Hartheim Euthanasia Centre

Hartheim Castle stands in Alkoven, a village near Linz in Upper Austria. Built in the 17th century, it was later used as a killing centre during the Nazi era. The castle now houses a memorial and documentation centre that examines this history. Its location in the countryside gives the site a quiet atmosphere, though its purpose remains sombre. The building itself is plain and functional, with few decorative features. Visitors approach through the same gate once used by victims’ transports. The memorial occupies the rooms where the killings were carried out and the records were kept. The site is significant because it was one of the main killing facilities in Aktion T4. Between May 1940 and September 1941, 18,269 people were murdered here using carbon monoxide gas. In total, around 30,000 victims were killed at Hartheim, including disabled patients and prisoners from concentration camps. The Hartheim statistics, discovered in 1945, show how the Nazis calculated the supposed savings in food costs from these murders. Doctors such as Rudolf Lonauer and Georg Renno oversaw the killings, often using false names in their records. The memorial preserves these documents and testimonies from survivors and witnesses. Inside the memorial, visitors see the gas chamber and crematorium where the murders took place. The rooms are preserved as they were during the war, with minimal alteration. Displays include the steel safe where the Hartheim statistics were found and photographs of victims. The documentation centre holds letters, medical files and survivor accounts. Outside, paths lead through the castle grounds, which remain largely unchanged. The memorial also covers the role of Hartheim in Aktion 14f13, where prisoners from Mauthausen were killed. The quiet surroundings contrast sharply with the site’s history.