by the municipality and its culture office. The town bears a special historical responsibility, as St. Valentin was the site of a satellite camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp with the code name "toy factory". This satellite camp was founded on 21 August 1944 and was closely linked to the armaments industry. The first deportees were mainly Jewish people from the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp; they arrived in St. Valentin on 22 August 1944. A total of 1600 persons were incarcerated here. All that remains of the former camp today are overgrown barrack foundations, silent witnesses to a dark past.

Memorial site and commemoration ceremonies – a place of remembrance and admonition

In 1998 a memorial was established near the former satellite camp. A commemorative monument was unveiled there, designed by a St. Valentine school class under the guidance of their dedicated teacher Gerhard Haslinger. Since then, the memorial has been constantly enhanced to keep the memory alive.

In 2015, a monument was added to the memorial site to commemorate the citizens of St. Valentin who were murdered in the Hartheim euthanasia center. The sculpture "Human Dignity", designed by St. Valentine artist Manfred Brandstätter, was also added. In 2023 the municipality brought the sculpture "Stein unter Bewachung" (stone under guard) by the German-Japanese artist Kimoto, which was previously exhibited at the Mauthausen Memorial, to St. Valentin. These works of art create a bridge from the past to the present.

This is particularly impressive at the annual commemoration ceremony at the memorial site in St. Valentin in cooperation with the Mauthausen Committee Austria. To mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp, every year at the beginning of May people of all generations come together to commemorate the victims of National Socialism and to set an example against forgetting. Prominent speakers as well as representatives of the various religious communities and politicians make appearances. Their words reflect the respective annual motto of the Mauthausen Memorial and emphasize that our freedom and democracy cannot be taken for granted.

The ceremony is accompanied by various musical groups, whose performances create a moving and dignified atmosphere. For the commemoration in 2025, marking 80 years since the end of the war, display boards are planned showing the site and the satellite camp at that time to make the history even more tangible.

A particular objective of the commemoration work in St. Valentin is to involve the younger generation. Pupils from local secondary schools contribute to the commemoration ceremony and thus engage intensively with the past.

Commemorative work in St. Valentin is a living responsibility. It shows that history not only occurs in books, but also shapes our present. Commemoration means action!

Sources: Brochure: Sankt Valentin Concentration Camp Memorial "The past is never dead; it is not even past"; text: Josef Reisinger; responsible for the content: Leopold Feilecker