Work Camp  10105 GW

Location: Radenthein

Type of work: Magnesite factory and mine

Man of Confidence: SSM A.D. Aris, 2821?

Number of Men: 21 approx.

Known to be present

Information and photos supplied by Brian Lock, son of Reginald Lock, Matt Pooler, grandson of Sydney Willis, Ken Curtin, son of Gus Curtin, Patricia Rigby, granddaughter of Leslie Woodward and Harry Stafford, son of Joseph Stafford .

Austro-American Magnesite Company

Founded in 1908 to mine and process the deposits of magnesite in the mountains above Radenthein, the company still exists as the worldwide corporation RHI AG. Magnesite is an ore from which magnesium oxide can be extracted. This is used in the steel industry as a refractory material in blast furnaces. The factory was and is in Radenthein but the POWs were held near to the magnesite mine in the mountains above. The ore was transported to the factory via an aerial tramway (Seilbahn) operated by the POWs. Parts of the tramway still exist.

The Seilbahn (Aerial Tramway)

Reginald Lock's Diary

This section begins in October 1941. A group of POWs had been transported from Wolfsberg to Stalag 18B (which would later become Stalag 18A/Z at Spittal an der Drau). Despite his short stay in Radenthein, Reginald gives a very detailed account of the day-to-day life of a POW.

