History after May 1945

On its arrival in Melk, the Red Army found the former subcamp empty and briefly used the site as a Soviet garrison. Between January 1946 and late 1948, the barracks were used as temporary accommodation for around 70,000 displaced people of German-speaking minorities from Czechoslovakia (‘Sudetendeutsche’) and some from southern and south-eastern Europe (‘Volksdeutsche’), who were then transported onwards to Germany. Later, parts of the former concentration camp grounds were used for civilian purposes. Many of the wooden barracks that had been built by prisoners were torn down and in some cases sold. After end of the Allied occupation, the Austrian Armed Forces moved back onto the site.