Original 1939 Mauthausen Concentration Camp Death Certificate

Description

This is an original 1939 death certificate issued at Mauthausen concentration camp, dated 27 March 1939, relating to Friedrich Berghanel, aged 63. The document records the place of death as Mauthausen and gives an official cause of death connected to a heart condition, as was often stated in period administrative paperwork.

Mauthausen was one of the most significant concentration camps established under the German National Socialist regime. Documents connected to Mauthausen are historically important because they form part of the surviving administrative record of the camp system and the wider history of political persecution, forced labour and wartime repression in Europe.

This document belongs to the early period of Mauthausen’s operation, before the outbreak of the Second World War. That makes it especially notable from a documentary and research perspective. Early camp paperwork from 1938–1939 is of particular interest to collectors, historians and researchers because it reflects the administrative structure of the camp during its formative phase.

The certificate includes typed and handwritten entries, official printed form text, place and date details, and a handwritten signature at the bottom. The signature appears to be from a camp official or medical/administrative authority, although the identity has not been independently verified. The item should therefore be described carefully as signed by an unidentified official unless further research confirms the signer.

The document is preserved in good condition for its age, with expected signs of handling, ageing, light creasing and period paper wear. The printed and handwritten elements remain visible. Please review the photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition report.

This is a serious historical document and should be understood only in the context of historical research, remembrance and preservation. It is not offered as a political object and does not imply sympathy with, support for or promotion of any ideology. Items of this nature are collected for educational, archival and documentary purposes, especially by those studying the history of the concentration camp system, World War II, German administrative documents, Holocaust-related history and 20th-century European history.

Due to the sensitive nature of the subject, this item is best suited for a responsible collector, archive, historian or researcher.