ABSTRACT
Apart from the quarry, there were two other local Kommandos in which the first contingents of Spaniards were employed. In spring 1941, the SS established the Siedlungsbau, a Kommando whose task it was to build villas for the SS officers. The first of these were situated in a picturesque site on a hill overlooking the Danube, near the fork of the road running from Mauthausen to Gusen. On 1 August 1941 construction began on another 11 chalets in the area north of Mauthausen village. 1 Some 350 Spaniards were employed in it, including many skilled workers. The conditions were particularly harsh, and the majority of the Spaniards died. Little is known about the Kommandoführer other than his effeminacy, 2 but much is spoken about his Kapo, the Austrian-Czech Karl Matucher, who served in the post from the Kommando's inception. Matucher embarked on two separate courses of adventure, and it is probable that one adventure was exposed only as a result of his being caught in the other. His background being in crime, he received the coveted green triangle as a German BV: the finest prisoner insignia obtainable. In his privileged post he succeeded, on the one hand, in building a lucrative business in adulterated alcohol. On the other, among the Kommando's duties was to work occasionally in the gardens of the SS chalets and even to enter the officers' homes in order to fix their electricity or their plumbing. It was common knowledge in Mauthausen that Matucher was sleeping with more than one SS wife, while it was also said that he and his Schreiber, who was well known for his homosexuality, were on intimate terms with certain SS men. In September 1943 Bachmayer discovered a letter written by Matucher addressed to Streitwieser's wife Käte. The letter compromised both. On 2 September, Matucher, his Schreiber and two other Kapos were chained to the wailing wall, where Asta and Lord together began ripping them apart. Matucher's agony went on for two days. 3
