August Eigruber was one of the most powerful Austrian Nazis and a central figure behind the crimes committed at the Mauthausen concentration camp system during the Second World War. Born in 1907 in Steyr, Austria, Eigruber joined the Nazi movement early and became a devoted supporter of Adolf Hitler long before the Anschluss of Austria in 1938. After Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany, Eigruber was rewarded with immense power, becoming Gauleiter and Reich Governor of Reichsgau Oberdonau, placing him among the highest-ranking Nazi officials in Austria.
As regional leader, Eigruber bore direct responsibility for the establishment, expansion, and extreme brutality of Mauthausen, one of the deadliest concentration camps in the Nazi system. Unlike many camps primarily designed for imprisonment, Mauthausen was classified as a “Grade III” camp, intended for the complete physical destruction of its prisoners through forced labor, starvation, and systematic violence. Tens of thousands were worked to death in the granite quarries, while others were murdered through executions, gas killings, and medical neglect. Eigruber maintained close ties with the SS leadership and the camp commandant Franz Ziereis, personally intervening in camp affairs and approving executions. Under his authority, subcamps such as Gusen were developed, where conditions were even more lethal. He also played a role in the exploitation and concealment of looted Nazi art and valuables, including the storage of stolen treasures in the Altaussee salt mine. As the Third Reich collapsed, Eigruber attempted to evade responsibility, but he was arrested by U.S. forces after the war. In 1946, he was tried during the Dachau Mauthausen Trials, where overwhelming evidence demonstrated his direct responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Found guilty, August Eigruber was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on May 13, 1946. His case stands as a stark example of how political power, ideology, and personal ambition enabled mass murder. Eigruber was not merely a bureaucrat, but an active participant in one of the most brutal chapters of the Holocaust—leaving behind a legacy defined by terror, suffering, and industrialized death.
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