Monument and memorial plaque for the forced laborers of the Tauernkraftwerks Kaprun (Heidnische Kirche)

Between 1959 and 1960, the Heidnische Kirche am Mooserboden, designed according to the plans of the German sculptor Josef Magnus, was erected. Standing over ten meters high, the monument commemorates more than 6,300 forced laborers and civilian foreign workers, as well as approximately 4,000 prisoners of war who were compelled to work under inhumane conditions on the construction of the Kaprun power plant group. In total, more than 120 conscripted forced laborers lost their lives during the construction process between 1940 and 1945. The plaque, attached to the monument in September 2003, honors these people. The plaque is the result of long-term research by a commission of historians on the construction of the Kaprun power plant group. Initial plans for building a power plant in the Hohen Tauern existed already during the interwar period, but these were never implemented. After the "Anschluss" in March 1938, the Nazis took up these plans; the existing energy reserves were to be used for the war and armaments industry. The groundbreaking ceremony — carried out by Hermann Göring — took place already in May 1938; a construction period of ten years was planned. Time and again, deaths occurred, caused by avalanches or rockfalls; accidents due to inadequate equipment and the poor physical condition of the workers were also not uncommon. The Kaprun power plant group was completed in 1955 and is today considered a symbol of the reconstruction of the Republic after World War II. However, the inhumane Nazi forced labor and the resulting deaths and murders are overlooked and forgotten.