ABSTRACT
The fiction that the SS were leaving the Hauptlager to fight the enemy was soon transparent. Mauthausen had become virtually the last refuge for Nazi fugitives fleeing from east, west, north, and south. Elegant limousines arrived from Vienna, carrying Nazi officials and their women draped in sumptuous fur blankets. 1 On the night of 2-3 May, a party was held in the anteroom of the prison. Ramón Bargueño, a witness, since he and two other Spaniards had been ordered now to sleep in the prison, 2 has described the scene. Niedermayer, who ruled the prison, served as host, and the party was attended by Schulz's group from die Politische Abteilung, the SS from die crematorium and the gas chamber, and the SS women guards from Ravensbrück. At about midnight Niedermayer brought Bargueño four botdes of liquor and ordered him to prepare a punch. When he arrived in the anteroom with the punch, he found all of them stark naked. They were delighted to see the punch, and offered him some. As morning approached, the SS made their way out as best they could, but not before shooting at the portraits of SS generals hanging on the walls of the anteroom. Niedermayer, his voice slurred from drink, threw a ring of keys at Bargueño's feet, shouted, 'Du, Kotnmandoführet!', and left. 3
