Memorial Plaque in Memory of the Concentration Camp Subcamp Hallein

Between 1943 and 1945, a sub-camp of the Dachau concentration camp was located on the current site of Deisl-Beton in Hallein, where up to 90 prisoners were exploited as forced laborers under the harassment of SS guards and were partly murdered. In April 1945, the Halleinerin Agnes Primocic, together with her friend Mali Ziegenleder, freed seventeen prisoners in a courageous action from this camp. In 1947, the parents of the current company owner Manfred Deisl rented the area, with the old barracks of the camp remaining on the company site until the 1960s. In 2001, the former KZ Hallein entered the political discourse when FPÖ city councillor Gerhard Cilea, in the context of honouring Agnes Primocic, denied the existence of the camp. In June 2011, the Hallein city government rejected an SPÖ motion to erect a memorial plaque; ÖVP and FPÖ voted against it, while Greens and SPÖ supported it. Mayor Christian Stöckl (ÖVP) later stated that they could not agree on the location and form of the memorial plaque. On 18th January 2012, the company Deisl-Beton finally unveiled a memorial plaque on the former site of the camp, about three kilometers outside of Hallein at a quarry. Manfred Deisl, the owner of Deisl-Beton, provided the land and materials for the memorial plaque and emphasized that the plaque should also commemorate the courageous act of Agnes Primocic. Mayor Christian Stöckl (ÖVP) was also present at the unveiling.