A political and public firestorm has erupted in Austria after authorities approved plans to build a massive logistics center and a branch of the German discount supermarket chain Lidl on the site of the former Hirtenberg women’s concentration camp, the country’s second-largest concentration camp for women during World War II.

The project received approval from Austria’s Federal Monuments Office, which ruled that the remaining camp walls do not qualify for historic preservation. The decision has sparked widespread outrage, with critics accusing officials of erasing an important Holocaust site for commercial development.

According to reports, the mayor of Leobersdorf, Andreas Ramharter, stands to make millions of euros from the project. A company he owns reportedly sold the land for more than €15 million, while a rezoning decision approved by the local council generated an additional €1.34 million for him. He has also secured exclusive rights to install solar panels on the roof of the future complex, providing a long-term source of income.

The planned development includes a large industrial logistics and cold-storage facility with loading docks, shipping infrastructure, and a Lidl supermarket. Opponents have also raised concerns over plans to reroute traffic through the former camp site, with as many as 1,200 trucks expected to pass through the area each day.

Jewish and Holocaust leaders sharply condemned the project. Oskar Deutsch, president of Vienna’s Jewish Community, called it “a disgrace” to profit from the memory of murdered women, saying such a dark chapter of history cannot simply be covered by a shopping complex. Barbara Glück, director of the Mauthausen Memorial, likewise denounced the destruction of the camp’s remains.

The Hirtenberg camp operated as a subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp during the final years of World War II. Approximately 400 women deported from Auschwitz were imprisoned there and forced to work 12-hour shifts in a nearby weapons factory under brutal conditions. The youngest prisoner was just 16 years old.

Local activists spent months urging officials to preserve the site and establish a modest memorial honoring the victims, but their appeals were rejected. Lidl declined to confirm its involvement in the project but did not deny the reports, saying only that it is continually exploring new locations to expand its operations.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)