Klagenfurt-Lensdorf

In November 1943, a Mauthausen satellite camp was set up at an SS cadet school (Junkerschule) in a suburb of Klagenfurt called Lensdorf. Their main task was to build barracks, horse stables, a fire pond, a swimming pool and repair damages caused by enemy bombing in Klagenfurt. The prisoners were housed in one barrack and the number of prisoners varied between 80-130 and was at its highest between September and December 1944. The prisoners had been sent to Lensdorf via Mauthausen and came from all corners of Europe. All prisoners were classified as political prisoners. The camp was placed within the school area and surrounded by barbed wire fences and two watchtowers. A barrack for SS guards was built in connection with the prison barracks. At the end of the war, most of the prisoners were evacuated to Dachau outside Munich while the remaining had to work on demolishing the prison barrack and the SS barrack. They were then evacuated by truck to Loibl Süd camp a few miles south of Klagenfurt. There was an order to the cadet school commandant that the prisoners should be murdered not to fall into enemy hands, but this order was ignored and the prisoners could gradually be freed by allied troops. It is unknown how many prisoners died during the camp’s existence.