Bergkristall

Useful Information

Location:	Marcel-Callo Straße 3, 4222 St. Georgen an der Gusen. Meeting point: Heimathaus St. Georgen/Gusen, Färbergasse 2, 4222 St. Georgen/Gusen. From Linz B3 to Abwinden, turn left to St. Georgen an der Gusen. From Vienna/Salzburg A1 exit 151 St. Valentin, B123a over the Danube, left onto B3 to Mauthausen, right to St. Georgen an der Gusen. (48.2677332, 14.4451126)
Open:	Stollenanlage „Bergkristall“: By appointment only. KZ-Gedenkstätte Gusen: MAR to OCT Mon-Sun 9-16:30. NOV to FEB Tue-Sun 9-15:45. [2025]
Fee:	Stollenanlage „Bergkristall“: free. KZ-Gedenkstätte Gusen: free. [2025]
Classification:	Factory
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=2 h.
Photography:	erlaubt
Accessibility:	nein
Bibliography:	Bernard Aldebert, Elisabeth Hölzl (1997) Gusen II - Leidensweg in 50 Stationen Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 1997. Rudolf A. Haunschmied et.al. (2007): St. Georgen-Gusen-Mauthausen - Concentration Camp Mauthausen Reconsidered Gusen Memorial Committee, Norderstedt 2007.
Address:	Stollenanlage „Bergkristall“, Tel: +43-7238-2269-51. E-mail: Haus der Erinnerung, Marcel-Callo Straße 3, 4222 St. Georgen an der Gusen, Tel: +43-699-16886513. sekretariat©bewusstseinsregion.at
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1944	Construction of the underground factory.
05-MAI-1945	Liberation by the American army.
1947	Red Army attempts to blow up the tunnel system with aerial bombs.
1990s	Houses are built above the plant.
2001	Republic of Austria becomes legal successor, Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG) becomes new owner of the site.
2003	Backfilling of tunnels to secure the houses.
2009	Most of the site is backfilled.
MAY-2010	First official guided tours of the site.
2019	House of Remembrance built.
MAY-2020	House of Remembrance opened.

Description

Bergkristall is a camouflage name for an underground factory built by the National Socialists in St. Georgen an der Gusen at the end of the Second World War. The construction of the underground factory in 1944 cost the lives of 10,000 prisoners. Aircraft fuselages and wings for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter were produced in a 7.5 km long tunnel with 45,000 m² of bomb-proof production area. Concentration camp prisoners and forced labourers from the Gusen II concentration camp were also used for this purpose. Bergkristall is one of the largest buildings from the Nazi era in Austria. There was another, smaller, underground armaments production facility in Gusen called "Kellerbau".

When the region was liberated on 05-MAY-1945, the SS had already prepared the demolition of the underground factory and the planned extermination of thousands of concentration camp prisoners with explosives. Fortunately, this was not carried out and the tunnel system fell into the hands of the Americans and was immediately sealed off. When the Americans cleared the area north of the Danube in early summer, they took the most important machines to Linz on the other side of the Danube so as not to hand them over to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union dismantled all the facilities and in autumn 1947 the Red Army attempted to blow up the tunnel system with aerial bombs. Several weeks of blasting destroyed large parts of the system, but by no means everything. This resulted in cave-ins, which were then backfilled by the local population. The less badly damaged tunnels were even used for mushroom cultivation. The sand in the tunnels was mined. Fortunately, plans for an underground power station, a large bunker for civil defence or a nuclear waste repository were not implemented.

In fact, the ownership situation was curious to say the least. Bergkristall was built during the war without any official authorisation and the Republic of Austria had no interest in dealing with the history. Who owned the complex was not clarified for decades, and it was not until 2001 that the Republic of Austria became the legal successor. The Federal Real Estate Company (BIG) thus became the new owner of the facility. However, houses had already been built in the area since the 1990s, apparently in a legal grey area, and so BIG had to fill in the tunnels underneath in 2003 and 2004 to secure these houses. Finally, in 2009, they filled in the majority of the tunnels; the fact that not everything was filled in is the result of efforts to preserve part of it as a memorial site. Today, only a 1.8 km long section of the tunnel remains, the rest was filled with concrete.

In 2010, the site was officially opened to visitors for the first time, and in the following years the site was officially opened once a year in May for a few guided tours. There is still only one weekend in May, on the anniversary of the liberation, when guided tours are offered. There is also a concentration camp memorial and a House of Remembrance at the mouth of the tunnel. The building serves as a visitor centre at the memorial site and houses the administration of the awareness region and various event and seminar rooms. The memorial to the Polish victims at the current entrance to the tunnel was donated by the Polish government in 2015.