Austrian Supermarket Plan Sparks Outrage Over Former Women's Concentration Camp Site

A controversial real estate project in Austria has ignited public and political outrage after plans emerged to build a large commercial complex and a Lidl supermarket on the grounds of the former Hirtengerg women's concentration camp. The camp, the second largest women's camp in Austria, operated as a subcamp of the Mauthausen extermination camp and held around 400 women deported from Auschwitz, including young girls forced to work 12-hour shifts in a weapons factory under inhumane conditions.

The project advanced after Austria's Federal Monuments Office ruled that the remaining camp walls did not qualify as protected historic structures, clearing the way for demolition and rejecting local activists' calls for a memorial. The planned development includes a vast industrial facility with refrigerated storage, loading docks, and shipping zones intended to support major food retail chains.

The controversy deepened amid allegations of a severe conflict of interest involving Andreas Ramharter, mayor of Laa an der Thaya near Vienna. A company owned by Ramharter sold the former camp land to a private investor for over 15 million euros. Shortly after, the city council, controlled by Ramharter, approved rezoning the land for commercial use, earning him an additional 1.34 million euros and exclusive rights to install solar panels on the new center’s roof, promising ongoing profits.

Local opposition also highlights traffic concerns, as the plan would allow about 1,200 trucks daily through the area, risking severe congestion. Jewish community leaders and Holocaust memorial officials have strongly condemned the decision. Oscar Deutsch, head of Vienna’s Jewish community, called profiting from the memory of tortured women "a disgrace," while Barbara Glick, director of the Mauthausen Memorial, labeled the destruction of the camp remains "a shame and outrage."

Lidl declined to comment on the project specifics but confirmed the deal's existence, stating the company continually seeks new locations to enhance local offerings.