The Amicale de Mauthausen is a French

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

in memory of the history of the

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

. Shortly after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, on 1 October 1945, the organization named ''l'Amicale des déportés politiques de la Résistance de Mauthausen et de ses kommandos dépendants'' was founded. The original members were survivors of CC Mauthausen-Gusen and its subcamps. Amicale de Mauthausen discovered that 198,000 people of 25 different nationalities (10,000 of them French) were deported to CC Mauthausen. 118,000 people died from forced labor or in one of the

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Gener ...

, which were installed inside of the camp. Particularly in the postwar years, but also today, the Amicale helps families of the missing and their children. Since its founding, Amicale has been teaching about the crimes of

national socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

. Amicale appears at various international events, e.g., commemorations of the liberation of Mauthausen. They also arrange excursions to Mauthausen. In the year 2000, there was an official generation change. Because of their age, the survivors of the camp handed over their functions to their children. There are still about 500 deportees and their families working for the association to commemorate their suffering. The French Amical is a member of the Comité International de Mauthausen with around 1700 members in total. The head office is in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, but there are many members elsewhere too. At the head office, there is the possibility for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

ns to serve for a short time instead of the military service as an Austrian Holocaust Memorial Servant. The first Austrian Holocaust Memorial Servant started to work in Paris on 1 September 2008.

External links

homepage

Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amicale De Mauthausen Organizations established in 1945 Culture of Paris Holocaust commemoration Historical societies of France Mauthausen concentration camp

See also

Further reading

External links