Sankt Georgen an der Gusen (lit. Saint George

Saint George

Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

's Town on the Gusen River) is a small market town in Upper Austria

Upper Austria

Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, between the municipalities of Luftenberg and Langenstein

Langenstein

Langenstein may refer to:*Langenstein, Austria, a municipality in Upper Austria, Austria*Langenstein, Saxony-Anhalt, a municipality in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany**Langenstein-Zwieberge, a WW2 concentration camp in Langenstein, Saxony-Anhalt...

. , the town had 3,533 inhabitants.
During the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the town was selected to be the DEST

DEST

The D. E. S. T. , was an SS owned company originally created to procure and manufacture building materials for state construction projects in Nazi Germany DEST was a subsidiary company of Amtsgruppe W of SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt...

-business administration center for exploiting the slave labour in the quarries and later the industries of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...

 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

Messerschmitt

Messerschmitt AG was a famous German aircraft manufacturing corporation named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262...

 company a huge and most modern underground assembly plant for Messerschmitt Me 262

Messerschmitt Me 262

The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...

 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

Gusen

Gusen is the name of the biggest and most brutal Nazi concentration camp complex on Austrian territory. Originally called "Mauthausen II", the camp consisted of three camps and toward the end of the war, was annexed to Mauthausen concentration camp...

.