Managing Operations as Waging War Against the Enemy. Concentration camp forced labour in relocated production by the firm Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG at Gusen concentration camp and the trial of the former operations managers at the Linz Volksgericht (People’s Court)
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Abstract
The following article sheds light on arms production by the firm Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (SDPAG), which was relocated to the Gusen concentration camp in several stages from 1943 onwards. Beginning with an overview of the firm’s development in the context of a focus on Nazi arms production, the article goes on to outline the contractual arrangements between the SDPAG and the company “German Earth and Stone Works GmbH” (DESt) concerning cooperation at the Gusen concentration camp. The main focus of the study then turns to the practical arrangements for the deployment of concentration camp prisoners in arms production. Particular attention is paid to the role of the SDPAG operations managers in the Gusen concentration camp, and to the later prosecution of war crimes committed in the context of prisoner forced labour via a People’s Court trial at the Linz Regional Court.