Tunnel of memory

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On 26 October 2013, an exhibition opened in the 140-metre, horseshoe-shaped tunnel system beneath Lamberg Castle in Steyr, focusing on the histories of the Münichholz concentration camp and forced labourers in the area. It begins by contextualizing the economic crisis and unemployment of the 1930s, the Nazis' rise to power, the "Anschluss" of 1938, and the expansion of Steyr-Werke AG into a significant defense industry player. The exhibition emphasizes the exploitation of forced labourers and concentration camp prisoners from various European nations, illustrating their experiences through photographs, historic documents, drawings, original artefacts, and eyewitness testimonies. These prisoners were compelled to work in Steyr-Werke AG facilities and to construct underground galleries intended as air-raid shelters for civilians. The exhibition, located in one of these tunnels, highlights key themes such as the incineration of prisoners' bodies, the death march of Hungarian Jews, liberation on 5 May 1945, post-war remembrance, offenders, resistance, and human dignity. Translations were provided by students from the Centre for Translation Studies at the University of Vienna, under the guidance of Dr. Michaela Chiaki Ripplinger.