Schloss Hartheim

Schloss Hartheim was one of the Nazi "Euthanasia" killing centers where the physically and mentally disabled were killed by gassing and lethal injection as part of the T-4 Euthanasia Program. The "Euthanasia Institute" was located in the castle of Hartheim, Austria.

Schloss Hartheim, or Hartheim Castle, was built by Jakob von Aspen in 1600. Hartheim Castle is quite small and there are other similar castles in the vicinity. It was donated by Prince Camillo to the Upper Austria Charity Organization as an educational and nursing home in 1898.

After the World War Two, the building was converted into apartments. The gas chamber was open to visitors, beginning in 1969. Hartheim Castle is now a Memorial Site dedicated to the thousands of physically and mentally handicapped persons who were murdered here by the Nazis. But there is another group of victims: in Schloss Hartheim over 8,000 prisoners of the Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps were sent here to be gassed.