Oct 22
First thing in the morning we had a heavy feed of potato soup and coffee before setting out on that wretched march. In a short while we had left the town and were winding up
a beautiful gorge by the side of a rushing torrent. The steep mountainsides were ablaze with the golden autumnal tints; the blue sky above completed the regal scene that we
could not appreciate owing to our new boots and heavy loads.
After about an hour’s march Providence came to our rescue in the shape of two large lorries, with trailers, belonging to the firm for whom we were going to work. The first
brought bread and coffee and a little later the two of them took the whole lot of us up to the factory, passing through beautiful lakeland scenery, following the shores of lovely
Millstättersee on the way. When we saw how far it was we were very thankful that we did not have to walk all the way after all.
The firm turned out to be the Ostërr American Magnesit, A.G. Co. at Radenthem. The big factory lay in the valley but the ore was mined away up in the mountains and sent
down by an overhead cable railway. The finished product also left the factory by cable railway leading to a station over on the Spittal railway line.
The first thing we did on arrival was to pile into the nicely decorated works canteen for a feed. We sat down at little tables with cloths on and bread and soup was brought to us.
That seemed almost too good to be true and one of the canteen girls could speak English having actually worked in Bournemouth for two years! When we had finished we took
all our gear to the cable railway station and put it on the trucks before starting on the long walk up the mountain to the camp. It was tough going but very beautiful and we
accomplished the six miles climb in just over three hours.
At 1.0 p.m. we turned the last steep bend and came across our little camp in proper Hans Andersen surroundings, set back amongst the sombre pines; we had seen the warmth of
Autumn’s gold change to winter’s bleakness on the long way up. The civilian workers lived in similar huts to ours only, of course, without the inevitable barbed wire. A little
while after arrival we entered the camp and twenty men were put into each room. There was much more space in those barracks than there was at Zeltweg and each room had its
own radiator but there were no stoves for cooking. Washing facilities were as many for the hundred of us as there were for the six hundred of us at Zeltweg.
Before darkness fell we went up to the rail-head to collect our gear and then went on parade outside the camp when we got our new jobs allotted to us for the morning by the
chief engineer. I stepped out with five others as petrol engine drivers.
Oct 23
Reveille next day was at 6.0 a.m. and coffee was brought in at 7.0 a.m. We paraded for work at 7.30 a.m. in the newly fallen snow. Then I discovered that the six of us had been
put on shift work and did not have to start until 6.0 p.m. that evening. Rather than go to bed again I did a few digging jobs in the camp and the snow Our own cooks prepared
our meals in an old cookhouse several hundred yards from the camp, away down in the woods and we could walk in and out of the camp gates just as we pleased. Apart from
the cold I thought it was a good camp.
After an early tea three of us went up to the cable railway loading shed by 6.0 p.m. and started work. It was not a bad job for a change and we were working with four friendly
civilians. The job for us was divided into three parts. The first was to guide the empty skips round to the fillers as they were released from the endless cable. That was easy but
cold so we changed it round among the three of us every hour.
The second part was to operate one of the compressed air fillers which allowed the rock in the hopper above to fall into the skips. It was surprisingly hard work for the ore was
very heavy. Also large pieces frequently jammed in the chutes and had to be dislodged by prodding with long steel rods. Immediately tons of rock roared down like an avalanche
which indicated a quick move! I was too slow once and lost a little finger nail in consequence. The stoppage was also caused by the damp, sandy part of the ore freezing
up in the chutes. There were fourteen of those fillers in the shed. The third part was to push the loaded trucks round the shed on the overhead rails to the point where they
clipped on to the moving cable to start their journey to the factory. Each truck held about half a ton of ore and there were 250 of them on the line. The
whole apparatus was operated by gravity alone, only a friction brake being used to stop it. The line was about seven kilometers in length and the trucks took two hours for the
journey there and back. The job had the advantage of being under cover as there was so much snow on the ground.
I finished work at 4.0 a.m. next morning but had extra food during the night which compensated for the inconvenience of the shift. The three of us went to and from work
without a guard. That feeling of freedom was worth a lot.
Oct 24
It seemed strange to have to sleep during the day time and I got up for dinner but I was surprised when told to go on the 2.0 p.m. to 10.0 p.m. shift.
Oct 25
I was still more surprised to have to go to work again at 7.30 a.m. on Saturday, snow clearing on some of the stages of the mountain face. However it was quite interesting to
go on up the mountain and see how the ore was obtained from the various faces. It was very smartly worked out and a surprising amount of expensive equipment was in use.
Diesel motors and electric trams hauled the lines of loaded trucks to the electric liftheads to be lowered to the filling plant at the Seilbahn rail-head. The air was intensely
cold at that height (6000 feet).
Anyhow Saturday afternoon came at last and I had a lovely hot shower in the civilian washroom before doing a few odd jobs. The issue food was pretty poor but the bread
issue was the same as at Zeltweg but when on night work we got extra soup and coffee.
Oct 27
My shift went on from 10.0 a.m. until 4.0 p.m. on Monday and some 300 Red Cross parcels came up in the trucks shortly after we had knocked off. We were pleased to see
them arrive so quickly. We loaded them on a flat sledge and had some difficulty in getting them down the slippery, snow covered slope to the camp.
Oct 29
By Wednesday I was feeling pretty rough for one boil had increased to three so I went “sick” and got a couple of days off but next day it snowed heavily to a depth of about six
