The bombing of the Melk concentration camp

Over the course of the camp’s existence, the Melk concentration camp also became a theatre of war. In July 1944 there was an Allied air raid on the town of Melk, which also inflicted heavy damage on the concentration camp grounds. More than 220 prisoners and 22 Luftwaffe soldiers deployed as guards were killed in a raid by the US 15th Air Force on 8 July. Over the following days, many more prisoners died of their wounds.

The photo shows the widespread destruction of the Melk concentration camp grounds after the air raid on 8 July 1944. ‘Objekt 10’, to the right of the image, was restored over the summer by prisoners and served again as accommodation (first floor) and kitchen (ground floor) for prisoners. Photo: Melk Town Archive, July 1944.While the bodies of the concentration camp prisoners killed in the raid were transported to the crematoria in Mauthausen, the Luftwaffe soldiers were buried with full military honours in the Melk Town Cemetery.

The prisoners’ block known as ‘Objekt 10’, which was used for housing prisoners on the first floor and contained the prisoners’ kitchen on the ground floor, was particularly badly damaged in the raid. In the weeks after the bombing, the building was restored by prisoners and some of the rafters were cynically inscribed with Nazi slogans about labour, such as ‘Arbeit macht frei’ and ‘all labour is ennobling’. These historical remains from the period of the camp’s existence have survived to this day.