Russia protests industrial park plans at former Leobersdorf concentration camp

The Russian Embassy in Vienna has issued a protest against plans by Austrian and German companies to construct an industrial park on the site of the former Leobersdorf concentration camp in Lower Austria.

Leobersdorf served as a satellite camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp, where approximately 400 women and girls, with an average age of 23, were imprisoned. Many of these prisoners were citizens of the Soviet Union and were forced into dangerous labor at the nearby Hirtenberg arms factory. The embassy noted that upon the camp's closure, prisoners were forced to march toward Mauthausen, a journey during which some perished.

The Russian diplomatic mission expressed support for the International Mauthausen Committee (CIM), which has warned that the construction could permanently bury or destroy physical evidence and historical traces of the Nazi era under layers of concrete and steel. The embassy called on Austrian authorities to fulfill their obligations to preserve the memory of the victims and prevent the erasure of these historical crimes.