Sankt Georgen an der Gusen | ||
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Location within Austria | ||
Coordinates: 48°16′18″N 14°26′54″E / 48.27167°N 14.44833°ECoordinates: 48°16′18″N 14°26′54″E / 48.27167°N 14.44833°E | ||
Country | Austria | |
State | Upper Austria | |
District | Perg | |
Government | ||
• Mayor | Erich Wahl (SPÖ) | |
Area | ||
• Total | 7.09 km2 (2.74 sq mi) | |
Elevation | 262 m (860 ft) | |
Population (14 June 2016) | ||
• Total | 3,916 | |
• Density | 550/km2 (1,400/sq mi) | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
Postal codes | 4222, 4223 | |
Area code | 07237 | |
Vehicle registration | PE | |
Website | www.st-georgen-gusen.at |
Sankt Georgen an der Gusen (also St. Georgen an der Gusen, lit.: Saint George's Town on the Gusen River) is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria, between the municipalities of Luftenberg and Langenstein. As of 2015[update], the town had 3,779 inhabitants.
During World War II the town was selected to be the DEST-business administration center for exploiting the slave labour in the quarries and later the industries of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp system. In early 1944 the town became the site of Gusen 2 - the most brutal sub-camp of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp system. In roughly 40.000 m² of tunnels and caverns dug beneath St. Georgen for the Messerschmitt company a huge and most modern underground assembly plant for Messerschmitt Me 262 fuselages was operated until May 1945 under the code-name B8 Bergkristall - Esche II. In some trials of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal the relatively unknown term St. Georgen granite works was used to prevent the use of locations like Mauthausen or Gusen.