I visited Mauthausen concentration camp in the Spring of 2019 when I was studying abroad for five months in Austria. It was very solemn yet not so much sad as it was surreal. You go into places like this and despite the plaques honoring the dead, despite the sight of the crematory, the barracks, etc. , you still ask yourself "gosh, all those bad things happened here?"

Mauthausen being the largest concentration camp in Austria, I was surprised by its size, as it was pretty small (though I do not know how much of its original property was reduced after the end of the war).

I saw the "stairs of death" from a distance. It was on a cliff overlooking the quarry. I don't know if people are allowed to walk in the quarry, let alone the stairs. It was very interesting as it was solemn in seeing that and all of the memorials dedicated to those who lost their lives there.

Good post.