A wave of outrage has erupted in Austria after authorities approved plans to build a massive logistics center and a Lidl supermarket on the site of the former Hirtenberg women’s concentration camp, one of the country’s largest Nazi camps for female prisoners during World War II.

The controversial project received approval from Austria’s Federal Monuments Office, which ruled that the remaining walls of the former camp do not qualify for designation as a protected historic site. The decision has sparked widespread public criticism and has been described by Austrian media as a “major scandal.”

At the center of the controversy is Andreas Ramharter, the mayor of Leobersdorf, a town located about 40 minutes south of Vienna, who is reportedly set to profit substantially from the project.

According to reports, a company owned by Ramharter sold the property to an investor for more than €15 million.

After the municipal council, which he leads, approved rezoning the land for commercial use, Ramharter reportedly received an additional €1.34 million.

He also secured exclusive rights to install solar panels on the roof of the future complex, a move expected to generate ongoing income for years to come.

The planned development includes a sprawling industrial facility designed to serve as a refrigerated warehouse and logistics center, complete with loading docks, freezer facilities, and shipping infrastructure for food distribution companies. A branch of the German discount supermarket chain Lidl is also slated to be built on the site.

Beyond concerns over preserving Holocaust history, the project has also drawn opposition from local political leaders. Current plans call for traffic changes that would route approximately 1,200 trucks each day through the former concentration camp grounds, raising fears of severe congestion and transportation problems throughout the surrounding area.

Jewish leaders and Holocaust memorial officials have sharply condemned the decision.

Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, said, “To profit from the memory of tortured women who were murdered is a disgrace. This dark chapter of our history cannot simply be covered over with a shopping center.”

Barbara Glück, director of the Mauthausen Memorial, also denounced the plan, saying, “It is a shame and a disgrace to destroy the remains of a concentration camp in this way.”

For months, local activists campaigned to preserve the site and establish even a modest memorial honoring the victims who suffered there. Their appeals, however, were ultimately rejected.

The Hirtenberg concentration camp operated during the final years of World War II as a satellite camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Approximately 400 women, many of them deported from Auschwitz, were imprisoned there.

The prisoners were forced to work 12-hour shifts in a nearby weapons factory under brutal and inhumane conditions. The youngest inmate held at the camp was just 16 years old.

Lidl declined to confirm its involvement in the project but stopped short of denying the reports.

“We are always looking for new and attractive locations to further improve our local offering, and that includes the Leobersdorf area. However, at this stage we cannot provide details about a potential project,” the company said.