inches; most of the lads stayed in as a consequence. The first batch of mail arrived but once again there was none for me. During the afternoon I made a pint of custard down
at our cookhouse.
Oct 31
As I felt better on Friday I did a bit of work about the camp and helped to fetch the rations from the store in the afternoon, which have considerably improved in quantity
but potatoes still featured highest on the list.
Nov 1
I went back to work on Saturday morning at 6.0 a.m. and it was snowing heavily again as we went back to the camp. On entering the room I was overjoyed to see two cards and a
letter on the table for me. It was a dramatic moment - what a fine start for the new month! As arranged some weeks previously, I celebrated to the extent of a tin of
strawberry jam mixed with half a tin of Nestle’s Milk and nearly made myself sick. When I get my first letter from Ida the other half of the milk goes west together with a tin of
raspberries. One must celebrate such great events! On partially recovering from the excitement I had a shower and settled down to read and re-read the mail before drafting
out replies.
Nov 2
The snow lay about eight inches deep on Sunday morning and it was delightful to lay in bed until 9.30 a.m. The icicle-fringed windows accentuated the cosiness within and we
were loath to get up. There were no parades at the week-end so that we were able to take full advantage of the time off. After copying out my letters Church and I went
down through the snowy woods to the old cookhouse and cooked up a packet of oatmeal in a big jam tin. The Sanitator dressed by boils before I went to the service
which was quite good. The hymns were:-
Fight the good fight
Jesu, lover of my soul
Now the day is over
Nov 3
Monday started my week of night duty at the Seilbahn and I was supposed to begin at 4.0 p.m. I went up ready to start at that time but on arrival was told that there was no shift
working that night as the hoppers were still empty so back I came at the double in case they changed their minds! Some more mail arrived but there was none for me.
Nov 4
The worst blizzard of the winter set in on Tuesday evening, with a howling wind which quickly piled the driving snow into deep drifts over three feet deep in places. I was very
glad to finish at the Seilbahn at 6.0 p.m. and got very wet floundering back to camp in the dark.
Nov 5
Mr. Read’s birthday started the official winter season and I spent the morning snow shovelling on the track up to the Seilbahn. It was such lovely dry snow and would have
been ideal for tobogganing. How we would have loved to see so much at home a few years ago but having to work in it took the edge off the thought. The carts that were still
in use round the colony were all fitted with runners and used as sledges. During the afternoon our shift went up to the Seilbahn to help handle tons of cabbages that were
coming up in the trucks. We had to put them in sacks and I had never seen so many before; truly without cabbage and potatoes Germany would starve. We worked till 6.0
p.m. on that job and then got back to the cosy barracks for a good tea as the food had improved considerably. Our own separate cookhouse had closed down and at that time
our meals were served from the civilian cookhouse in the camp. The hot water radiators in the barracks were hot enough to heat up tins of conserve but they made the air round
the top set of beds too hot at nights.
Nov 6
Only one letter arrived on Thursday - a disappointment. There was no work owing to a high wind which made work on the exposed mountain stages an impossibility.
Nov 8
On Friday morning I went out snow shovelling but felt thoroughly rotten with further boils - one on the neck and several more on the back. The morning passed somehow, so
beautiful, but at lunch time I went “sick” once again. I was still feeling bad on Saturday morning and so did not go to work. I never realised before how very painful boils were.
Nov 9
Sunday was a real day of rest in the warm but how I longed to get home once again to one of our old Sunday teas followed by service and a jolly walk home. We had a good
service in the evening after which the lads in our room (which was the quietest in the camp) had a voluntary discussion based on a reading from my book “The meaning of
Prayer” by Dr. Fosdick. It was well worth while too.
Nov 11
During the following week I got worse and did not go out to work at all. Every night old Ken tried hard to squeeze the boils out but it was no good and they went on spreading.
The two minutes silence on Armistice Day were observed by the lads out at work.
Nov 13
Thursday dawned dull and warm with a hint of rain in the air and at 9.0 a.m. five of us together with the interpreter started away down the long trail to the village to see the
doctor. I set out to enjoy the walk never doubting that I would be back in camp by nightfall. By 11.30 a.m. we were in the waiting room and within half an hour I had been
examined and marked down for return to Stalag for treatment.
From the doctor’s house three of us went down to the Works Canteen and sat down to quite a decent dinner with the guard at the same table. The firm supplied us with
travelling rations and then we settled down to wait for our kit which was being sent down on the Seilbahn. The weather was still dull and cheerless; the hilltops were
wreathed with cloud and before long it began to rain steadily. During the afternoon most of the employees in the factory crowded into the canteen to hear a speech put over
by some big shots dolled up in brown uniforms. The workers HAD to attend and were not allowed to leave the factory until it was all over. They did not seem very interested. Our kit
arrived down at 3.0 p.m. but it was nearer 5.0 p.m. before we managed to scrounge a lift into Spittal, on an old milk lorry. It was dark when we arrived at the railway station and
we climbed into an ordinary class III carriage filled with civilians; however the black-out was such that we were in almost total darkness. The train left at about 7.0 p.m. and girls
did the ticket inspecting on the journey through Villach to Klagenfurt which we reached at about 10.0 p.m. We spent the night in the station waiting room there and had a good
feed from our parcels. I had pineapple and cream, lemonade, bread and butter with jam before settling down to snooze on the seats as ten civilians and some soldiers were doing
but my boils would not let me sleep. However the place was nice and warm.