Introducing your own organization

Amicale of the deportees, families and friends of Mauthausen

Founded in 1945 by French survivors, the ‘Amicale’ of Mauthausen aimed first and foremost at maintaining the ties of solidarity created in the camp, at providing assistance to the families of the dead, to obtain a legal status for the deportees. It welcomed the Spanish deportees most of whom settled in France.

The ‘Amicale’ of Mauthausen honours the memory of the deportees, parcicipates in the ceremonies and commemorations performed in France and in Austria, provides contributions to the international Committee of Mauthausen, organizes tours around the sites of momory, answers to the many demands expressed by educational institutions.

Ten years ago, the deportees took stock of a number of new expectations. They decided to perpetuate their ‘Amicale’ and to entrust it to the younger generations. The scope of its activities broadened consequently :

• two European conferences where held at the University of Linz, 20 km away from Mauthausen, in 2000 and 2002 ;

• several conferences were devoted to the living memory (Rouen 2002, Toulouse 2004, Nantes 2006, Luxembourg 2008) ;

• a number of brochures were produced specifically for the visit of the camp and kommandos. They answer the needs of the lay visitor. Their content focuses on maps, historical information and memory ;

• in 2005, it produced the exhibit La part visible des camps. Les photographies du camp de concentration de Mauthausen (The visible part of the camps. The photographs of the Mauthausen concentration camp), together with the ‘Amical de Mauthausen y otros campos’ (Barcelona) and the Austrian federal Ministry of Interior. This exhibit, inaugurated in Paris by the Minister of Culture, has been produced in four different languages (German, French, Spanish, English). At the moment, it travels through the larger towns in France and in partner countries. It has also been presented in Liege (Belgium), Luxembourg, Ljubljana, Milan.