Accusations of "extraordinary bad taste" were leveled at Vienna on Sunday after details emerged of an Austrian designer snapping nude photos at a former Nazi concentration camp.

Gudrun Geiblinger used the memorial site at the former Mauthausen death camp as a backdrop for nude photos of herself, the news magazine Profil wrote in its latest edition.

The photos, shot in the late 1990s, show Geiblinger naked, wearing only white stockings and high heels, in sensual poses in front of a camp watchtower and hugging a sculpture depicting a dying soldier.

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Geiblinger justified the photoshoot by saying she worked on a project at an art school and the photos were used for "brainstorming."

"By coincidence" she discovered Mauthausen had what she needed. "I did not want Mauthausen as such, what I needed was a prison," Geiblinger said.

While Austrian police said the actions would not be considered a criminal offense, initial public reaction spoke of "extraordinarily bade taste" and little sensitivity for the victims of Nazi crimes.

"This affair is disgusting. I will go to Mauthausen soon and initiate changes," Austrian Interior Minister Guenther Platter said.