The Liebenau camp was established in the winter of 1940/41 on a previously undeveloped site on the left bank of the River Mur. Initially, it served as a camp for resettled ‘ethnic German’ families, but it was soon used to house forced labourers who were made to work at the Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG factory on the opposite bank of the River Mur. Shortly before the end of the war, murders also took place at the Liebenau camp during the death marches of Hungarian Jews, who were driven from the so-called ‘Südostwall’ via Graz to the Mauthausen and Gunskirchen concentration camps.

Although the camp was built on a previously unused site during the Nazi era, the artefacts discovered also include older items, some of which date back to the 19th century. There are also objects from the period after 1945. The older objects are likely linked to the site’s use as a rubbish tip in the 19th century, whilst the more recent items stem from the fact that the site has been continuously occupied since its use as a resettlement and forced labour camp.

Two objects are presented in more detail below.

The fragmentary comb belonging to the forced labourer Vlasta Široka is, on one hand, an industrially manufactured mass-produced plastic item which, due to its low cost of production, was easily affordable for many people. On the other hand, it is a very personal object, and not just because of the inscription.

Vlasta Široka arrived in Graz as a young woman in 1944 and was forced to work as an unskilled labourer; it is not known which factory she was assigned to. She is thought to have brought the comb with her from her homeland, along with other personal belongings. Owning it was so important to her that she carved her name into both sides; it may have helped her to preserve a sense of her personal identity.

From 1850 onwards, German porcelain factories produced dolls that could be washed and bathed. As they were relatively inexpensive, even less well-off families could afford them, leading to their rapid widespread popularity. The later name “Frozen Charlotte” refers to the character of a young woman in an American ballad who freezes to death on her way to a New Year’s celebration.

It is not entirely clear how the doll is connected to the camp. It may have belonged to a child from Graz as early as the 19th century or been brought to the camp in 1940 by a resettled family. However, it could also have belonged to the child of a forced labourer, or to one of the children who lived in the camp as refugees with their families after the end of the war.