Loibl Tunnel Loibl Pass
loibl subcamp memorial
tunnel construction started on south side in march 1943. first forced labourers arrived @ tržič in june , transported loibl pass ss personnel. of inmates pows , political prisoners. interned german , austrian criminals assumed kapo functions. under inhumane conditions, 40 forced labourers died either starvation , exhaustion, or killed mistreatment, work-related accidents , rockfalls. august, ludolf removed post after construction company complained number of inmates became incapable of working due beatings , torture. keep work force efficient, hundreds of injured or sick prisoners sent main camp, or if unable transported executed on-site camp physician sigbert ramsauer (de) petrol injection.
the breakthrough of tunnel happened in december 1943. rainer , several high-ranking ss members came inspect project. first wehrmacht army vehicles passed through tight tunnel on 4 december 1944. military traffic, german soldiers retreating yugoslav front , refugees used tunnel until closed in 1947. @ end of war, on 7 may 1945, surviving 950 prisoners 2 camps largely abandoned guards , began marching down feistritz im rosental, met yugoslav partisans on following day. survivors had in effect freed , theirs subcamps of mauthausen-gusen not either evacuated or liberated.
an american military court sentenced commandant julius ludolf death on 13 may 1946. british military courts sentenced 2 other ss commanders of camps, jakob winkler , walter briezke, death on 10 november 1947, , sentenced camp physician sigbert ramsauer life imprisonment on 10 october 1947. ramsauer released in 1954, however, , obtained employment @ klagenfurt state hospital. today plaques @ austrian tunnel portal , memorial on slovenian side, erected @ site of southern loibl camp, commemorate injustices. joint memorial service held on 13 june 2015.
slovenian side of present loibl tunnel
the tunnel reopened border crossing between austria , federal people s republic of yugoslavia in 1950 , expanded in 1960s 2 lanes in november 1963. old road on summit of mountain pass has been closed motorised traffic since 1967.
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