Austrian Supermarket and Logistics Center Planned on Former Women's Concentration Camp Site Sparks Outrage

A major political and public controversy has erupted in Austria over plans to build a large logistics center and a Lidl supermarket branch on the site of the former Hirtengerg women's concentration camp, the country's second-largest women's camp during World War II. The project received approval from Austria's Federal Monuments Office, which ruled that the remaining camp walls did not qualify for historic preservation status. This decision has been widely condemned in local media as a "major scandal."

At the center of the controversy is Andreas Ramharter, mayor of Laa an der Thaya, located about 40 minutes south of Vienna. Ramharter personally profited from the deal: his company sold the land to an investor for over 15 million euros, and after the city council, under his control, approved rezoning the land for commercial use, he received an additional 1.34 million euros. He also secured exclusive rights to install solar panels on the new complex's roof, promising him ongoing income.

The planned facility will be a massive industrial building serving as a refrigerated warehouse and logistics hub, including loading docks, freezing areas, and shipping zones to support food networks, alongside the Lidl supermarket. The project also faces fierce opposition from local political opponents concerned about traffic, as the mayor is pushing for changes to allow around 1,200 trucks daily to pass through the former camp area, raising fears of severe traffic congestion.

Jewish community leader Oscar Deutsch in Vienna condemned the plan, calling it shameful to profit from the memory of murdered women and stating that this dark chapter in history cannot be covered by a shopping mall. Barbara Glick, director of the Mauthausen camp memorial, also criticized the destruction of the camp remains as disgraceful. Local activists had campaigned for months to establish a modest memorial at the site, but their demands were rejected.

The Hirtengerg camp operated in the final years of World War II as a subcamp of the Mauthausen extermination camp, where about 400 women deported from Auschwitz were forced into brutal 12-hour shifts in a local weapons factory under inhumane conditions. The youngest prisoner was only 16 years old. Lidl declined to confirm official details but did not deny the reports, stating they are always seeking new locations to improve local offerings, including in Laa an der Thaya, but could not provide specifics at this stage.