Documentation of Commemoration and Liberation Ceremonies 2017

"Internationality unites"

Over 7000 people, including the last living survivors of concentration camp Mauthausen, high-level political figures and ambassadors along with numerous domestic and foreign visitors, participated in the International Liberation Ceremony on 7 May 2017 at the Mauthausen Memorial. Because far more than 90% of the victims of Mauthausen were neither German nor Austrian, this ceremony is of international importance and is by far the largest memorial and liberation ceremony in the world. Overall in 2017, together with its local groups, Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) organized more than 90 memorial and liberation events at locations of former satellite camps of concentration camp Mauthausen and other sites of Nazi terror. This constitutes a powerful signal: "Never again!" This year’s memorial and liberation ceremonies were dedicated to the motto "Internationality unites".

Documentation "Gedenk- und Befreiungsfeiern 2017" (in German)

The memorial and liberation ceremonies at the concentration camp memorial Mauthausen and its former satellite camps have been organized and conducted since 1946 by the survivors and their organizations. As successor organization to the Österreichische Lagergemeinschaft Mauthausen [Association of Survivors of Mauthausen], Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) has taken on this task. As organizer within its national and international network, MKÖ protects the interests of the survivors and their relatives, including in the context of the memorial and liberation ceremonies.