A small group of crippled prisoners were among the survivors at KL-Mauthausen. They were predominantly Poles and Soviet POWs. Some of the crippled prisoners had suffered from severe frostbite and had their feet amputated in the camp. Given the KZ SS view on exploitation of members for their slave labour workforce, i.e. the need for prisoners to be able to perform some form of work detail, it is a near miracle that these inmates survived. This private image below was taken at the main camp shortly after the US forces liberated around 40,000 survivors at the Mauthausen-Gusen camps.
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