Look Back: Commemoration ceremony at the site of the former Gusen concentration camp, 2026

Today, 9 May 2026, a commemoration ceremony was held at the former Gusen concentration camp to mark the liberation of the Gusen branch camp. The ceremony focused on shared international remembrance and taking responsibility for the future. Around 1000 people attended the event.

Since 2023, the commemoration ceremony in Gusen has been organised in cooperation between the Gusen Memorial Committee and the Mauthausen Memorial. The lasting result of this collaborative approach has been the strengthening of memory work in Gusen and a significant contribution to deeper engagement with its history. Special thanks here must go to the survivors, relatives and initiatives who have kept remembrance alive over the decades.

The commemoration ceremony took place on the former roll call square in Gusen. Under the motto ‘We stand together’, short speeches by national and international representatives addressed themes such as social cohesion and solidarity. They also emphasised Gusen’s significance as part of the Mauthausen concentration camp system and the need to ensure that its history remains visible. The project to expand and redesign the memorial site, managed jointly by the Mauthausen Memorial and the Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, will also play a key role in this endeavour. ‘The power to make Gusen an active place of memory lies within us all’, said Barbara Glück, director of the Mauthausen Memorial.

Following the commemoration ceremony on the former roll call square, participants walked together to the Memorial de Gusen, where the event ended with a wreath-laying ceremony at 6:30 pm.

The event made it clear that memory in Gusen is not merely preserved, but is shared and nurtured by all those involved.