Ebensee was a subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Its prisoners were used for forced labor during the construction of an underground rocket factory. Ebensee was liberated in May 1945.
![Mauthausen subcamps, 1938-1945 [LCID: mau72050]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/05f13119-3596-4eb9-8832-c9f246fa31fc.gif "Mauthausen subcamps, 1938-1945 [LCID: mau72050]")
The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Leo and his family were confined to a ghetto in Lodz. Leo was forced to work as a tailor in a uniform factory. The Lodz ghetto was liquidated in 1944, and Leo was deported to Auschwitz. He was then sent to the Gross-Rosen camp system for forced labor. As the Soviet army advanced, the prisoners were transferred to the Ebensee camp in Austria. The Ebensee camp was liberated in 1945.
Item ViewUS forces under the command of General Omar Bradley reached the Ebensee forced-labor camp in Austria in early May 1945. The Germans had built Ebensee at the foot of the Austrian Alps as part of the Mauthausen system of camps. The Nazis employed Ebensee prisoners as forced laborers during the construction of an underground rocket factory. Thousands died from the harsh conditions and back-breaking labor.
Item View![Emaciated survivors in the Ebensee subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp suck on sugar cubes provided by American soldiers ... [LCID: 78366]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/dac28c99-a42d-4bda-9790-5ec8e54b64d4.jpg "Emaciated survivors in the Ebensee subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp suck on sugar cubes provided by American soldiers ... [LCID: 78366]")
Emaciated survivors in the Ebensee subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp suck on sugar cubes provided by US soldiers upon the liberation of the camp. Photograph taken by Signal Corps photographer J Malan Heslop. Ebensee, Austria, May 8, 1945.
Item View![Four emaciated survivors sit outside in the newly liberated Ebensee concentration camp. [LCID: 78356]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/eb66c23a-58ca-415a-a763-2e9e26446f2b.jpg "Four emaciated survivors sit outside in the newly liberated Ebensee concentration camp. [LCID: 78356]")
Four emaciated survivors sit outside in the newly liberated Ebensee concentration camp. Photograph taken by Signal Corps photographer J Malan Heslop. Ebensee, Austria, May 8, 1945.
Item View![Liberated prisoners at the Ebensee camp. Too weak to eat solid food, they drink a thin soup prepared for them by the US Army. [LCID: 78357]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/5f583c75-9561-4973-84ce-e4424a1ed87a.jpg "Liberated prisoners at the Ebensee camp. Too weak to eat solid food, they drink a thin soup prepared for them by the US Army. [LCID: 78357]")
Liberated prisoners at the Ebensee camp. Too weak to eat solid food, they drink a thin soup prepared for them by the US Army. Photograph taken by US Army Signal Corps photographer J Malan Heslop. Austria, May 8, 1945.
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Prisoners at the time of liberation of the Ebensee camp, a subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. This photograph was taken by US Army Signal Corps photographer Arnold E. Samuelson. Austria, May 7, 1945.
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![Survivors of the Ebensee subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. [LCID: 02743]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f1d96fe5-f1c7-4410-803f-f5702e56707c.jpg "Survivors of the Ebensee subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. [LCID: 02743]")