On the Trail of the ‘Mühlviertel Hare Hunt’

Activists involved with the Perspektive Mauthausen and staff of the Mauthausen Memorial

Starting  in 1944, thousands of so-called ‘K’ prisoners were deported to Mauthausen. ‘K’ prisoners were mainly Soviet prisoner-of-war officers who were to be murdered in Mauthausen. Faced with a hopeless situation, around 500 of these prisoners broke out of the Mauthausen concentration camp on the night of 1 to 2 February 1945. The SS launched a large-scale manhunt, in which the gendarmerie, Wehrmacht, ‘Volkssturm’ and numerous civilians from the local neighbourhood took part. Almost all of the fugitives were recaptured. Most of them were murdered on the spot. This search and murder operation become known – cynically – as the ‘Mühlviertel Hare Hunt’. To commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the so-called ‘Mühlviertel Hare Hunt’, we will walk from the Mauthausen Memorial to the memorial in Ried in der Riedmark (approx. 4 km).

1:00 pm Meeting point at the Visitor Centre of the Mauthausen Memorial
1:30 pm Walk to Ried in der Riedmark (4 km)
4:00 pm Commemoration ceremony at the memorial in Ried in der Riedmark (next to the church)
5:00 pm Panel discussion at Ried in der Riedmark Music School

In cooperation with