Mauthausen Quarry - Stairs of Death

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In case you are worried about having to climb down the "Stairs of Death" to get down into the Mauthausen quarry, this photograph will put your mind at ease. On the right is the steep stairs and to the left are two tour buses parked in the quarry itself. From the town of Mauthausen, one can take a taxi to get down into the quarry the easy way.

This stone-carrying device is on display in the Mauthausen museum. Prisoners were forced to carry heavy stones on their backs up the steep 186 "Stairs of Death." There were also narrow gauge railroad tracks in the quarry and small rail cars were used to transport the granite boulders to the Danube river where they were hauled away on boats. Only the prisoners on the punishment detail had to carry rocks on their backs up the stairs and then only once a day.

This photo shows a wide area that can be used for a rest stop near the top of the steep stairs which lead from the "Monument Park" at the Mauthausen Memorial Site down to the quarry below.

The "Stairs of Death" end about one quarter of the way up the long climb out of the quarry; there is still a steep road to the top, covered with tree roots and uneven granite rocks. Note the wire fence on the right which keeps tourists from falling over the cliff into the quarry.

The photo above shows the end of the steep road out of the quarry that starts with the "Stairs of Death." On the left is the Menorah of the Jewish monument and on the right is the monument in honor of the Communists from the former East Germany. Most of the prisoners at Mauthausen were political prisoners.

There is a bench on the left where you can rest after your climb out of the quarry. Don't worry about children falling over the cliff; there is a wire fence around the edge as you can see in the center of the photograph.

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Mauthausen Quarry

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This page was last updated on March 26, 2007